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Fruit Trees - Day 11: 21 Days of Garden Fatigue

Growing your own fruit is very rewarding and with very little effort fruit trees will continue rewarding you year after year. The limiting factor for many gardeners is space but with grafted hybrids now on the market and many gardeners deciding to keep their trees in pots, fruit trees are becoming an easier proposition.

Just like any plant, fruit trees have their own needs and can become fatigued just as easy. Read on to find out how to deal with them......

  • No Fruit if your fruit tree isn't producing any fruit it's most probably due to a lack of sunlight getting in amongst the branches. Try staking your vertical branches in a horizontal position by either using weighted bags hanging from the tips of the branch or literally tying the end of the branch to a pre-positioned stake in the ground. This will allow sunlight to penetrate the centre of your tree and should result in flowers and fruit next season.
  • Too Much Fruit can also be a problem. If they're all left to ripen the weight of the fruit could break branches. It can also increase the risk of fruit diseases when too much fruit falls to the ground and is allowed to sit around and rot. The best way to deal with this is to selectively prune some of the bearing branches too limit fruit production. This will also result in better fruits as they're given more room to grow and they don't have to share nutrients and water with more fruit.
  • Pruning is an important part of fruit trees and should be performed while the tree is dormant (late-winter). Remove branches that are crowding the centre of the tree and any that are broken or growing irregularly. There are many ways to prune and train fruit trees but I think the most consideration needs to be regarding how you will get your fruit off the tree as it grows. If you choose a central leader pruning regime you may find that you will need a large ladder to obtain your fruit.
  • Fertilising your fruit tree should happen immediately after pruning. Use lots of newspaper to circle the perimeter of your branch growth with blood and bone underneath it. This will keep the weeds down. Add a generous helping of sheep manure and then cover with pea-straw. This should be enough for the tree right through the fruiting season.





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