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Show 10 Vcmal Express Wednesday, October 18, 1995 Tree of Life Orchards nun by Vlckl Feldt Staff Writer Dr. Larry Wilckcn grew up in Tabiona on a sheep and cattle ranch. After finishing medical school, he came back to the Uintah Basin and has lived here in Vernal for the last 20 years. "I really like this part of the Basin," says Wilcken. "There is some feeling that brings a person back to their roots." Wilcken and his wife, Jean, bought a place which had three fruit trees growing on the property. One of these trees produced amazingly amaz-ingly good peaches, which prompted prompt-ed Wilcken to study fruit bearing trees. "The more I studied about fruit trees, the more of an obsession it became," states Wilcken. "People said I couldn't do it. A -30 degrees in winter is not conducive to growing grow-ing indigenous fruit." However, the obsession grew and 20 years later, Wilcken now hosts close to 40 varieties vari-eties of apples at the Tree of Life Orchards in Lapoint. One of the first obstacles that Wilcken has had to overcome is inefficient in-efficient irrigation. He planted the trees allowing for 16-foot rows for mature trees. Wilcken and his orchard or-chard foreman, Ernesto Hernandez, then checked the drip and root system sys-tem of the trees by digging eight foot from each row. They discovered discov-ered a drip system works well for the first three or four years of the tree's growth. After this time, the tree's root system has advanced beyond be-yond the drip area, resulting in only 20 percent of the root zone actually receiving moisture. Wilcken also uses a special black mesh fabric around the small root stock trees which allows water into the soil and prevents evaporation. He has found a 30 percent increase of growth in a five year study of young trees, some rows with the fabric and some without. Another obstacle for healthy and productive fruit bearing trees in the Basin is the high alkaline level of 8.3 ph found in the soil. The Basin is basically lake bed and high in calcium carbonate. Wilcken and Hernandez originally thought they could add an acid to the drip system to make the soil more vegetation friendly. The ideal soil conditions for fruit would be a level of 6.5 ph. However, using controlled lab processes, pro-cesses, the workers found that the amount of acid needed was enormous enor-mous and their theory was not effective. ef-fective. The lack of available iron in the soil was a problem. Iron is an element ele-ment that may be in the soil, but was not available to plants because of the high ph level. Wilcken found adding iron chelate to the watering system worked out best. "When I first started out, I didn't realize how important it was to fertilize," fer-tilize," says Wilcken. He found that in order to get better production and tree growth, aggressive fertilization fertil-ization measures had to be taken. He also discovered the need for both fertilizing through the watering water-ing system and for broadcast fertil- The Uintah High School cheerleaders build pyramids during the final mi p:rfmm mm) lwfiil Dr. Larry Wilcken inspects the years' growth on a Jonagold tree. izing. "It has been a learning process. pro-cess. It has taken most of these 20 years to really feel like I know what I'm doing," states Wilcken. "It gets better every year." Uintah County records well under eight inches of rain per year, making mak-ing it the driest county in Utah. The upside to this lack of rainfall is fungus fun-gus on plants is generally not a problem here. But Wilcken and Hernandez started using a fungicide and found more than a noticeable difference in the health of the trees. After three sprays this year, the color col-or and health of the leaves on their trees were amazing to see. Also because of the drier climate, Wilcken has only had to spray for insects twice a year. The codling moth is still a problem in the Basin, and treatment of pheromones of the codling moth to inhibit breeding were not as successful as first thought. However, Wilcken hasn't given up on natural insect control, and says optimistically, "We would eventually like to have a block of apple trees that are totally organic." Once the major obstacles have been dealt with, Wilcken has set out to find which types of apples grow best in this climate. "What grows well in California, doesn't necessarily neces-sarily grow well here," states Wilcken. The opposite is also true. California and Washington, are too 41' w i hot for some apple varieties, such as the Jonagold. The Tree of Life Orchards are currently growing 40 different varieties of apples, including includ-ing the Jonagold. This apple was developed in New York and promoted pro-moted in Europe. Twenty international interna-tional experts rated Jonagold as the number one apple in the world for eating out of hand. Other apples in the eating out of hand category are Mutsu, a flavorful flavor-ful golden apple from Japan which stores well; Macintosh, Granny Smith, Gala, and Winesap. The Honey Crisp is found in this category. cate-gory. This is a unique and flavorful apple from Minnesota which is true to its name. This unusual apple has no, known storage life as they are eaten before any tests are run. Wilcken's favorite apple, the Fuji, is also in the eating out of hand category. cat-egory. The Fuji was developed in Japan and has been exported to various var-ious countries for 20 years. The land shortage in Japan has threatened threat-ened this apple and Japanese supplies sup-plies are increasingly limited. In Japan, this apple is bagged right on the" tree. Through a series of removing remov-ing the paper and wrapping the apple ap-ple again and again, when time to pick the apple, the Fuji will be totally to-tally white. The apples are then individually in-dividually wrapped in red cellophane cello-phane and placed in the sun. They home football game of the season. - W&mfr . "i . Dr. Wilcken exhibits the size of easy apple picking for everyone would like that to continue." are hand turned everyday, and when the apples are ready to eat, they will be a bright, almost fluorescent pink. In Japan, these hand cared for apples sell for $3 each. Wilcken discovered he could graft these unique trees onto his dwarf stock and successfully produce pro-duce this hardy and useful apple. The Fuji has 20 percent sugar, making mak-ing it the sweetest apple grown. This apple also has an incredible storage capability, lasting up to a year. Most apple growers in this country expect the Fuji to become highly sought after when people discover the quality of this apple. Some growers believe it will replace re-place the Red Delicious as the most popular apple in the country. Wilcken also grows apples with texture and robust flavor especially for cooking. Many of these are European, with one excellent cooking cook-ing apple from Switzerland, called the Rubinette. This apple has intense in-tense flavor and makes a great tasting tast-ing pie. The cooking varieties also include Jonathan, Jonagold, Mcintosh, Empire, and Granny Smith. STrJi tii iiiiiiiiiir y7 r iysmWj iASff5 ISaiSp-nwr- i TtiCiSliC J Very-?,, , , ja Pi i J- IIM " '"TvV'r T j w i r i u'Ettes Drill Team polish their routine at their final home performance his Jonagold apples that are growing on dwarf root stock to provide in the family. "This has been a family project from the start, and we Wilcken and Hernandez have spent a lot of time and effort into grafting the many different varieties of trees onto dwarf stock. This enables the trees to produce fruit in a shorter length of time and also allows al-lows for picking the apples off of the trees from standing on the ground. Wilcken's wife, Jean, helped plant grass this summer in the alleys between the tree rows. The grass has knocked out the weeds and has made a cool, lush carpet of green in which to walk through the trees. Wilcken's son, Erik, 15, is starting a juice business which is well under way this fall. Wilcken's other children, Kristi, 19, Pamela, 12, and Annie, 11, also help around the orchard, especially in a crises. Wilcken, Hernandez, and Shane Bullock, a Utah State University student, have spent several long hours grafting root stocks, developing develop-ing ultimate fruit production, and designing the orchard so as to have a "U-pick" for the public. "We want a place where the family can come out for the morning or afternoon, 'I Dr. Wilcken shows where he grafted a new variety onto a dwarf root stock last spring. and pick all the apples they can use without having to climb into a tree," says Wilcken. "This has been a family project from the start, and we would like that to continue." before going to competition. |