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fruit trees
cameraman wrote:
I live in southeast Kentucky at about 1000' elevation. I planted golden and red delicious and fuji apples, I also planted peaches, necterines, apricots, and plums. I would have to look up my records to remember which kind of those. Thanks, Sue On Mon, 02 Aug 2004 17:34:49 -0700, David Ross wrote: cameraman wrote: I planted an orchard this spring with bare root stock. I know nothing about growning fruit, I just like to pick and eat it. What do I need to do for the trees and when? I did prune them back as I planted them and have seen to it that they have plenty of water. Now what? This varies according to both your climate and the varieties of fruit. Please provide additional information. I can't help you with the apples. We don't get enough winter chill to grow them, which is fine because I'm not really fond of apples. Peaches and nectarines have the same cultural requirements. Actually, a nectarine is merely a fuzzless variety of peach. They need severe annual pruning, just before the buds begin to swell. Your initial pruning should have removed any leader (main vertical stem). Apricots and plums also need a lot of pruning each year but not quite as much as peaches. Go to a large public library, and check to see if they have books on pruning in their gardening section. Right after pruning, you should use a dormant spray that includes a fungicide. All stone fruits need this. (I use a mix of dormant oil and copper sulfate). Repeat this spraying just as the flower buds start to show dark pink. Check with your county's agricultural agency to see if you need to spray your trees for bark borers (I must); if this is needed, do it right after the flower petals fall. Other spraying might be needed to prevent insects from damanging the fruit. When the fruit on the peach and nectarine trees is about the size of an almond in the shell, thin the fruit by twisting. Leave about 6 inches of branch between each fruit. What remains will grow larger, but the pits will remain the same size. You might even get more edible fruit than by not thinning because of the increased amount of flesh without any increased amount of pits. Apricots should also be thinned while still quite immature. Thinning also prevents branches from breaking under the weight of excess fruit. I'm not sure about thinning plums. For feeding, I use a general lawn food just as leaves start to sprout. However, your feeding depends on your soil type. Your county agricultural agency can advise you about this. To keep birds from damaging my peaches, I hang unwanted CDs from the outer branches of my tree. I drill a small hole near the edge of each CD and use about 6-9 inches of kite twine to hang it. The CD moves in the breezes and flashes sunlight, scaring the birds. Some people use foil strips. -- David E. Ross Climate: California Mediterranean Sunset Zone: 21 -- interior Santa Monica Mountains with some ocean influence (USDA 10a, very close to Sunset Zone 19) Gardening pages at http://www.rossde.com/garden/ |
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