Growing your own fruit can feel overwhelming at first, but it can also be very rewarding. Fruit trees aren’t something you can plant and then forget about. Maximizing your trees’ fruit production requires planning, including for space purposes and what you’ll be using the fruit for. Do you plan to enjoy the fruit only during the summer, or do you plan to sell and/or preserve it?
What can you grow?
If you’re planting fruit trees instead of “inheriting” them, one of the first questions you’ll need to answer is what kind of fruit you can grow. You must, for instance, consider factors like climate and soil. Deciduous fruits are forgiving — as in, they grow well in a variety of climates — and are, thus, a great place to start.
Here are examples of deciduous fruits:
- Apples, pears, and crabapples
- Stone fruits, like plums, peaches, cherries, apricots and nectarines
- Berries, including blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, raspberries and mulberries
- Figs, persimmon, guava or pomegranate
- Vine fruit such as grapes, muscadines, and kiwi
Citrus fruits — lemons, limes, oranges, and grapefruit — are not deciduous but can grow in most environments if offered the right conditions.
Soil
Soil is the key to gardening success, and no matter which soil you’re starting with — sand, clay, or shale — it’s possible to amend soil to grow fruit trees.
Weather/climate
When it comes to growing fruit, weather is a big factor … and risk. It can make or break your crop. Will you have enough rain? Too much rain? Will you experience a late frost or freeze? To best combat this, plant a variety of different fruit trees in your orchard. That way, if one doesn’t do so well, another may have a very productive year. Also be sure your garden has a variety of water sources and compost, manure, and microbes in the soil.
Thinning
Don’t get ahead of yourself when you see one limb bearing a lot of fruit. Thinning is crucial and involves choosing the best fruits to continue growing while plucking smaller/weaker fruits from the tree. Remember that the tree will still put out the same amount of energy, whether it puts it into the fruit you leave on the tree — making these fruits bigger — or into big bunches of smaller fruit.
Pruning
The first pruning — just after you plant a fruit tree — is the most important pruning you will perform on your tree because it will establish the shape your tree will take. After that, your tree will simply need maintenance pruning, which is needed usually once a year and helps the tree keep its shape and remain fruitful.
“Renovation pruning” may be needed if the fruit tree has been abandoned or neglected for a long period of time.
Pests/Diseases
Just like we love fruits, so do pests and diseases. Different fruit trees will attract different pests, and the internet contains a plethora of information on how to deal with them. For the most part, you just need to understand the basics to avoid larger problems down the road.
Arborists in Kingsport, Johnson City, and Bristol, Tennessee
Growing your own fruit can be a rewarding — and even profitable — experience. Interested to know more about caring for fruit trees? Call our professional ISA-certified arborists in the Tri-cities area at Promier Tree for a consultation. We can be reached at (423) 872-2988, or contact us online today.