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Taking Care Of Your Fruit Trees During Establishment

 

Having looked on how to grow fruit trees in the previous articles in this article let now how to take good care of them.Let follow the following steps:

  • After planting, and in the first couple of years during establishment, keep your trees well-watered during dry weather. To keep weeds down and conserve moisture, apply an 8cm (3”) mulch of organic garden compost to the base of the tree in spring, but make sure it doesn’t touch the stem.

  • Remove any blossom that develops on the trees during the first two years after planting – although it is very pretty, it will help your tree establish better if it doesn’t produce any fruit during this time.

  • Keep an eye on the tree ties – loosen any which begin to get too tight as they can easily strangle the trunk.



Growing In Containers

If you don’t have much space, you can grow small dwarf fruit trees in pots (use a tree on a very dwarfing rootstock) and soft fruit such as strawberries, cane and bush fruit in containers.

  • Choose a 30-40cm container of wood, plastic, or terracotta and place a layer of crocks or gravel in the base for drainage, before filling with planting mix (use a heavy multi-purpose compost, mixed with topsoil and garden compost).

  • Plant the trees, canes or bushes to the depth of the old soil mark, with the exception of blackcurrants which should be planted 5cm (2”) deeper. It is a good idea to use a stake for support where necessary – a bamboo cane (with cane cap on the end) or something slightly thicker will do.

  • Water the pot regularly (daily in hot weather) and feed every two weeks during the growing season with a high potash feed (tomato food is good). Do not allow the pot to become waterlogged – place the pot on bricks to help drainage if necessary.

  • If your potted trees produce a lot of fruit, you will need to remove some of it to prevent the branches breaking (it is best to thin out the fruitlets (immature or ‘baby’ fruits) in June, before they get too big – pinch out surplus fruits to leave one or two fruits per cluster).

  • Follow the advice given for pruning according to the fruit grown (eg for apples and pears, prune in winter, as outlined for a ‘bush’ .

  • Cheap Website Traffic Protect terracotta containers from frosty weather during the winter – either by moving to a shed or greenhouse or by wrapping in sacking or bubblewrap, otherwise they will shatter.

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