Date of Award:

5-2026

Document Type:

Dissertation

Degree Name:

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department:

Plants, Soils, and Climate

Committee Chair(s)

Brent Black

Committee

Brent Black

Committee

Grant Cardon

Committee

Alfonso Torres-Rua

Committee

Matt Yost

Committee

Sierra Young

Abstract

Tart cherry orchards are a major part of the agricultural landscape in Utah, but producing cherries is becoming increasingly difficult and expensive. Orchard land is not uniform. Some parts of a field grow strong, healthy trees, while other parts struggle because of differences in soil, water, and landscape. Even though these differences exist, orchards are usually managed the same way everywhere. Over many years, this causes some trees to become much larger than others, making orchards harder to manage, less efficient to harvest and prune, and more costly to maintain.

This research focused on finding practical ways to measure these differences and use them to improve how orchards are managed. First, several mapping tools were used to measure tree size, canopy density, and soil conditions across entire commercial orchards. The results showed that each orchard has clear and stable patterns, with some areas consistently growing larger trees and others growing smaller ones. This means orchards are not random, and their differences can be mapped and used for planning. Next, a new low-cost camera system was developed to measure trunk size while driving through the orchard. Trunk size is important because it shows how much a tree has grown over many years, but it is rarely measured because it takes too much time by hand. The new system can collect these measurements quickly and place them in the correct location on a map, even in areas where satellite positioning does not work well.

Finally, fertilizer was applied using different timing strategies in different parts of the orchard over several years. This was done to see whether tree growth could be guided toward more uniform size. The results showed that this approach works best in younger orchards, where differences between trees are not yet permanent. In older orchards, long-standing differences were harder to correct.

Overall, this work shows that orchard differences can be measured, mapped, and used to make better long-term decisions. Using these tools early in an orchard’s life can help growers create more uniform, efficient, and sustainable orchards while using labor, time, and inputs more wisely.

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