TIPS FOR GROWING FRUIT TREES IN THE HUDSON VALLEY
By Jesse Stacken, Nursery Manager
Note: Comments on this post would be much appreciated as we continue to expand and improve on our plant knowledge, especially related to fruit tree production specifically in the Hudson Valley.
If you’re going to plant a tree, why not plant one that feeds us and feeds the beneficial insects? Who doesn’t want backyard grown peaches, apples, pears, plums, and cherries?
Growing fruit trees is an awesome idea. Do it. But you must be prepared to put some time in with your trees. Fruit trees are not “plant and walk away” plants, at least not in the Eastern United States. If you do that and expect yields of unblemished fruit you’ll be disappointed. But if you do a few things to help your trees along, they can be deliciously rewarding.
BEFORE YOU PLANT
Consider native fruit trees
Native trees such as American Persimmon and Pawpaw have evolved with the ecosystem of our area and are much more resistant to disease and pests. Plus these two fruits are not widely commercially available, so if you want to enjoy them you have to grow them or become friends with someone who does. Also, native species provide other ecological services for wildlife - an added bonus.
Choose disease resistant varieties.
I’d highly recommend choosing fruit-tree varieties that have the most disease resistance. Rather than shop for trees based on varieties you enjoy from the supermarket, talk to local growers to find out which are the easiest to grow. Look up the most disease resistant cultivars of a particular fruit.
Research pollination requirements
Most fruit trees require another variety of the same fruit for pollination. For example, for growing apples you’ll want to grow two different trees, say a Honeycrisp and a Liberty, to get consistent fruit. In the case of apples, it’s even best to have a crab apple tree along with your two fruit trees in order to ensure pollination. It’s important that the two or more varieties flower at the same time for pollination - do a google search on the two varieties you’re interested in to see if they pollinate each other, or consult a chart like this. Some fruits such as peaches are self-pollinating. You will get fruit with just one tree. But even self-pollinating varieties do much better with a second tree nearby.
Plant your trees within 50 feet of each other.
For those with space limitations, trees grafted with multiple varieties can work well.
Tree placement
Two important things to consider when planning your orchard are sunlight and drainage. To get good fruit, your trees will need 6 to 8 hours of direct sun.
High water tables can be problematic for fruit trees. They’ll die if their roots are submerged in water. Check the level of the water table by digging a hole. If you get down 4 feet and the hole begins to fill with water, you’ll have trouble growing trees there. You’ll need to raise your soil level first. In such a case consider building a hugelkultur mound.
PLANTING
So you’ve found the right place for the right trees and you’re ready to plant. There are many different methods of planting, but the following steps have worked very well for me. The following instructions apply for potted trees like we sell at the One Nature Nursery. For bare root trees you can follow a similar procedure, except you’ll be untangling and spreading roots in your hole.
When to plant
Early to mid-Spring and Fall, are ideal planting times. Summertime can work too, but you’ll really need to keep your trees very well watered. If planting in the summer, shading the tree with shade cloth is a good idea. Plant on an overcast day, or early in the morning if possible to minimize exposing the roots to strong direct sunlight.
Prepare the tree
Before you plant, soak your pot in diluted fish hydrolosate fertilizer, or at least water it well with the fish solution. Follow the instructions for dilution on the bottle. Carefully tip your tree out of the pot, by turning it on it’s side and gently pulling it out of the pot. Rough up the root ball and untangle some of the roots.
Dig the hole
Loosen the soil with a broadfork or pitchfork for easier digging. Dig about twice as wide as the root ball. Loosen the sides of the hole with your fork so roots can easily penetrate the soil. Dig deep enough so that you’ll keep the soil level the same as it is in the pot.
Plant it
Gently place your tree in the hole and backfill. Put the subsoil in first, then the top soil, so you’re replacing the soil in the same layers as how you found it. Bury the tree to the same soil level as it was in the pot. If it’s a grafted tree, be sure not to bury the graft union. Gently step around the tree to remove air pockets around the roots.
Top dress with plenty of good compost - spread a two to three inch layer of it around the tree at least as wide as the spread of the branches. Mulch well on top of the compost, keeping the mulch 2 inches away from the trunk.
Note that we’re not amending the soil in the hole. There are different schools of thought on this, but the reasoning behind not putting compost in the hole is that if you do, the tree roots will prefer to stay there, rather than grow out into the surrounding soil. Also, potting soil and compost will likely drain faster than your existing soil, especially if it’s a heavy clay soil, and we want to avoid creating a small swampy wet area around the tree - another reason for digging a larger hole and forking the sides of the hole.
Protect it
Cage your tree for the first few years. Cages are not pretty, but are necessary in the Hudson Valley. Even if you’re planting a so-called deer resistant tree such as pawpaws, it’s better to be safe than sorry. You don’t want to see your investment mowed to the ground by a hungry deer, thereby delaying fruit production another year or two. When the majority of the foliage is well above a deer’s reach you can remove the cage, although bucks rubbing their antlers on the trunk can be a problem no matter how large your tree is.
Water it well
Water the tree very well every 2-3 days for the first growing season. The second year water it well during dry spells if it looks thirsty. After that it should not need watering except in the case of extreme drought.
CARING FOR YOUR FRUIT TREES
A tree that is grown in perfect soil in the perfect spot will naturally resist pests and disease. This is why you find perfectly looking healthy trees in the wild. They only germinate in the right soil conditions, and will quickly be out-competed by other species if they’re not healthy and vigorous. Unfortunately we almost never have perfect conditions where we want to plant our trees, so we must strive to create those conditions.
Let’s think holistically rather than allopathically. Let’s create the conditions for our trees to thrive naturally, rather than combating symptoms. Just like in your own body, symptoms are indicators of imbalance not the cause. So before we reach for something to kill a pest or fungus, let’s try creating health in the tree so it can take care of the problem by itself. What are those pests and fungi telling us about adjustments we need to make?
Natural Pest Control:
1.) Encourage biodiversity. Create habitat for insects and birds that can help control fruit tree pests for you. This includes other trees, evergreen shrubs, native perennial flowers. Leave the growth of your herbaceous perennials standing until Spring so beneficial insects can overwinter there. Interplant your trees with multiple species to avoid a pest population boom.
2.) Improve your soil. Healthy soil grows trees that have strong natural defenses. Consider adding soil building plants such as Russian Comfrey, Jerusalem Artichoke, and other herbaceous perennials. Add compost each year. Aerated compost tea is a good practice for improving microbe diversity. Mulch well around the tree, but keep mulch from piling up against the trunk of the tree.
3.) Clean up in the fall. After your tree is done fruiting, remove all rotten fruit from the tree as well as all rotten fruit on the ground. Pests overwinter in these areas.
4.) For a small tree, bagging fruit is a good way to prevent pests. Bag each fruit when it's small, before it's bitten by any pests with a small ziplock bag. Cut the corners off the bags so moisture can exit. Apples and pears are easiest to bag because the fruits have stems. Reuse the bags for multiple years if they're in good shape at the end of the season.
5.) Allow some pests to live. If we’re managing holistically, creating biodiversity, and hoping natural predators will help control pests, then we must keep those predators fed. Removing all the pests means that the predators will not survive. So welcome pests as a part of your biodiversity and give the predators a chance to establish and do their jobs before you intervene. I’ve noticed many times in my garden that when I let the pests be the predators eventually show up. Sometimes it takes until the following season and plants can sustain some unsightly damage, but then the predators seem to take up residency and control the pests in subsequent years.
6.) If you think you’re going to lose the tree because of heavy pest damage and you must go allopathic, a good natural means of pest control is Kaolin clay spray. It's a fine non-toxic clay that coats the fruit so plum curculio and other pests can't bite it.
Natural Fungal Control:
1.) Remove rotten fruit from the tree and the ground when the season is over.
2.) Prune well. Prune in late winter, before the tree breaks dormancy. Use a sharp pruners and a sharp saw. Remove any diseased, dead, or damaged wood first. Then prune so that every branch will get good sunlight and good wind flow when the tree leafs out. Remove any branches that cross any other branches. The saying goes that when you're done pruning a full-sized tree, you should be able to pick up the family cow and throw it through the tree. Clean your tools well between different trees.
3.) Thin your fruit. After flowering when you begin to see small fruits forming, remove any weak ones, smaller ones, or any that are crowded. Think full sun and full airflow for every fruit. Dark, wet, low-airflow spots are where fungi thrive, just like in your basement. It's difficult to do - you'll think you're throwing out much of your fruit - but the remaining fruit will grow larger, tastier, and with less disease problems. Thinning the fruit can also result in your tree fruiting every season rather than every other year.
References:
Books:
The Holistic Orchard by Michael Philips
Grow Fruit Naturally by Lee Reich
Video:
The Permaculture Orchard by Stefan Sobkowiak
Stefan Sobkowiak / Miracle Farms Youtube Channel