A couple of weeks ago we had the opportunity and pleasure to have @papa-pepper, @momma-pepper, @little-peppers @dwells, @essentialoilmom, @beardo, @jeejee and their families down for a visit.
While they were here @papa-pepper and I decided to prune my orchard. It needed its yearly pruning and it hadn't been done yet.
We pruned twenty-two fruit trees in all. Pears, Apples, cherry, plum, apricot, nectarine, almond, peach, persimmon and several nut trees. They are all young trees just three seasons old. Pruning is extremely important for the health and vigor of your trees. You can actually damage and or set back your trees fruit production by not pruning them.
Pruning also helps to stimulate growth for the next season.
Lets talk about how to prune your fruit trees.
First, how do you make the cuts? What angle do you make the cuts and where? I've posted a nice guide below to help with those questions.
Secondly what type of pruning? There are two main ways to prune fruit trees. You can prune "open center" or Vase or central leader. It mainly depends on what kind of tree and how it naturally grows for the best fruit production.
A Vase or open center looks like this. The trees that you want to prune open center are apricots, nectarines, peaches, sour cherries, and Japanese plums prefer an open center/vase shape.
The other type of pruning is central leader or main leader pruning. Trees like apples, sweet cherries, pears, and European plums benefit from a central leader pruning structure. Here is a good guide to get the feel for what a central leader pruning looks like.
We were able to get a ton of cuttings from all the trees and I'm going to try and get them to "root" so we can plant them as "new"trees this spring. Here is a picture of some of the cuttings.
I hope this helps you and please feel free to ask questions Thank you,
Check out my Interview HERE with @papa-pepper.
Join Link: https://discord.gg/VKCrWsS
Community Link: http://homesteaders-online.com
Beautiful! I hope to have an orchard one day. This is an amazing skill to have. It would be terrible to put in the hard work and then have the tree grow funky and die.
The best time to start an Orchard was ten years ago. The second best time is immediately❗️
Haha
Thanks, very helpful... what is the best time to start planting fruit trees?
After your last frost when the ground is above 46-50 or plant dormant trees around November.
People have a lot of different reasons as to why the prefer spring as to winter planting.
Personally I prefer spring because I feel like you can nurture it along more and watch it leaf out and grow.
Awesome, thanks. we want to start planting this spring but still newbies and need to do more research. Appreciate the advice!
Great job! I live prunjng my trees! It’s therapy for me! Have you considered that your fruit trees that you bought may be grafted onto a hardy rootstock? If you propagate from the tree, you won’t get the same results as the tree you propagated from.
All the trees are grafted unto rootstock. Why wouldn’t I get an apple tree from a apple cutting?
What he said! I said you may not get the same results...you may get fruit just not as much or as big as the grafted ones. Some rootstocks are even adapted to certain climates. Like the ones I have. Some wouldn’t grow or be as hardy here in the heat and humidity of SE Texas. It may pay to invest in some rootstock for your cuttings or research if the cultivars will even work in your location without rootstock.
Correct
you will, and it will bear the same type of apple. It just might have a weaker root system, or one susceptible to a certain pest... or it may be just fine :) most fruit trees are grafted as opposed to straight clones in order to get benefits from both the root stock and the scion
Correct but I’m getting 20-30 free trees even if only 3 survive i’ll Be happy oh and next year will be another 30-40 trees. I’m not having to spend the money on grafted trees or rootstock.
I may have a pear root stock available. Then you can bud graft using your existing trees...
Great info. We have wanted to start an orchard since we moved here, but we live at the top of a hill and get massive amounts of wind, so we've got to find a spot with some cover. How much watering does this require? We have another 40 acres about a mile away, but would I have to go there every day at first?? Ps...I spy tzittzits!
Now you just need to add bees to your Arsenal. I may bee able to help you with them next year.
I would love to get some bee’s. You guys about ready to settle down over this way?
I’ve always wanted to try to grow fruit trees but have been afraid of the labor intensity- thanks for the instructional post!
The planting would be the hardest or most labor intensive part of it.