Mike Malik & Steve Louis – Orchard Design

Whether starting from scratch or expanding an existing orchard, many factors influence orchard design – and it’s important to get it right the first time.

Mike Malik owns Long Lane Orchard near Iowa City. He has planted 14,000 cider variety apple trees on 15 acres and is expecting his first harvest in 2019. Mike is currently building a juicing facility to process the apples, and plans to ferment the juice into hard cider.

Steve Louis is the owner of Oakwood Fruit Farm in Richland Center, Wisconsin. He is the past president of Wisconsin Apple Growers Association, and holds a degree in horticulture from UW-Madison. Spanning 200 acres, the orchard has over 20 apple varieties on a mix of semi-dwarf and dwarf rootstocks.