Fruit trees: quick answers to common questions

Almond blossoms, shown here in February, mark the start of the fruit tree flowering season. Some other types bloom nearly as early, particularly apricots. Unfortunately, February and March rains often lead to brown rot fungus, which can destroy the flowers. A dormant-season spray can help prevent that and ensure fruit set. There are organic options.

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apple spurs

apricot spurs

plum spurs
Apples, apricots, pears, plums, and cherries all fruit on short spurs. These short branches bloom and fruit year after year. You prune to preserve and manage this fruiting wood. Spur-fruiting trees are generally pruned less severely than those that fruit on "new wood."

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Peaches and nectarines fruit all along what grew last year. They can produce so much fruit that the branches break, so we prune them more severely than spur-fruiting trees. It's easy to recognize this "new wood" because it is red, while older wood has turned grey.

Fireblight can be a troublesome bacterial disease on certain member of the rose family, including apples, crabapples, pears, quince, and loquats. It attacks during warm periods after rainfall, just as the trees are blooming or shortly thereafter. Prune it out as soon as you see it, as it can rapidly kill a large part of the tree. In some cases there ar resistant varieties available.

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Peaches are getting an undeserved reputation for being difficult to grow. Peach leaf curl will affect the leaves, and it is difficult to control, but it doesn't affect the fruit. On my scale of 'easy to get good fruit' peaches actually rank pretty high. They just need to be pruned to reduce fruit to a manageable amount, and it helps to spray to reduce the leaf curl. Shown here is Rio Oso Gem.

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Santa Rosa plum is the best-known home garden variety, and deservedly popular for abundant production and excellent flavor. Plum trees produce more and more fruit as they get older. After 5 to 6 years you may need to prune harder to reduce the fruit load, else the branches might start to break. But they are relatively pest and disease free.

Certain fruit types require no effort: figs, persimmons, pomegranates, and quince make attractive landscape shrubs and trees that require no special training, pruning, or spraying. Shown here is the Smyrna quince, popular for preserves. Or try it in your favorite spiced pear recipe.

I've developed a scale for how easy it is to get good fresh fruit from a tree in your yard. That means: no bugs in the fruit, relatively easy to care for. It's a 1 to 5 scale, with 1 the hardest and 5 the easiest.
Click on the chart to enlarge it.

Fruit tree season is right around the corner! Dormant trees arrive in garden centers and hardware stores in January.

We tend to get certain questions over and over each season. Usually gardeners want to know: how easy is it to grow? what do I have to do? do I need two types? when will they produce? So here are some crib notes about each type of fruit. There are charts, lists of varieties, and detailed articles here.

· Apple

Kind of a hassle because you get worms in the fruit (codling moth). If you don't spray several times, most of your fruit will be wormy. If you do spray, a lot of it still might be wormy. But not every fruit is wormy; we quickly learn to cut into an apple before we eat it! Or you can bag some fruit to block the moths from laying eggs. Red apples generally don't do well here.

Tolerant of wet soil and lawn watering (unlike most fruit trees). Fruit borne on spurs which take a couple of years to form. Very upright growth habit; prune for size control. Watch for fireblight around the bloom season and prune it out.

Crabapples, including those grown for fruit, grow quite readily here. Same notes.

· Apricot

Frustrating: blossoms are prone to brown rot, a fungus which destroys them before they set fruit. Trees must be sprayed while coming into bloom, and in wet springs you still may not get fruit. Rainy spring can mean zero fruit. Commercial growers have to spray a lot.

Fruit on spurs, which take a couple of years to form. Broad habit: prune for size control. .

Aprium was an early introduction in the hybrid fruit category, an apricot/plum cross. Superceded by pluots (see below), but still available. Like a rich-flavored apricot with plum overtones.

· Cherry, sweet and pie

We no longer recommend sweet or pie cherries here. Spotted Wing Drosophila infests the fruit with worms. It's utterly gross, and it is not a manageable pest for homeowners. Sorry.

· Fig

Zero maintenance. Plant it and wait. Figs produce two crops a year. Smaller varieties such as Violetta de Bordeaux or Blackjack probably easiest for most people. Fruit on new wood and new growth.

· Grape

Vines take over your yard unless you train and prune them. Fruit is small, but very flavorful; thin clusters to increase size. A few manageable pest problems. Fruit on last year's growth.

Pruning varies by type, but is pretty severe in any case. Good news: you won't hurt the vines, pretty much no matter what you do. Incredibly vigorous.

· Mulberry, black

Very easy! Birds like them even more than you do. Growing as a bush makes it easier to protect the fruit. Other than that: zero maintenance. Very rich, sweet flavor.

· Mulberry, weeping (white)

Mild-flavored fruit, prolific, attracts birds. Weeping form makes great landscape feature.

· Peach, nectarine

Easy to get good fruit, but you must prune severely to prevent overproduction. You may want to spray to reduce peach leaf curl.
Nectarine fruit is more readily blemished by harmful fungus (rust, brown rot, shothole) and thrips than peaches. May need spraying for these.

Fruit on last year's growth ("new wood"), easily recognized by red color of the wood (important to know when you're pruning).

· Pear, European and Asian

Tolerant of wet soil, lawn watering. Fireblight causes dieback. Prune it out when you see it! Better, plant resistant varieties. Worms sometimes get in fruit. Some Asian pears need pollenizers.

· Persimmon

Zero maintenance. Plant and wait. Some fruit drops all season as it is developing, and ripe fruit is messy. So don't plant it where that matters. Most common types: Fuyu (flat on bottom; firm for fresh eating) or Hachiya (elongated; squishy for cooking, later ripening).

· Plums, Japanese and European (including prune plums)

Plums have become favorites because they're so easy. Prune for size control, especially the strong sprouts that head for the sky. Fruit on spurs. Prune older trees to reduce fruit load. Get self-fruitful types, or make sure you have the right pollenizer. Spraying not needed. Aphids are common. Just blast them off with water.

· Pluot

Plum-apricot hybrids that are most like plums in flavor. Getting the right pollenizer is important. As easy as plums.

· Pomegranate

Zero maintenance. Tolerates heat and drought. No pruning needed. Just plant it and wait three to four years. Large shrub, trainable as a tree. Abundant production no matter what you do. Flavor is best in full sun.

· Quince

Very easy. Tolerates wet soil. Very pretty blossoms. Multi-trunk large shrub or small tree. Expect lots of fruit from an established plant.

Nuts

· Almond

Reasonable sized tree for home gardeners: ten to twenty feet tall, depending on variety. There is a dwarf variety. No special needs.

· Pecan, walnut

Huge trees, lovely for shade but each has some drawbacks. Allelopathy from walnut roots and leaves; poor branch angles and aphids on pecans. Best for rural areas.

Other

· Kiwi

Vigorous vines, much like grapes. Quickly covers a fence or arbor. Very attractive foliage. You need at least one male vine, for up to six female vines. Tricky to establish; the young vines benefit from some shade and ample water. Yield usually begins in three to five years; established vines may produce several grocery sacks of fruit.

· Berries

Blackberries and boysenberries are very easy here. The only issue is they may get away from you by sprawling and then rooting. Train up off the ground on stakes, wires, or along a fence. They also spread slowly and steadily by underground rhizomes.

Most fruit on last year's growth only. Prune it out when you finish harvesting, take that moment to tie up the new growth, and you won't have a problem.

Raspberries aren't happy about our hot dry climate. Most people just don't get good yields. Try them where they get plenty of moisture and a little afternoon shade. Tayberry is a raspberry/blackberry hybrid that is much like a raspberry in flavor and texture, and grows well here.

· Blueberries

Need lots of organic material and prefer acidic soil. Apply soil sulfur, heavily mulch the soil (or grow in a barrel), give plenty of water, and fertilize regularly with an organic source of nitrogen. Small to medium sized shrubs. Plant a couple of types close to each other.

January is when dormant fruit trees arrive at garden centers. We choose varieties based on experience, local preferences, and demand. We don't sell varieties that don't grow well here. Generally there is good selection into late February, and many are available growing in pots in the spring and summer.

Citrus and avocado trees don't come bareroot, because they never go dormant. Look for them during spring and summer.

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