Fourayes, which supplies Bramley apples and processed fruit fillings, has begun trialling a new method of intensively growing Bramley apples to increase production at its farm outside Sittingbourne in Kent.
The newly planted orchard will see 1,320 trees planted per acre as opposed to traditional planting densities of 390 trees per acre.
Fourayes expects the new orchards to increase yields by up to six tonnes per acre by the time the trees have reached fruiting maturity.
Phil Acock, managing director at Fourayes, said: “We are always looking for new ideas that will help us improve the yield from our orchards without reducing the quality of the fruit we grow.
“This new intensive growing approach is something that has interested me for a number of years and this year we have decided to convert a couple of our traditional orchards to allow us to fully trial intensive growing.
“The orchard should have a decent crop in year three as opposed to year six or seven for all our other types of trees. Our forecast is that, due to the earlier maturity and increased yield, the higher cost of planting these new orchards will be more than outweighed by the expected returns.”
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