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Post by desertwoman on Mar 13, 2018 18:40:38 GMT -5
We pruned two more fruit trees today This is a 'Pink Lady' apple planted 7 years ago as a 2 year old "whip" This tree naturally wants to grow quite narrow and tight. Rather than using spacers to widen it, we have been achieving that with pruning, only. It now has a rounder more open look. And with yearly pruning you cut out any crossing branches and inward growing branches, aiming to "open it up" so that a bird could fly through it. This also allows sun to get in to the center of the tree Before pruning: after: close-up before: close up after:
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Post by deckman22 on Mar 17, 2018 20:51:40 GMT -5
Desertwoman, how many years after transplanting before your tree started to produce apples?
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Post by desertwoman on Mar 17, 2018 21:33:12 GMT -5
deckman22, We got the first apples the third year but just a few- maybe 4 or 5 apples, then more after that.
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Post by deckman22 on Mar 25, 2018 10:31:01 GMT -5
The hardware store where I bought couple of the apple trees that I planted had signs showing what other varieties they will pollenate with. Sign said galas would pollenate red delicious. Since the first two I planted were galas I bought and planted a red delicious tree. However the sign did not say it would pollenate from a gala. It listed granny smith and honey crisp to use to pollenate with. Couldn't find a honey crisp tree so I got the granny smith tree. Here lays the problem I'm noticing, the gala trees bloom very early and the red delicious blooms much later. Same with the granny smith which will be good for those two trees, but I'm not sure the gala tree will get pollenated. Should I find another tree that will pollenate the gala trees and plant them?
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Post by binnylou on Dec 20, 2018 21:48:04 GMT -5
I noticed yesterday that the buds on the peach tree are looking a bit swollen. I think our trees are confused by these warm temperatures.
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Post by desertwoman on Dec 20, 2018 21:54:36 GMT -5
It's always scary to me when they do that, but they do seem to do OK in the spring.
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Post by binnylou on Dec 21, 2018 0:18:05 GMT -5
I hope they are fine. I didn't look at the apple trees.
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Post by James on Dec 21, 2018 10:44:45 GMT -5
All you can do is watch and hope.
35 degrees here this morning. Unseasonably warm for this country.
Hello winter!
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Post by SpringRain🕊️ on Dec 25, 2018 20:08:31 GMT -5
I need to try fruit trees again. When I first moved in, there were one each of a plum, cherry and another variety of fruit tree, but all had insects. The cherry tree lasted for several years, even though it was diseased, and produced about 12 quarts of tart cherries annually. Eventually it succumbed to whatever was inhabiting it. At the time I moved into my house, I really didn't know that much about organic methods for healing diseased trees, but this time I'll be more prepared. Also, any thoughts on dwarf trees? I'd prefer them to larger trees; I'm not particularly enthused about climbing up trees to harvest the fruit at my advanced age.
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Post by desertwoman on Dec 25, 2018 22:46:38 GMT -5
any thoughts on dwarf trees? I'd prefer them to larger trees; I'm not particularly enthused about climbing up trees to harvest the fruit at my advanced age. Semi dwarf trees usually produce more fruit than dwarf trees. We planted semi-dwarf fruit trees when we moved in here. Most grow 12-15 feet tall We simply and easily keep them pruned to about 8 ft- which is the size of a dwarf fruit tree.
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Post by SpringRain🕊️ on Dec 26, 2018 22:33:46 GMT -5
desertwoman , semi-dwarf trees it is then. a 15' high tree pruned to 8 feet high would work well, blocking out neighbors but still being reachable...unless I shrink more as I age. Do you use any particular type of organic spray, or have pests not been an issue? But I suppose it depends on the particular tree and fruit.
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Post by desertwoman on Dec 26, 2018 23:04:20 GMT -5
Do you use any particular type of organic spray, or have pests not been an issue? But I suppose it depends on the particular tree and fruit. It depends somewhat on the kind of tree i.e coddling moths in apple and pear trees , peach borers in peach, cherry, plum trees, but aphids can hit any fruit tree. So it will depend on what the issue is and what kind of tree it is. Get them planted into healthy soil and then deal with whatever comes up if/when it does.
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Post by martywny on Dec 27, 2018 9:05:11 GMT -5
Also, any thoughts on dwarf trees? I'd prefer them to larger trees; I'm not particularly enthused about climbing up trees to harvest the fruit at my advanced age. You can do pretty much anything you want with a fruit tree, just think Bonsai. I worked part-time at a local orchard and we had 40,000 apple trees grown espalier style on wires. We had three wires, at about 2', 4' and 6' and the tree branches were trained to grow along those wires. It takes some time to train them and keep them pruned, but your fruit will always be close at hand. My trees are dwarf and I let them go free form but keep them well pruned. As they say, you need to be able to throw a cat through the tree after pruning.
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Post by deckman22 on Dec 29, 2018 11:53:24 GMT -5
So when is the best time to prune? I still have a few leaves on the apple trees. The pear and peach trees dropped all their leaves well over a month ago.
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Post by desertwoman on Dec 29, 2018 17:10:50 GMT -5
I still have a few apple leaves , too, with 8 inches of snow on the ground! Here's what I wrote about when to prune (though I suspect your milder Texas temps will give you more leeway) organicgroup.freeforums.net/post/80161
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