Fruit Growing – Simplify Gardening

Learning how to plant a bare root fruit tree can set you up for years upon years of harvests for very little effort. But in order to get this harvest you have to increase your chances by giving the bare root tree the best start in life. In this blog post I am going to show you exactly what you need to know. So, you too can benefit from fresh fruit all year long. Imagine being able to make all those homemade apple pies. Those that fill the kitchen with that home cooked baking aromas. You are not far away from that. Most people’s fear about planting tree are the costs associated. By far the cheapest way to plant a tree is with bare root trees. When to Buy Bare Root Fruit Trees? Timing is everything when it comes to buying your fruit tree. They can be planted between November and March, so it is a perfect project to do while the garden is usually at its slowest productivity. Early November you will start to see the big box store or dollar stores selling varieties of bare root apple, pear, plum and cherry to name a few. You may also find some very good online tree suppliers making bare root trees available for sale around this time. Be mindful that some of these companies will take payment for trees but may not deliver until March. I had something like this happen to me a few years ago. The trees did not arrive until early May. This was way too late to plant as bare root at this time. I needed to return them, so ensure you know when delivery will be first What you will need to plant your bare root fruit tree Bare Root Fruit TreeSpadeTree StakeHammerSawTree TiesMulchWatering can or hose Below I break down the basics steps for planting a fruit tree. These are the steps I follow each time. I have planted over 40 of my own fruit trees in my garden and it works every time. https://youtu.be/9ulsgG1UW1I How to Grow Cordon Fruit Trees (Complete Guide) Steps for planting bare root fruit trees Pick a site you would like for your tree or orchardEnsure there are no underground utilities.Unpack delivered bare root fruit treeStore fruit trees before plantingSoak the bare roots in a bucket of water to hydrateDig a planting holeLook for the graft, this is a swollen area on the trunk.Place tree into hole at the proper height.Ensure that the tree is set at the correct angleFertilize the hole and backfillStake the tree.Mulch the base of the tree.Continue to water for the next year How to Grow Cordon Fruit Trees (Complete Guide) In this episode of UK Here We Grow, Tony O'Neill takes you through planting and pruning cordon fruit trees. He gives you all the tips and tricks to ensure you set yourself up for great crops in the coming years. Picking a site for your tree or orchard Fruit trees are long-standing plants, getting their location right the first time is of paramount importance. The last thing you want to do is have to dig the tree up once it’s been established in the ground. In order to select the right location, we first need to understand what size of tree we want to grow, and how we intend to grow them. Most trees will require a minimum of 6 hours of sunlight a day, check your garden to see where the sun falls, avoid shaded areas. Be aware that the sun moves and what is in direct sunlight now maybe in total shade in an hour’s time. Check the area for a minimum of 6 hours to ensure it stays in the sun for at least this period. Whether your garden is sloped or flat will also play a part in selecting your location. It is important to realize that drainage may be an issue if planting your trees at the bottom of a slope. Knowing your garden, you should be aware of puddles from where you wish to plant. If this is the case, try to avoid these areas. Other things to consider would be overhead power and telephone lines, and nearby structures that the trees may interfere with when they mature. Are you planning any home improvements in the future that the tree may cause an issue with? If so, consider this when choosing your location to avoid these areas. Ensure there are no underground utilities It is amazing how many services can run under your property, powerlines, phone lines and sewer works can all run through your garden without you even knowing about them. It would be a good idea to ensure that you check for these with the deeds of your home or the local authority before digging any holes for trees. Unpacking Your Bare Root Fruit Tree Your trees will come packaged usually wrapped in plastic and then placed into a cardboard box for shipping. It is important to unpack these as soon as you receive your delivery. Be careful when removing the plastic from the trees to ensure you don’t snap the branches or roots. How to store bare root trees before planting? When you receive your order, it is important to store your bare root trees properly. You may not be ready to plant right away. Adverse weather conditions or work commitments may prevent you from doing so. If this is the case, you have a couple of options on storing them. If its short-term storage for a few days, then you can place the trees into a cool frost-free garage. The trees are dormant, and they will be fine for a few days like this. However, if you cannot plant for weeks at a time, then you should heal in the trees. This simply means digging a shallow trench the depth of the roots. place the trees into that trench and back fill the trench. This does not have to be a permanent home, rather it’s just a holding spot and will suffice until you have the proper time available in which to plant the tree in its desired location properly. Ensure you also water in the trees if rain is not forecasted. Soak the bare roots in a bucket of water to hydrate When you are ready to plant your trees, it is a good idea to rehydrate the root system by soaking the tree in a bucket of water for half an hour before planting, this ensures that the roots do not dry out during the planting process. Dig a planting hole. Knowing exactly where you are planting your tree as discussed earlier will dictate exactly where the hole will need to be dug. If you're planting a whole orchard in a diamond pattern, for instance, you may need to measure this out first. But if it is a single tree you can simply dig the hole. When digging your hole, you need to dig it as deep as the root system ensuring it is not too deep so that the graft stays above the soil surface. You do not want to bury the graft. Dig the hole twice the width of the roots so that the roots can be spread out to give them a great start to grow in all directions. Ensure your hole is deep, level and three times the size of the roots Mix in some compost to the bottom of the hole and the soil that was removed from the hole to help enrich the medium. You can add a slow-release feed to this soil also. It is not a good idea to add lots of manure to the hole. The idea is to get the roots to grow out looking for food rather than staying in the planting hole. By overfeeding at this point can hurt the tree. Place the tree into the hole and ensure the graft is above the soil level. Backfill the hole making sure that there are no air pockets around the roots. A small stick or chopstick can help coax soil around the roots as you backfill. Look for the graft A graft is an area of the trunk a few inches from the roots, this is a way of propagating new trees. Scion wood from a known fruiting tree is selected for the fruit and is grafted to a rootstock. As the tree grows the graft swells and a small bulge can be seen. It is important to ensure you keep this graft above the soil level This is because you don’t want the scion wood from rooting as you want to use the rootstock that you chose for the characteristics of the tree. But more on this later. Staking the Trees. Young trees are prone to wind rock while trying to establish their root systems. This can not only uproot trees but can snap off roots under the soil level. As we are planting them in November to March this is prime time for storms. To protect the trees, we need to stake them. Dwarf and semi-dwarf trees do not grow very well without being staked. Choose a stake that is around 6ft in length and made of treated softwood. The reason for its length is that as the tree grows its leader needs to be tied to the stake to prevent it whipping back and forth in the winds. This can snap and the tree becoming more of a bonsai. We need treated timber to prevent the wood rotting while it is in the wet ground. Why mulch your tree? Mulching around your tree has many benefits. It will retain moisture in the soil. Makes it look more attractive if planted with a lawn. Will even help to cut down on weeds. Using mulch can sometimes cause some issues though so it’s important to do it correctly. When considering a mulch, purchase a medium mulch as fine mulches get compacted and starve your tree's roots of oxygen. Don’t pile the mulch up against the trunk of the tree as this will allow the fungus to grow and attack the trees trunk system. Leave a diameter of 2 inches around the trunk of the tree and place a layer of mulch around 4 feet in diameter around the tree. Don’t pile your mulch in a mound it is far better to be level and aim for 4 inches in depth. If weeds grow through the mulch remove them when seen as this is a barrier from weeds. You do not want to allow them to establish. Every now and again take a rake and rake over your mulch, this helps to prevent compaction and allows air and water movement to the root system of your tree. Keeping your tree's roots healthy is of paramount importance. How to water your tree Don’t assume the rain will be enough to water your trees. Especially when they are mature. It is important to ensure your trees get adequate moisture when they are growing fast. In the first few months, the tree's roots will be contained mainly to the planting hole. You should ensure this is kept moist at all times. Do not water right up to the trunk though as this can cause rotting off as the tree gets established. As the time goes on the tree will push roots out further and further. Think of a trees root system as large as its canopy. Water the ground deeply each time aim to get at least 10 inches of soil wet and water out as far as the canopies edge as the tree matures. You may need to do this for at least two growing seasons. Knowing when your tree requires water is a simple job too. Simply take a steel rod around 8 or 10 inches long and push this into the soil. If it’s easy to push in, then the soil is damp enough. If it’s too dry, then you will find it difficult to push the rod into the soil. This tells you it’s time to water again. Different ways to form bare root fruit trees. There are many different ways to plant bare-root fruit trees. This will be dependent on the rootstock you choose to have as your tree. But below is a list of different growing options Standard Cordon Espalier Fan Step over Espalier Apple Standard Fruit Trees The standard tree is what most people will see in nature, this is an upright tree that is free to grow to its desired height and pruned for shape. They can have a trunk over a meter in diameter and these trees can get up to 8 meters in height. Due to their size, they can be difficult to maintain Cordon Fruit Trees This is a single stem tree planted at 45-degree angle and is pruned to have no branches. This can only be done with spur fruiting trees. They are pruned to create fruiting spurs around 2 inches in length and can be grown against walls or wire trellis. They are ideal for small spaces and can be very decorative in the garden. Providing you with fruit for very little room Espalier Fruit Trees These trees like cordons can be grown against walls or trellis. They take up more space than a cordon as they have branches that protrude from the trunk. Usually in pairs and run horizontally. Allow these to grow until the desired height is reached. Like cordons, espaliers need constant pruning to keep in shape. They can be used to section off garden making a great living wall Fan Fruit Trees Fans have shortened trunks, and from this trunk are several branches that are grown and trained to create the fan shape, they are tied to a wire trellis or wall to start their life until the wood lignifies. Once it’s of a certain age the tree will hold this shape. Again, spur fruiting varieties are much better to be used here. Fruit Tree Rootstocks We have decided where and how we wish to grow our trees. Now we need to choose a rootstock in order to give us our required outcome. Rootstock is what controls the vigour of the tree. It dictates how fast and large your tree will grow. Below is a list of fruit tree rootstock Varieties of bare root fruit trees There are many fruits trees the home gardener can grow. They will all do well grown in one of the forms listed above. The following list will allow you to choose what you want to grow, and you can pair that with the rootstocks above. You will then know exactly what to look for when buying your bare root fruit tree. ApplesPearsApricotPeach CherryPlumQuinceMedlar How long before bare-root trees get leaves This will depend on when you plant your trees. They will be dormant through most of the winter but will usually take around 6 weeks after planting. But if your planting in early spring expect to see your first leaves in early summer. How long before bare-root trees produce fruit Depending on which rootstock your tree is grafted onto will determine the length of time, this will range between 2 and 7 years after planting. Some bare root fruit trees will fruit much earlier while some apples can take longer. When to prune fruit trees This, of course, will depend on which rootstock and way of growing you have decided, but as a rule of thumb, there are two times in which to prune your trees. Late summer pruning will produce fruit the following year, while a winter pruning will produce growth the following year. How to Prune Fruit trees It will depend on the method you are growing your trees, but I can break this down to a basic form for each method. Over time as I write future blogs, I will link those in which will be in much more detail. Pruning Standard Fruit Trees Ideally, we want to achieve an open goblet shape in your tree, this promotes good airflow and prevents disease and fungus from being able to take over. As the tree reaches its desired height, Prune out the leader. This will stop the tree from getting taller.Look for diseased wood and remove back to the trunk or nearest branch that is disease-freeRemove any crossing branches and those that are affecting the goblet shapeFinally, prune the tips of the branches to an Outwood facing bud. This will stop further branches growing into the middle of the goblet. Dwarf Standard Apple Pruning Cordon Fruit Trees Cordons are basically a spur fruiting trunk, they need to be pruned in Fall to get the growth going, and again in summer to cause the spurs to be created to fruit. Any side shoots around 8 or 9 inches long can be pruned back to 3 leaves above the normal leaf clusterDo not prune anything shorter than 8 inches until later in the year, at which point it can then be pruned back to 1 leaf above the clusterPrune back any growth if it grows after the summer pruneAs your leader grows keep it tied in until it’s at its desired length, you can then treat this as any other shoot on the tree and prune it as above.The only time you need to prune after October is when there has been a lot of growth after the summer prune. Pruning Fan Fruit Trees Fans have a short main trunk so the leader is not allowed to get too big, pruning a fan can take some time to get established. They only require summer pruning to ensure plenty of fruiting spurs are produced for the following year. As cordons, prune side shoots that are around 9 inches in lengthPrune anything that grows from the branches to around 3 leaves, this will create a fruiting spurAnything that comes from lateral spurs prune back to 1 leaf above the basal cluster.As fans mature, you may need to thin out fruiting spurs to provide room for the fruit and to allow airflow Pruning Espalier Trees Pruning espaliers is very similar to both cordons and Fans. The main issue is to ensure you have a good structure on 3 or 4 layers to tie the branches too Cut back side-shoots to 3 leaves above the basal plate. Anything previously pruned should be taken back to 1 leaf above the plate.As with cordons and Fans if secondary growth occurs after summer pruning then remove this by OctoberIf there are a large amount of immature growth in August do not prune until they have established by September. Espalier Apple Against Wall. Great for small spaces Conclusion Within this blog post, I have aimed to provide you with a basic knowledge of bare root fruit trees and how to look after them. You should be able to choose your tree; know exactly what stock you require and how to plant and look after it. If you enjoyed this blog post, please consider subscribing for further updates. And If you got value from it please share with a friend or on social media, this will help me grow my little website. Thanks, and happy growing