Backyard Orchard Culture

As good as this information is, it may not be appropriate for the home grower – think about the farmer’s objectives vs. the home grower’s:

• The farmer wants 350 lbs. of fruit per tree – that’s 700 half-pound pieces of fruit.
• The home grower wants fresh fruit to eat and maybe a little for cooking.
• The farmer has many acres of land to plant - lots of trees – producing the maximum quantity of fruit to sell.
• The home grower has a spot in the yard.
• The farmer has years of experience in growing and caring for fruit trees.
• The home grower just wants some fresh fruit.

The point is that the farmer is depending on production from his trees to make a living. The home grower is not, wanting only to have reasonable quantities of tree-ripe, flavorful, fresh fruit.

If you have the space for one tree, you have the space for four trees.

A common problem with fruit trees in the home garden is they grow too big. When you are told that a tree will only grow to 12 to 15 feet tall on a semi-dwarf rootstock, picture the top of a single story home. That's too big!

No home fruit tree should be any taller than a person stands with hands held straight up in the air unless you have a plan for using large quantities of fruit.

Taller people have taller trees, shorter people have shorter trees. I have maintained a Santa Rosa plum tree at 40 inches tall for 8 years. This tree produces an average of 150 pieces of fruit per year after heavy thinning. How many Santa Rosa plums did you eat last year?

If you keep your trees small, everything to do with growing fruit is easier.

First of all, Backyard Orchard Culture is not the right way to prune fruit trees – rather, it is simply one method of pruning. If your fruit trees are not doing exactly what you want, or if you are somewhat baffled by all there is to know about growing fruit trees, Backyard Orchard Culture will help you address the main issue: size control.

Here are some simple instructions to get you started:

• If planting a bare root tree, cut off the tree at the knee.

I know this may seem severe, but picture the tree you intend to grow as a bush.
You want the canopy to be low.

• If you are starting with a container- grown tree, choose one that has well-spaced branches around the tree, starting low on the trunk.

Container-grown trees planted in the fall or winter are cut back by 1/2 to 2/3. Then, toward the end of spring, say late April or early May, cut back the spring flush by 1/2, or up to 2/3 for especially vigorous trees. After the next flush of growth, toward the end of the summer, say mid- August or early September, cut back the new growth by 1/2 to 2/3, again depending on growth.

• If you are planting in the spring or summer months, choose container trees that already have low canopies, since cutting back by more than 1/2 in hot summer weather can cause sunburning of the trunk and main limbs.

Trim back the entire tree, but always leave plenty of foliage on summer-planted fruit trees.

• At the end of the first season you should have what looks like a bush, 3 to 5 feet tall.

Second season pruning is, for the most part, a repeat of the first-year procedure, except that the first year’s summer pruning will have stimulated some varieties (e.g. peaches) into producing fruit.

The second season may require you to learn how to thin. Thinning is one of the most important tasks that any fruit grower does.

• Home fruit trees should be heavily thinned.
• Sweetness, flavor and size are much more important than total quantity.
• Young trees should have 75% of the crop removed.
• Even if there are just a few fruit, thin heavily.

It is important to realize the benefits of this age-old practice early in your fruit growing experience. In the years to follow, remember approximately how much fruit you used the previous year, then thin to leave that amount. Or, remove 75% of the crop, whichever is easier.

• Leave enormous areas between fruit, like the equivalent of two or three fists, or a baseball glove.
• Choose to do your spring pruning at the same time you thin your fruit.
• Start by cutting back the spring flush by 1/2 to 2/3.
• Next, do all your thinning and maybe remove a few limbs that are crossing or blocking sun from getting inside the tree to the remaining fruit.

Some time after harvest or in late August, cut back the summer flush by 1/2 to 2/3.

Continue the same process year after year until the tree reaches the height you choose; then keep it there.

When you're comfortable with summer pruning for size control, you're ready for the next Backyard Orchard Culture option: High Density Planting.

How many times during the year do you want to go to the store to buy fruit? If the answer is "only when I have to!", planting in high density will help you reach that goal.

• Start by placing two, three or four trees into the same hole.
• Plant the trees about 18 inches to 2 feet apart in the hole.
• Plant three in a triangle pattern, four in a square.

When choosing the trees that will go into the hole, choose trees with like spray requirements. This means trees for which standard sprays are done at the same time.

For example, all apples need to be sprayed in the summer to protect from codling moth.

You would not want to plant them with peaches that ripen at the same time you need to spray.

The next rule has to do with summer pruning; to prevent the most vigorous tree from dominating and shading out the others, cut it back in spring and late summer so it cannot take over. Otherwise, summer pruning to shape and control the size of four trees in one hole is the same as for single trees covered above. Using this technique you can solve many problems of growing fruit in the backyard, such as the space required for pollinator trees.

Plant the trees requiring a pollinator in the same hole, then add additional varieties that seem interesting. If you want a peach, nectarine and apricot but don’t have the room, add a plum and plant them in the same hole.

This brings us to the next Backyard Orchard Culture opportunity: successive ripening.

• Think of harvesting an early season yellow peach,
• followed by a mid-season white nectarine,
• then a late mid-season white peach,
• ending with a late yellow nectarine
• wow!

Or mix and match: maybe you’d like an apricot to start the season, followed by a mid-season plum, then a late mid-season nectarine, ending with a late peach.

Remember to choose fruit varieties that have the same spray requirements. Pears and apples work well together, as do Asian pears and apples.

A self-fruitful cherry fits in most everywhere because the fruit comes off so early, but usually cherries are grown with other stone fruit.

There are many ideas for using the high density and successive ripening concepts. For example, try a hedgerow – planting trees two feet apart in a straight line, using the backyard orchard culture methods above for starting and shaping the trees. Of course, select varieties with different ripening times. Trees may be planted as close as 18 inches apart; I have successfully maintained a hedgerow at 18-inch spacing and one at 3-ft. spacing for the past seven years.

Each tree in my 3 ft. hedgerow (the spacing I prefer) is allowed 1-1/2 feet on either side. I summer prune to maintain the space and height using the techniques described above.

• The keys are to:
• Never let one variety dominate,
• And Never let the trees grow larger than you choose.

Hedge clippers can be used to prune them. You may plant the fruit together by variety or mix different kinds. Either way, plant by ripening time.

• Remember to choose like spray requirements.
• A fruit hedge is a good way to cover the backyard fence or make use of the space alongside the house.

Pruning and thinning the trees are done as described previously, so the work is done a little at a time on different parts of the hedgerow throughout the season.

Another idea for high density planting is multi-budded two-in-one fruit trees planted three in one hole, totaling six different fruit varieties from one planting space in your yard.

All the recommendations for planting and maintaining container-grown fruit trees using Backyard Orchard Culture apply to multi-budded fruit trees. The most important is never to let one variety dominate. This is critical in the first two years to prevent one variety from dying out while another takes over.

• Maintain the balance by summer pruning!
• Don’t let any one variety take over.
• Be sure to cut it back!.

Some readers might ask "why not plant a multi-bud and forget high density planting of the singles?"

The reason is, when the nursery plans multi-budded fruit trees to sell, they choose the varieties that will grow well together in the nursery. They choose varieties that most people will like and have as broad an adaptation as possible. The point is, they choose the varieties, not you!

If the multi-budded varieties are to your liking, by all means, plant the multi-budded trees. But if you can’t find your favorite varieties in a multi, plant high density.

By more closely identifying the needs of the home grower, Backyard Orchard Culture creates ways to enjoy more kinds of wonderful tree ripe fruit over a longer period of time.

Get going and just do it!