After the success of the Aberdeens, fruit growing was seen as being a profitable business in the Southern Interior. People from all over the world came to the Okanagan. However, many immigrants who started growing apple trees in the 1890s were greenhorns. They came to the Okanagan Valley to make their fortune in orcharding, but they knew little about growing apples. Soon they realized that fruit tree farming was a tough business. They faced many hardships like various insect problems, poor irrigation techniques, cold winter freezes, unsuitable fruit varieties, low fruit prices, and poor transportation methods. In addition, many of the newcomers did not realize they had to wait four to six years for their trees to bear fruit. Some gave up growing fruit trees. They either began growing other crops, or they sold their land. Early orchardists with extra money in the bank were better able to withstand the high start-up costs of fruit growing.

The Need for Education

With all the new orchardists, it quickly became obvious that education programs were needed. So, in 1910, packing schools were set up in British Columbia to teach people how to work in the fruit industry. The course cost $1.00 and was two weeks long. Students were taught how to grade apples for size and colour and how to pack the fruit into boxes so that the fruit would not bruise during transport. Several different packing styles were used based on the size of the apples. The square packing style could hold the most apples, up to 250 apples in a box. But the more apples per box, the more likely the apples would bruise. The fruit schools proved to be so popular that a permanent school, called the Government Fruit Packing School, was opened in Kelowna in February 1913.