Consider fruit trees this spring
Nothing can compare to the taste of fresh fruit, and with our local climate, you can actually walk out back and pick fresh fruit for your breakfast or a midday snack.
Although we don’t have enough cool weather to support many of the temperate fruit tree varieties of apples, pears, and peaches, we do have the advantage of growing many tropical fruits, especially citrus. Consider planting an orange, grapefruit, lemon, lime, or satsuma tree in your yard if you have a sunny location. Other great fruit trees that are often forgotten for our region include figs, pomegranate, loquat, avocado, mulberry and persimmon.
If you want peaches or apples, you need to do a little homework to get a list of varieties that produce with low chill units. Chill units represent the amount of consistent temperatures between 35 and 40 degrees needed to release internal physiological mechanisms that break winter dormancy.
Inland areas of the Coastal Bend should aim for 300-400 chill units. Along the water, you will want a plant in the 200-300 range. If you get a tree with higher chill units, it will not be cold enough most years for consistent flowering. If you get a tree with too low of chill units, it may flower in January and lose all fruit in the event of a late season freeze.
Planting: Proper tree planting is critical for any tree to grow quickly, especially fruit trees. Make sure you dig a hole the same depth as the root ball and at least 2-3 times the width — the wider the better. This large, shallow hole breaks up the soil allowing roots to quickly expand through our heavy clay soil without letting the tree sink too deep. Just make sure you keep the soil level in the pot even or about an inch above the existing soil.
Back fill with the original soil, just break it up into small pieces. Next water immediately and step on the soil to pack the soil in around the roots and eliminate large air pockets. Finally, apply about 3 inches of hardwood mulch to the surface of the exposed soil to reduce evaporation.
Slow starts: I have had many questions in recent weeks about fruit trees that were planted in the past couple of years that don’t seem to be growing. That is pretty normal. As long as you still have healthy growth, then you should be OK.
Remember that whenever you transplant any plant, the first thing your new addition must do is expand its root system. Many shrubs take 2-3 years to have a large root system, and trees can take even longer. Once a large root system is in place, you will see more rapid growth.
Fertilize: Fertilize at least twice each year. I prefer a liquid or granular fruit tree fertilizer instead of the spike because the spike concentrates a lot of fertilizer salts in a very small area and may stunt or even kill roots that come in contact with this lump of nutrients.
Remove grass: If you have a fruit tree, make sure you have removed grass at least 3-4 feet from the trunk. Grass competes with your tree for nutrients and water. Keeping grass away from the trunk also prevents bark damage from lawn mowers and weed trimmers which can severely stunt or kill your tree.
Mulch: Keeping a thick layer of mulch around your fruit tree will help hold in moisture and prevent roots from being stressed by heat and drought as days become longer, sunnier, and hotter. If you added mulch in the past, you will need to reapply each spring and fall to keep it three inches thick.
Remove fruit: Fruit trees really should not be allowed to fruit for at least three years, particularly young citrus trees. Exceptions may be those with smaller fruits like figs and mulberries which may fruit after a year or two. The reason for removing fruit is to focus carbohydrate reserves to root growth and new leaves. Also, heavy fruit may cause branches to sag and prevent significant upward branch growth.
Fruit with Bill & Sheila
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