If the Floyd family of five years ago could talk with the Floyd family of today about home orchards, the Floyds of five years ago would have saved a lot of trouble. Now perhaps we can save you that trouble!
We feel that the very first thing people should do when they buy a piece of land — even before the house is built, when possible — is plant a small orchard. The sooner planted, the sooner you will get fruit. The length of time you have to wait before your fruit trees bear seems to discourage a lot of people. But even if you should move before your fruit trees do bear, they’ll increase the value of your place many times beyond their cost.
As for the care of fruit trees, our nursery gave us a lecture before they would take our order. He said, “Remember, you can’t simply plant fruit trees and forget about them. You have to spray them — just as you do garden plants — and prune them once a year in addition.” It wasn’t until after we assured them we would do this that they would take our order.
More likely than not, your own local nursery will take a real interest in your fruit-growing project. It is a good idea to buy from them rather than a far away nursery selling by mail because not only will you get some good advice from your local nursery from time to time, but they know which varieties do best in your particular locality. Many local nurseries today buy their young stock from famous nurseries all over the country, so if you want something special they’ll get it for you.
We had a lot of fun considering what and how many trees to plant. Before we decided which variety of apples, we visited a commercial apple orchard, bought four or five varieties, tasted them, and cooked them.
We learned that commercial growers give the appearance of an apple — or any fruit — undue importance. With them, looks seem to rate as high as taste. Probably because appearance sells the apple at the fruit stand. Obviously, the first thing we were interested in was taste . . . next came keeping qualities . . . looks were last on our list.
In selecting the varieties, we kept in mind the fact that certain apples ripen in July, others in August, September, and October. By planting five apple trees, we would have apples in summer and fall — and also a late apple which would keep over the winter.
After considerable reading and a lot of talks with our local nursery, the following is a list of the standard fruit trees we believe sufficient to furnish a large family with enough produce for eating, canning, and storage: three apples, four peaches, three pears, two sour cherries, one sweet cherry, and two plum. In Southern states, you can have citrus, apricots, nectarines, and figs. Be sure not to plant your young trees too close to the house or to other trees.
Even though all the fruit catalogs tell you that you can plant in either spring or fall, spring is preferred in most sections. Planting should be done as early as the ground can be worked on and before growth has started in the plants. Don’t use fertilizer when planting. Use fine earth and tramp earth solidly about the roots with your feet, shovel by shovel. Set trees about an inch deeper than they were in the nursery.
Keep a three-foot circle cultivated around the tree trunk. In the fall mulch them with poultry house litter. From the second year on, cultivate regularly and fertilize at the end of June by using a barnyard manure mulch. This serves to keep in moisture during hot dry spells in July and August and provides additional food. You will be surprised at how much faster this will bring your trees to bear.
Dwarf Fruit Trees
Now, after many years of experimental work, really good dwarf fruit trees are available. The two exciting things about dwarf fruit trees are that they take very little space and they bear fruit a year or two after you plant them whereas with standard trees you have to wait four to eight years!
Dwarf trees have many advantages and a few disadvantages when a detailed comparison is made with standard trees. Let’s look at the advantages:
Dwarf trees take up less space. In the space required by four standard apple trees (80 by 80 feet), you can plant as many as 64 dwarf apple trees! Even the ordinary suburban “house and lot” has space for a few dwarfs.
Dwarf trees are easier to spray or dust. All fruit trees must be sprayed or dusted. Dwarf trees, particularly the “little” dwarf or “semi-dwarf” can be sprayed or dusted with an efficient garden sprayer or duster. This is most desirable because the expensive, bulky spraying equipment for standard trees is not needed. Spraying is much easier, and consequently, it gets done
Dwarf trees bear fruit sooner. A “standard” apple tree usually does not produce fruit for five to 10 years after it has been planted. A dwarf tree will often bear fruit in two years!
Dwarf trees are easier to prune. Obviously a tree five to 10 feet tall is much easier to prune than a tree 25 to 30 feet tall.
Dwarf trees grow large fruit. Fruit buds, such as turnips, need to be thinned if the biggest fruit is to be grown. Dwarf trees, where the tiny fruit can be thinned easily, often produce bigger fruit.
Dwarf trees make possible more variety. Naturally, if you can plant 10 to 15 dwarfs in the space required by a single standard tree, you can have 10 or more various kinds or varieties of fruit, instead of one. This has another advantage: You can have early, mid-season, and late fruit by selecting varieties that ripen at different times.
Dwarf trees are easier to harvest. Fruit from the smaller dwarfs may be picked from the ground without the bother and danger of climbing a ladder.
Dwarf trees mean less damaged fruit. Fruit dropping from the small dwarfs, particularly when the ground under the trees is mulched with straw, hay, or sawdust, is often undamaged.
Dwarf trees produce top-quality fruit. Fruit produced on a dwarf tree not only tastes as good as fruit from a standard tree, but because it is easier to give dwarfs better care, the fruit often surpasses that from large, and particularly old commercial trees.
As for the disadvantages, here are several you should know about:
Dwarf trees are more expensive. Of course, prices vary in different localities, but when the supply catches up with the demand, this difference won’t be as great.
Dwarf trees are shorter-lived. However, this is not too serious a drawback. A dwarf apple tree will bear for 25 to 30 years compared to say 40 years for a standard tree.
The fruit you get from dwarf trees is full-sized. All standard varieties of fruit are available on dwarf trees — you can buy dwarf McIntosh, Baldwin, and Northern Spy apples… Bartlett, Clapp’s Favorite, Duchess, Seckel pears . . . Elberta, Hale-Haven peaches, and so on.
The fact that dwarf trees are easier to care for doesn’t mean you can grow them without knowing a few of their peculiarities, however. Certain things about dwarf management are different. They must be planted correctly or they may grow into large trees. Pruning and thinning, though more simplified, are different. You’ll find it really fascinating to read up on dwarf trees — this will also insure you against buying the older kind of dwarfs that nurseries used to carry and which weren’t always reliable. We recommend you seriously consider planting dwarf apple, pear, and possibly sweet cherry trees as these three have been developed the most successfully. Dwarf fruit trees, one of the biggest horticultural advances in years, mean a lot for the small place.
itzybitzyfarm says
Great article. Had a similar experience and love fruit trees.