Consider the spot in your yard where you want to plant your fruit tree. The amount of space you have will dictate the size of tree that will be right for you.
Important things to remember:
When choosing a fruit tree, it’s important to keep in mind when you expect to harvest fruit from it.
When planting multiple self-fertile trees, try selecting trees with different ripening periods to extend the harvest season.
When planting trees that require pollinators, select trees with compatible flowering timelines. Learn more about self-fertile trees versus those that require pollinators below.Chill hours and your geographic location have an impact on how your trees grow and when your tree will mature enough to yield fruit.
Chill hours refers to the amount of hours your area receives that are between 32 and 45 degrees fahrenheit. For example, areas of Sonoma and Mendocino Counties average between 800-1200 chill hours!
Chill hours are very important to commercial growers, less so for home gardeners.
Friedman’s selects varieties that are appropriate for our region and climate.
There are two types of pollination requirements for fruit trees; self-fertile trees and trees that require a pollinator.Self-fertile trees are those that produce compatible flowers and pollen and can pollinate themselves. The tag on the tree you select will tell you which type of pollination is required.
Some examples of self-fertile fruit and nut trees that do not require cross pollination include:
Pollination occurs within the trees flowers, causing the flower to set into fruit. Cross pollination allows a male flowering tree and a female flowering tree, who flower at comparable times, to set fruit.
A few examples of trees that require cross pollination include:
How to get started:
Caring for your dormant fruit trees involves the use of dormant sprays, fertilizer, thinning of fruit, pruning your tree and of course, watering.
Dormant sprays are used to control common pests that might affect your fruit trees. Common pests include aphids, spider mites, and scale.
There are two basic types of dormant sprays; horticulture oil which is used for insect control and copper spray with is used for disease control.
The best time to apply these sprays to your fruit trees is in the late fall and early spring during the months of November, December, January and February.
Fertilizing your dormant fruit trees is essential to maximize tree growth and fruit production.
As a rule of thumb, begin fertilizing at the start of the growth of the tree and always read the package for application instructions.
Fertilizing fruit trees three times from spring to summer is generally sufficient to support adequate growth. You should stop fertilizing around August as the tree growth slows down in preparation for winter.
The best place to apply fertilizer is around the “drip line” of the tree. The drip line is defined as the outermost circumference of the tree’s canopy, from which water drips onto the ground. This circumference represents the most active roots.
Thinning of fruit from your tree is necessary for a few different reasons. By thinning your fruit, it promotes the increase in size of the remaining fruit, helps to maintain fruit production from year to year and to helps to avoid broken branches due to too much weight.
Apple and pear trees should be thinned out to allow one fruit per spur (the short, woody structure where flowers arise), and about one fruit for every 6 inches of branch.
Apricots, peaches, nectarines and plums should be thinned within 30 days after final blooming. These varieties should also be thinned out to about one fruit every 6 inch of branch. These trees have a natural thinning process in early summer, so you may want to be conservative with thinning initially.
Cherry and nut trees generally do not need to be thinned.
Pruning your trees is an essential part of maintaining healthy plants for a variety of reasons.
Benefits to pruning your trees include:
Trees can become unbalanced if not pruned regularly, which can affect future growth and fruit production. Trees that are not pruned can also become more susceptible to disease and may have difficulty recovery from insect attacks.
Fruit and nut trees will grow well if irrigated regularly. Good irrigation practices in California include the application of water at sufficient intervals in order to avoid plant stress. This will ensure the maximum plant growth, fruit size, and yield.
Overwatering and not pruning plants back by 1/3 is the primary cause of newly planted bare root plants not leafing out and bearing fruit. Newly planted bare root trees should only be watered when the soil around the roots becomes almost dry. Given that bare root fruit is planted in Winter, when it is cold and usually rainy, it’s possible your deciduous (plants that lose their leaves) plant may not need watering until early to mid-spring.
When a deciduous tree is without foliage, it needs little to no watering since it is dormant. Excessive watering while a tree is dormant will sour the soil, rot the roots and debilitate the physiology of the tree.
Remember that rainfall counts as a watering!
Once a newly planted bare root plant has foliage, water it more frequently. Generally watering every 5-7 days is adequate. If you are unsure if the tree needs water, check the soil’s moisture level 6-8 inches below the ground.
In areas that experience dry and warm weather during winter/spring, water every three days. Continue to water every 3-4 days throughout the trees first summer OR every other day in dry, hot summer areas.
Established fruit trees might not require watering more than once a month. Again, check the moisture level below the soil to be sure. In areas where spring is cool and there is some rain you might not need to water until May, especially for Cherries and Apricots. The takeaway is to water deeply and infrequently!
Peach leaf curl, also known as leaf curl, is a disease caused by the fungus Taphrina deformans. Peach leaf curl affects the blossoms, fruit, leaves, and shoots of peaches, ornamental flowering peaches, and nectarines, and is one of the most common disease problems for backyard gardeners growing these trees.
Non-Chemical Control Option
Chemical Control Option
Note: Treatment of peach leaf curl should be done only when the tree is dormant. Once buds emerge all treatments will be ineffective until the following Autumn.
Fire Blight is a common and very destructive bacterial disease of apples and pears and some other members of the family Rosaceae.
Non-Chemical Control Option
Chemical Control Option
Note: Copper spray treatments for fire blight are for blossom treatment only. Older infected wood must have the infection cut out. This is usually done in Summer or Winter when the bacteria is no longer spreading.
Codling moths are major pests to agricultural crops, mainly fruits such as apples and pears. The larvae are not able to feed on leaves so they are highly dependent on fruits as a food source and thus have a significant impact on crops.
Non-Chemical Control Option
Chemical Control Option
Note: Sprays are used in 10 day intervals. Do not use sprays more than 10 times in 1 year. Sprays may be used up to one week of harvest. Spinosad base sprays are also available for use. Only use sprays after petal fall from fruits.
Aphids are a minute bug that feeds by sucking sap from plants. It reproduces rapidly and may live in large colonies that cause extensive damage to crops.
Non-Chemical Control Option
Chemical Control Option
The apple maggot, also known as the railroad worm, is a species of fruit fly, and a pest of several types of fruits, mainly apples. They are known to also affect peach, plum, pear, cherry and apricot trees.
Non-Chemical Control Option
Chemical Control Option
Note: Sprays are used in 10 day intervals Do not use sprays more than 10 times in 1 year. Sprays may be used up to one week of harvest. Spinosad base sprays are also available for use. Only use sprays after petal fall from fruits.
