Most fruit trees will produce fruit a couple of years after they have first been planted. This may seem like a long time to wait for fresh fruit, but being able to harvest your own fruit is worth the wait! These 5 tips on planting fruit trees that are listed below should help you to get your new trees off to a great start.
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Choose Healthy Trees
Purchasing trees from a local nursery will enable you to see your plants before buying them. You will be able to inspect each tree to check for damaged limbs or defective leaves. Pick out healthy looking trees that haven’t had the top broken off.
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Don’t Plant Trees in a Low Area of the Property
Choose an area that is elevated, since this will reduce the risk of your fruit trees becoming damaged by frost. Areas of lower elevation are prone to having harder spells of frost, due to the settling of cold air in these locations.
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Find an Area That Has Well-drained Soil
Fruit trees like to be kept moist, but they don’t want to live in a swamp. Well-drained soil is best. There are some fruit trees that will still do fairly well in soil that has a bit of clay in it too. Overwatering this type of soil can cause air pockets to disappear and this eventually kills the fruit trees.
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Loosen the Soil before Planting
Tilling the soil or loosening it by hand will allow your fruit tree’s roots to spread out without difficulty. Making the soil loose will also make it much easier when it comes time to dig the hole for your fruit tree.
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Dig a Hole That is Twice as Big as the Root Base
This means that the larger your young fruit tree is, the bigger the hole for planting it will be. You don’t have to dig a hole that is deeper than the root ball, but it needs to be twice the circumference of said ball. Don’t bury the tree deeper than the root crown or crown rot might occur.
Taking care of fruit trees might require a bit more work than other types of trees, but I enjoy the rewards. There’s nothing like eating fresh fruit from your own yard. What types of fruit trees are you interested in planting? Are you more interested in the small ornamental variety or creating an orchard on your property?
Top Photo Credit: Martin LaBar
