Best of the Past—Reprinted articles ofsignificance that are relevanttoday
and have historicalperspective

Quote:. . . on March 5, 1958, over two hundred enthusiastic fruit growers met in an empty fruit
storage room at Hilltop Orchards in Hartford, Michigan . . . for the exclusive purpose of
discussing dwarf fruit trees . . . .

The International Dwarf Fruit Tree Association—
Its Legacy for the Future

Paul Larsen1
Tree Fruit Research and Extension Center
Washington State University
Wenatchee, Washington 98801

Presented at the 24t hannual IDFTA conference, March 1981,
and reprinted fromCompact Fruit Tree14: 4-10.

It is a genuine honor to be invited to present this first Ray Klackle Memorial Lecture, in honor of
the man who was the able and distinguished second president of the International Dwarf Fruit
Tree Association.I accepted gratefully, but with much humility, because I well recognize the
importance of the occasion.My sincere thanks to Mrs. Klackle for commemorating her husband
by providing the Dwarf Fruit Tree Association with such an appropriate endowment and to the
officers for providing me with the opportunity of giving this first presentation in his honor.

The purpose of this discussion is not to eulogize Ray Klackle.But I cannot help but make a few
comments about him.Ray was a remarkable man, and many of you knew him in varying
capacities.When I came to Michigan, more than a quarter of a century ago, Ray was extension
horticulturist in Indiana.His influence and knowledge were widely felt and appreciated
throughout the Midwest.I first met him at his Belding Orchard, which was managed by his kid
brother, Frank.From that day forward, I considered both of them good friends and teachers.
After a few years, Ray joined the Indian Summer apple juice company.And, of course, from that
base of operations, he was influential in many capacities, including the Dwarf Fruit Tree
Association.Ray left a great legacy for his family, for the fruit industry in general, and for this
International Dwarf Fruit Tree Association.It is in the spirit of Ray Klackle that I hope to
present here some interesting aspects of our past, with perhaps a thought or two on this
association’s legacy to the future.

LOOKING BACK
Exactly 23 years ago, today, on March 5, 1958, over two hundred enthusiastic fruit growers met
in an empty fruit storage room at Hilltop Orchards in Hartford, Michigan.To my knowledge,
this was the first extension meeting for the exclusive purpose of discussing dwarf fruit trees and
their management.

I well remember that first meeting, not only because of personal involvement, but more so
because the seeds of success of the International Dwarf Fruit Tree Association were sown there.

Let’s go back, for a few moments, to that period of time, and look at a few of the motivating
forces and people behind the dwarf fruit tree movement.

During the 1950s, the apple industries of Michigan and other states were in the infancy of change
from big trees to smaller trees.Remember that this was the first decade following World War II
and, before that, the Great Depression of the 1930s.Because of the Depression, lack of capital,
and war, most of our American apple orchards had old trees and had been developed under a type
of pioneering technology.

In the 1950s, new science, new technologies, and new trees started to take over.Many factors
precipitated this gradual evolution.For one, increasing labor costs and decreasing availability of
skilled orchard workers were making it more costly and difficult to prune, pick, and manage the
enormous trees then predominating in most orchards.Secondly, those kinds of trees simply were
not adapted to new machines and new technology, including air blast sprayers, concentrated
pesticide mixtures, and so on.

Rising land costs, taxes, insurance, interest, and other overhead items were making a tough
squeeze on the orchardist who was planting 27 (40' x 40') or 48 (30' x 30') trees per acre and then
waiting 15 years for them to reach the first paying crop.Many schemes were tried to reduce tree
size and make them more adaptable to modern methods.Orchards were interplanted to get more
trees per acre, in order to shorten the time from planting to reasonable production per acre.But
none of the approaches by themselves were satisfactory.

Fortunately for this industry, there were people among us who were seeking better solutions, and
biological materials were becoming available to assist in this search.It would be needlessly
redundant to go back over the history of the clonal development of dwarfing apple stocks
because their emergence in Europe, and particularly at East Malling, England, is illustrious and
well documented.But a brief reference to some of the landmark developments in the United
States is appropriate in this discussion.

One important segment in history was in the 1920s, when H. B. Tukey, Sr., brought to Geneva,
New York, a full complement of Malling stocks.From Geneva, the Malling series was
disseminated to experiment stations, nurseries, and prominent growers all over America, where
they were tested under multiple climatic conditions.Between 1938 and 1945, the Geneva station
distributed over 150,000 dwarfed rootstocks and trees to 239 individuals and experiment stations
in 36 states and Canada.The Tukey enthusiasm and interest in such stocks were gradually
absorbed by researchers, nurserymen, and orchardists.

In 1945, Dr.Tukey came to East Lansing as head of the Department of Horticulture at Michigan
State University.He not only brought with him an unabated interest in apple rootstocks, but he
brought along a young man to do the work, namely, Robert Carlson.Additional research
plantings were established at East Lansing and in other Michigan locations.Tukey students,
including Wally Heuser, became interested, even enthused, about the future of dwarfing apple
stocks for commercial orchards.The Heuser family (Hilltop Orchards) was among the first to
establish commercial-sized orchards on Malling stocks.This point brings me back to that first
meeting on March 5, 1958.

HOW THE IDFTACAME ABOUT
In 1955 or 1956, Wally Heuser planted a fairly large block of Red Delicious, Jonathan, and
Golden Delicious on EM.7.Jerry Mandigo, extension district horticulture agent for
southwestern Michigan, was working with Wally on tree training.I was involved in some of the
training demonstrations during the early development years.In January 1958, Jerry suggested
that the 1958 pruning demonstrations should be expanded to an all-day meeting on dwarf tree
management and that H. B. Tukey should be the featured speaker.This was a first for such a
narrow topic, but we hoped that seventy to one hundred Michigan growers might be interested.
The Heusers volunteered the use of their storage and packing room for the meeting.Tree
training demonstrations were to be held in the orchard following the general meeting.

Needless to say, we were all astounded to arrive at Hilltop on that morning of March 5 and find
the place packed, not only with Michigan fruit growers, but from several other states.The
morning program was filled with vital and interesting information for the growers.We ate a
barbecue lunch, sitting on apple boxes with four or five people gathered in little clusters.I was
in a small group with Dr.Tukey.During lunch, he tossed out to the luncheon group a trial
balloon, suggesting the immediate establishment of a dwarf fruit tree association.As I recall, our
response was that of cautious approval.He further suggested that Bob Carlson (then on an
assignment in Okinawa for Michigan State University) should be secretary; and Wally Heuser,
president.After lunch, Dr. Tukey recommended this to the assembled audience, and, at that
point, this association was officially and unanimously adopted.

I cite these rather detailed points for two purposes.One is for the historical record.Dates,
events, and places frequently become lost or changed as time goes by.For example, Dr. Tukey’s
magnificent book, “Dwarf Fruit Trees,”lists March 4, 1958, as the organization date for the
Dwarf Fruit Tree Association.My original travel diary, which was a required record for all of us
extension types, had March 5 as that date.In fact, there was another meeting in another county
on March 4.

AVITALORGANIZATION
But the date of organization is not important; what happened after is.The International Dwarf
Fruit Tree Association is a productive, vital, and growing organization, even after 23 years,
because of the unique combination of events, people, and programs.The time was ripe for
commercial adoption of clonal dwarfing rootstocks.As the American apple industry became
more sophisticated, complicated, and specialized, it was only natural for compact, specialized
trees to come into prominence.As Dr.Tukey used to say, this was a further example of nature
giving way to science.

The time was ripe for dwarf fruit trees, and the people were there to show growers how to use
them:Jerry Mandigo, who changed a simple pruning demonstration into an educational
experience on dwarf fruit tree management; the Heuser family, who furnished orchard facilities
and substantial leadership; H. B. Tukey, with the wisdom to see the future and the initiative to
push a sound idea, the enthusiasm, desires, and support of fruit growers for a new organization;
and finally, the diligence, dedication, perhaps even audacity, of that first and only secretary,
Robert Carlson.He has sustained and led this organization from the day he arrived back in East
Lansing nearly 23 years ago.This association was not only fortunate in having the superb
services of Dr. Carlson, but he wasfortunate in working for a university that permitted such