The Steep Leader (SL) system was developed in the 1970s by growers in Washington State. By the 1980s it had become widely planted throughout the state. The SL system provides significant advantages over the open vase system which it largely replaced.One of the biggest advantages was increased light penetration throughout the tree, which encourages development of high-quality fruit and reasonable yields from the top to the bottom of the tree. In addition, it increases labor efficiency by allowing a systematic approach to pruning. Finally, growers have the ability to use either full-size or size-controlling rootstocks.
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