Tree Care in the Home Orchard

    Planting Fruit Trees   

Fruit trees do best in well drained soil and full sun. Five hours of direct sun in the middle part of the day will be adequate for most trees, but the more the merrier! Tall forest or landscape trees can out-compete fruit trees in the root zone, as well as shading them. Pick your planting spot thoughtfully, and give the tree the best chance to thrive.

Dig a hole only slightly larger than the spread out root system of the tree to be planted. If your soil is poor, dig as large a hole as possible, refill it with improved soil, and firm it down by foot. Compost or other well broken down organic materials can be mixed with this soil. Don't bury large masses of any kind of straight organic material directly under where a tree will stand because it will eventually break down, settle, and disrupt the root ball, breaking the fine feeder roots.

For a typical young tree, in typical soil, dig a hole two - three feet in diameter and one foot deep. Heap the soil up beside the hole on plastic or similar material. Sprinkle approximately one cup of ground limestone into the hole and work it into the soil with a garden fork. Firm the soil in the bottom of the hole with your foot.   See pictures of the planting process here

Depending on the fertility level, the soil heap on the side gets up to three cups of lime, and one to two cups of bone meal. Other fertilizing materials, such as well rotted compost, or manure, are highly recommended. Small amounts of fertilizers like blood meal may help, but, if you have very fertile soil or have added more than a few shovelsful of rich compost or manure to the soil, eliminate any other nitrogen fertilizer.. Mix the fertilized heap by working it well with a shovel.

Phosphorus is especially important for young trees, and even in fertile soil use some bone meal or rock phosphate. Sea weed is great for trees and can be used as kelp meal, composted seaweed, or straight from the beach as a mulch around any tree. Here on the coast, soils are acidic, so always use lime when you plant a tree and give it a yearly application thereafter.

With fruit trees, the height of the graft union above the soil surface is very important. With most dwarfing and semi-dwarfing rootstocks, the length of rootstock stem above the ground has an effect on the controlling characteristics of the rootstock. For example, an apple on M-9 dwarfing rootstock will be more vigorous if the graft union is one inch above ground level rather than six inches above ground level. Too much stem exposed below the graft on a dwarf tree can cause the tree to be very small and stunted. In general, keep the graft union from two to four inches above the ground level. With the standard, non-dwarfing rootstocks, a higher graft union is acceptable.

If the graft union of a fruit tree is below ground level, or if mulch material becomes heaped up over the graft, the upper part of the tree can form its own roots. If the tree was grafted on a dwarfing or semi-dwarfing root stock, the roots of the upper part of the tree will ultimately take over and the tree will grow to standard size. This is sometimes intentionally done, but if you want your dwarf tree to stay small, the graft union must be planted above ground and kept clear of accumulating material.

An unstaked, newly planted tree can be blown, pushed, or otherwise moved around in such a way that new root growth is continually disturbed and broken. If a tree is properly staked, the roots are allowed to grow undisturbed, not only feeding the tree but creating a permanent anchorage that can soon make the stake unnecessary.

Apples on dwarf rootstocks will require a permanent form of support, as can semi-dwarf apples in sites exposed to strong winds. This support can be achieved with a stake, or by planting the tree next to a fence, building, or other means of support. Various stakes will work, just make sure it's driven in deeply, and is long lasting material, such as good cedar or metal. Drive the stake in well. Plant trees so they lean slightly away from the stake.

Mound a bit of the soil in the bottom of the hole and hold the young tree upright on it, with a board (like one of the stakes) across the hole to gauge the level of the graft above ground. As you fill the hole, hold the higher roots up, firming the soil mix around them by hand, and try to have them laying on firm soil and going out slightly and downward. Finish filling the planting hole by forming the surface soil into a shallow basin to make watering the tree easier.

Attach the tree to the stake securely, but not so as to be cut or abraded by the tie. Something like NMD-7 electrical wire is ideal, or a soft clothes-line type rope. If you use an uncoated fence type wire, find some small rubber tubing to slip over it, or use old 10 speed inner tubes. Also, you don't want the tree to rub against the stake, so hopefully you planted the tree to lean slightly away from the stake. Pull it towards the stake with just enough tension to straighten it, and arrange the wire so it encircles the trunk, crosses over itself between the stake and the tree, and attaches to opposite sides of the stake, creating a figure 8, with a loop each for tree and stake. As the tree grows another tie can be added higher up the stem if necessary, provided that the stake is long enough, or the wire can be loosened from the stake and adjusted as necessary.

Once the tree is planted, give it a good soaking, to thoroughly wet the roots and root zone of the tree and eliminate any small air pockets, unless you are planting in a heavy wet soil. Mulch your new tree heavily, especially the first year or two. Always keep the trunk and graft union clear of mulch and exposed to air and light. Leave a 12 to 18 inch circle of weed free bare soil around the trunk, and mulch an area of 3 feet or more out from the trunk. If the area is sod, cut the grass short and put down a barrier layer of cardboard, covered with your mulching material. Each spring you can pull back the mulch, spread a bit of lime, add some compost, and renew the mulch.

Watering during the first year is important - don't allow the new tree to be stressed by drought. Average about 5 gallons a week - more in dry soils, less in wet, clay soils. Remembering that the mulch material will capture and hold quite a bit of water, check occasionally that there is moisture 1 - 2 inches under the mulch. In well mulched conditions, most trees will need only minimal watering in their second year, but do keep watch.

    Pruning - for Growth, for Tree Health, for Fruit Production

There are a number of objectives in fruit tree pruning:
1. Obtain maximum light exposure and air circulation for both leaves and fruit.
2. Provide uniform distribution of fruiting wood along the scaffold branches.
3. Control size and vigor of the tree.
4. Reduce limb breakage.
5. Produce high quality fruit of desired size.

In simple terms, the tree needs a good 'skeleton' that distributes the growth of the tree evenly around the trunk - stronger and wider at the bottom, lighter and tapering at the top. This skeleton consists of the scaffold branches, and should be developed in the first few years of the trees life. Once the basic tree shape and structure is set, pruning is maintaining that shape by cutting most growth that goes up and in, leaving most growth that goes down and out. Especially in the coastal climate, thinning the growth for good air circulation and light penetration goes a long way to keeping the tree healthy.

Traditionally, pruning is done in the latter part of the dormant season (Feb or Mar), and as the shape and structure of the tree is most visible with the leaves off, pruning then is useful. Research has brought other factors to light to modify this practice though, and shows why so many home fruit trees get in such bad shape. Any dormant season pruning throws the root and top off the balance they had in the fall, so that in the spring much more energy is pushing up than can be immediately used, with the result being the runaway 'water sprouts' and 'suckers' dominating many backyard trees. Someone pruned fairly regular the first couple decades, but the next property owner wasn't interested, so got it 'professionally' dormant pruned every 5 or 10 years, sold to the next person who did the same, and then you got stuck with it!

Tip from the Squeeze: do the majority of your pruning through the summer! Start after the tree is in full leaf, and go right to early Sept. Concentrate on keeping new water sprouts cut back and maintaining the open-ness of the tree. Do a bare minimum of dormant pruning, and while the tree is dormant, mark branches that don't fit the desired ideal open structure, for pruning in June and July. Bright colored plastic strips tied around branches right where you want to take them off work fine. Dormant pruning is pruning for (forced) tree growth - summer pruning is pruning for fruit growth. You may cut off branches that have fruit already set, but what's left will be larger and healthier, and the energy not put into growing the branches you've removed can go into setting the buds for the following years fruit.

The following is a more complete treatment of the topic from a traditional view by the Univ. of Nebraska Co-op Extension Service, including the picture. If you'd like the complete file as a .pdf, click here (requires the free Acrobat Reader to view).

There are basically two stages in the life of a tree that require radically different approaches to pruning. Pruning during the first four or five years establishes the basic framework of the tree and is referred to as training. Pruning which is done once fruiting occurs is called renewal. The two basic types of pruning cuts used in either training or renewal are heading back and thinning out.

In heading back, a branch or shoot is shortened. Older wood is headed back to an outward growing lateral. Heading back encourages lateral growth or branching. In thinning out, entire shoots or branches are removed back to a lateral branch, scaffold branch, or the main trunk. Since the entire shoot or branch is removed, no lateral growth from that shoot or branch is possible.

Utilize heading back to slow growth and discourage competition with the leader; to overcome unequal growth of two scaffold branches; to direct branches; and to encourage lateral growth. Heading back cuts are made in one- or two-year-old wood. Cuts in two-year-old wood usually result in good lateral growth but relatively little extension growth. For vigorous growers cut into two-year-old wood. Utilize thinning out cuts to remove undesirable growth such as upright branches that compete with the leader and branches that will be structurally weak because of narrow crotch angles.

There are many training systems. Each system has advantages and disadvantages depending on site, purpose, and fruit cultivar. Some systems are adapted to free standing trees while others relate to trellis or supported trees. The modified leader is the most versatile and most readily learned training system. Any fruit tree, regardless of root stock, can be trained to the modified leader system. In training fruit trees remember these two basic concepts:
1. Excess pruning delays fruiting and development of desired structures.
2. Branches spread to a 45-55° angle with the central leader are structurally stronger, vegetatively less vigorous, and more fruitful than more upright branches.

For mature, fruiting trees:
1. Some annual pruning is necessary to maintain tree shape and size.
2. Removal of large limbs is unnecessary if tree was properly trained.
3. Remove dead, diseased or damaged branches each year.
4. Remove water sprouts if these were not removed in early summer.
5. Remove the weakest of crossing or closely parallel growing limbs.
6. Remove limbs growing towards the center of the tree. Thin out branches to increase light penetration.
7. Remove severely shaded branches.

For cultivars that bear heaviest in alternate years, do heavy pruning just before the heavy bearing season. Use pruning tools made for the purpose and keep them sharp and clean. To disinfect pruning tools, use either a 70% denatured alcohol solution or household bleach at one part bleach to nine parts water. Either use a sponge or dip equipment into these solutions.

PRUNING NEGLECTED TREES

The two primary objectives in pruning neglected trees are:
1. To reduce tree height.
2. To thin out branches.

Here is a step-by-step procedure for pruning a neglected tree:
1. Lower the height of the tree where necessary. Up to four or five feet of growth can be removed in one tree in one year. The final cut in the top should be just above an outside lateral branch. Subsequent pruning in the tree top will consist largely of annual water sprout removal.
2. Remove undesired, large branches from the interior of the tree if necessary. It is usually best to remove all branches at once rather than distributing the cuts over a period of years as is done in top removal. However, if more than four branches must be removed, remove half one year and half the next.
3. Prune low hanging branches and dead, diseased, or broken branches wherever they exist in the tree.
4. Head back lateral branches that are too long in order to bring the tree to a desired breadth. Prune upper branches to shorter lengths than those lower on the tree .
5. Thin out branches in all parts of the tree. Remove under hanging branches, vertically growing shoots, water sprouts, and other weak growth. Thin the outer areas of the tree first, the interior last. Light is needed to develop fruiting wood in any part of the tree.
6. Complete rejuvenation of the neglected tree may take up to three years of rather severe pruning.
7. Follow annual moderate pruning once the tree has been rejuvenated.

Two more views on pruning you can check from my files:
From the North Carolina Co-operative Extension Service, a general guide with some excellent tips.
From the Univ. of Saskatchewan Horticultural Dept., another look at neglected old apple trees.

   Fruit Thinning is important.   

Most fruit trees bear too much fruit. Small, poor quality fruit is the result. Excessive fruit loads reduce the following year's crop and encourage alternate year (biennial) bearing, as well as physical tree damage from excessive weight. If you can't be bothered to pull off the smallest at golf ball size stage (general rule is fruit about 6 inches apart and no clusters greater than threes) an easy way to thin, and probably the best time to do it, is at blossom time - pull off up to 30 % of the blooms. If you thin the fruit (especially blossom thinning) you'll reduce the natural biennial tendency most varieties have, and instead of having a heavy crop of low quality one year, and no crop the following year, you can happily harvest a useable amount of excellent fruit every year. Try it - it works!

And finally, if you're having trouble with deer nibbling your young trees, read this, from Colorado State Univ. Cooperative Extension program, and start building your fence!

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