Fruit Trees!!!!!

[smom1976]

Oh how cool.. I just got off the phone with someone in Crestview.. they are going to sell me some fruit trees for 5$ a piece.. I will be getting 3 apple and 2 peach.. This is part of the plan to become more self sufficient.. peaches and apples sound nice.. they are 4-6 foot bare root trees.. how many years do you think it will take for them to start producing fruit.. and how far appart do I need to plant them?

I am excited.. he didnt have any more plum.. but that would have been nice too..

 

[Rosalind]

Do you know how old the trees are? 4-6 foot sounds like about 3 years old, but it depends on the rootstock. A standard or semidwarf rootstock can let a 2 year old tree get pretty tall. How far apart, again, depends on rootstock and also depends on how much pruning and training you want to do. If you are eager to practice a lot of pruning and training, and you don't want very many fruits per tree or have a small space, you can plant them as close as a couple of feet apart. If you don't want to prune more than once a year and have plenty of space for them to spread out, then it depends on the rootstock. Standard trees have to be, hmm, about 30-40 feet apart till all is said and done. I have my dwarf trees spaced about 10-12 feet apart.

Trees really should not be allowed to bear fruit, or not allowed to bear more than a few fruits (I know, it's hard to get your first apples and have to rip them off--just a couple are OK to leave ripen) until they're about 5 years old. You want them to establish a good root system first. Their first real crop at the 5 year point, you should thin off 1/2 - 2/3 of the fruits also: they grow in clusters, so thin them down to one little green fruit per cluster. If you don't thin them out, you'll get a bunch of puny little things that are quite disappointing, with oogy spots where the fruits touch each other, and it puts more wear and tear on the tree than is really healthy. Use those green fruits for pectin for jam, or give 'em to the critters.

 

[Patch of Heaven Farm]

How exciting!! I hope to plant my first fruit trees in a few days!! Good luck!! :watering

 

[simple life]

Rosalind, I am glad that you posted that information. I bought some pear trees last spring because I just like the way they look but since they will bear fruit as an added bonus I should know what to do.
I had read somewhere that you should thin them out but forgot all about that.

Good score on getting those trees for $5.00, I wish I could get a deal like that.

Rosalind, how is the snow in your area?

 

[Rosalind]

We got another 18" this weekend. Argh! At least the weather warmed up...sorta...

 

[simple life]

I was just saying that myself, its always warmer when it snows so there is that.
It snowed all night again, so the guys are shoveling us out as I write.
The kids keep asking why it always snows on the weekend and not during the week so that school would get cancelled and they could have snow days.
I just realized that they are right. We have never had enough snow during the week to cancel school, just enough to cause some school delays and even that was due to the ice conditions and not the snow.

 

[beak]

Since your on the subject of fruit trees. We have 2 apple trees that we planted 4 years ago. They were 3 years old when we got them. Ball burlap. They are golden delicious and pink lady or something, we can't remember, just that his has pink in the name. They have been producing apples that are about the size of apricots, green, very hard and sour. Last autumn is the 1st time I pruned. We were thinking that maybe they weren't pollinating. The other issue is it is real windy here at times and it blows a lot of fruit off, but last year some of the fruit stayed on through summer and never got any bigger or better. Oh something real stupid. When I planted the trees I neglected to cut the wire lattice holding the burlap in place. I know I scored the root ball so I can't figure out how I left that wire on. At any rate it was in-bedded in the bark. I removed it and sprayed the wound with some of that black waxy stuff.

Any ideas ? We have since planted a Fuji, Gala and Granny Smith in the same area.

 

[curly_kate]

I was just saying that myself, its always warmer when it snows so there is that.
It snowed all night again, so the guys are shoveling us out as I write.
The kids keep asking why it always snows on the weekend and not during the week so that school would get cancelled and they could have snow days.
I just realized that they are right. We have never had enough snow during the week to cancel school, just enough to cause some school delays and even that was due to the ice conditions and not the snow.

Funny that you mention that SL. This winter, were getting our bad weather on Tuesdays. We're bracing for some ugly stuff tomorrow and Weds. Every winter here, snow comes on the same day of the week. I guess it's a matter of the jet stream or weather patterns or something.

I'm going to buy 2-3 dwarf peaches or pears to plant this summer. I'd love to plant a whole orchard, but I know I need to start small. Just enough to pollinate.