Last Winter, I purchased a variety of bare root fruit trees. In this posting, I'll cover what needs to be done to prepare your fruit trees for Spring.
Transplanting Into Larger Pots
I'm growing a variety of dwarf and semi-dwarf fruit trees. I planted these in 15 gallon Smart Pots; these are fabric pots that keep the soil cooler and provide better drainage than traditional clay pots. They also make it easier to do root pruning which is believed to extend the life of the tree when potted.
My first task was to transplant all the trees into larger pots. So each plant got a new 25 gallon smart pot. Removing the tree from the old pot was easy; I just rolled the fabric down to expose the roots and soil until it became easy to just lift the tree out of the old fabric pot. It's a process that's very similar to creating cuffs on the legs of your pants. This process also "prunes" the roots since any roots that have grown into the fabric of the pot are cut during the process of transplanting the tree. Next year, or the year after that, I'll transplant them again into a 45 gallon Smart Pot. This will be their final home.
Pruning
Fruit trees should be pruned to keep them healthy, pleasingly shaped, and productive. I'm new to growing fruit trees, so I took a 3 hour course on the subject at our local garden store, Common Ground of Palo Alto. Kevin Raferty, an Arborist shown below, taught the basics of pruning and he took us into the garden to demonstrate how to prune various fruit trees such as apples and peaches. If you too are new to fruit trees, I really recommend taking a course like this. It's well worth the $30 I spent.
Here are some tips on pruning trees:
- Under certain conditions, it's fine to prune trees in other seasons, but for beginners, it's best to prune in the Winter when the plant is dormant and insect activity is low.
- There are two basic kinds of pruning cuts. Thinning cuts are done to shape the tree and are done at branch points. The object is to create an overall structure and shape by reducing the number of new shoots and directing their growth. For example you might thin a new branch that is growing too close to another, or one that is growing towards the center of the tree etc. Heading cuts on the other hand, are done to remove a part of the shoot or branch. This is done just above a bud and not at a branch point as is the case in thinning cuts. Heading is done to stimulate growth by forcing the tree to form new shoots. Heading makes the tree more compact, and, for trees that grow fruit on "new wood," heading creates sites for fruit production.
- To effectively prune your trees, you should have a pruning shears and a pruning saw. Two really excellent brands are Felco (Swiss) and ARS (Japanese). I have a pair of the Felco shears and love them. You can remove the blade to sharpen a Felco. You also have the option to buy a new blade and thereby extend the life of the tool. Good tools are 2 to 3 times the cost of cheaper ones on the market but they are worth the money. You buy a good pruning shears once and then have it forever.
- It's important to know where to prune so you don't eliminate the sites on which your trees will bear fruit. Unfortunately, pruning varies by tree specie. Below is a list of commonly grown fruits and their fruiting habit:
- Current season's shoots - most citrus, persimmons, grapes and raspberries produce fruit only on new growth. (see photo A)
- Long lived spurs - spurs look like shall branches with pointed ends. Apples, apricots, cherries, pears and plums all bear on spurs. These sites produce fruit year after year. (see photo B)
- Previous seasons shoots - avocados, figs, filberts, nectarines, olives and peaches all bear fruit on last years growth. These trees need to be managed so that they are constantly forced to create new growth from which you will harvest. (see photo C)
The above photo comes from the book, The Home Orchard published by the University of California. The book is designed for home gardeners and covers is a very good resource for beginners. If you would like to buy a copy of the book from Amazon.com for $25.
Dealing with Pests
After pruning your trees, you have an opportunity to use a dormant tree oil to protect them from pests such as aphids, mites, white fly and other nasties. Bonide makes a dormant oil that environmentally friendly. Its essentially an oil and wax mixture that suffocates bugs and their eggs. This needs to be applied before the tree leafs out.
If you are an experienced fruit grower, please feel free to to comment to this post.
Above is a photo of granny smith apples still on the tree in Winter. Granny Smith apples are frequently sold under-ripe in the grocery store. Ripe they are yellow, not green.
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