Arapaho just finished planting an Advanced Production System block in an existing grove that originally had 58-ft double beds. We designed and installed microjet manifolds that tied into the original two submain connections and provided 3 connections for poly lines to convert each bed to 3 tree rows. Richard Chandler’s Arapaho tree planting crew helped lay out each bed to accommodate differences in shape, mostly about 18′ between the tree rows on the tops with wider spacing across the relatively deep water furrows, then planted the trees at 8′ in the row. That’s roughly equal to 281 trees/acre. It looks really good, and saved a lot of money over re-doing the beds and irrigation system!

The basic premise of Advanced Production is to increase the tree count to minimize production losses as trees are removed for HLB management.  By increasing the number of trees per acre, the grove care costs per tree are lower because you’re still mowing the same acre but passing more trees.  As they begin to produce, then, the cost per box is also lower than with conventional spacing, which means higher profits.

It’s the anticipation of higher profits that offsets the greening risk.  So, increasing tree density is a good way to do that in the early years of the planting because we don’t know how long the groves will hang in there on the back end.  We still have a lot to learn about growing high-density groves — what Bill Castle has dubbed “Advanced Production Systems” — so exchange of ideas and experience is an important part our learning experiences.