Abstract
Twelve apple orchards and an experimental orchard were evaluated in 2 years for weed population and diversity, primary pests (codling moth, oriental fruit moth, plum curculio and mites), primary diseases, soil water content, and 37 horticultural attributes describing tree growth, fruit growth, productivity, tree nutrition, and management intensity. Data were collected at 2 week intervals. The experimental orchard contained three apple cultivars grown in three orchard floor management systems. Increased weed ground cover related to earlier and increased mite predator populations in trees, decreased pest mite-days, but reduced tree and fruit growth. Grass weed species appeared more detrimental to tree growth than broadleaf species. Tree training intensity was negatively related to canopy density, and incidence of pests and diseases. Reductions in fruit size and quality were more closely linked to weed competition, and earliness and degree of pest mite infestation than to crop load.
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