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Post by Catscratch on Feb 9, 2017 10:11:47 GMT -6
As I understand it fertilizing fruit trees will stimulate vegetative growth and probably reduce fruit production.
At what age do you fertilize fruit trees? Do you ever want to discourage fruit and get some size to them? Sacrifice a yr or two of fruit to make a better tree?
I'm trying to plan this yr for 5 trees (two crabs and 3 pears). I planted them from the Wildlife Group two springs ago. They are probably 1in in diameter and 7-8ft tall. Good yr to fertilize or let them fruit?
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Post by smsmith on Feb 9, 2017 10:18:57 GMT -6
I do not fertilize trees as I get good growth (12-18"+ annually) without doing so. Nitrogen will make trees put on vegetative growth and reduce fruiting. Not a bad idea if you want a tree to get bigger before fruiting. One problem with excessive vegetative growth is a higher susceptibility to fireblight.
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Post by Catscratch on Feb 9, 2017 10:23:14 GMT -6
Don't want to mess with FB! And I don't care at all if they are big trees or not.
I just want to make sure I'm making the right choices at the right times.
Thanks for the input.
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Post by smsmith on Feb 9, 2017 11:46:01 GMT -6
I'd watch your trees the first year or two and see how much growth they put on without fertilizer, then make a decision to fertilize or not. You have good dirt as I recall?
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Post by Catscratch on Feb 9, 2017 12:16:00 GMT -6
Great dirt. They've grown a lot since I planted them (I think they have anyway, no experience with fruit).
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Post by smsmith on Feb 9, 2017 12:25:54 GMT -6
I personally wouldn't worry about fertilizing them then.
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Post by Catscratch on Feb 9, 2017 12:37:00 GMT -6
Great! I usually can't leave well enough alone. It's no fun if you don't get your hands durty.
Thanks for the input!
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Post by nhmountains on Feb 9, 2017 16:25:38 GMT -6
Sunlight, reduced weed competition, and water when it's dry will do more than fertilizer.
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Post by nhmountains on Feb 9, 2017 16:27:28 GMT -6
Cat,
Concentrate on training those branches this year. Pulling them downtown horizontal in mid June will help produce fruit spurs.
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Post by Catscratch on Feb 9, 2017 22:19:01 GMT -6
Sunlight, reduced weed competition, and water when it's dry will do more than fertilizer. I'm on top of all that! |
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Post by Catscratch on Feb 9, 2017 22:22:08 GMT -6
Cat, Concentrate on training those branches this year. Pulling them downtown horizontal in mid June will help produce fruit spurs. Not screwing with trying to train the pears again. I'll work on the crabs though. Is there a "best" method to training crotch angles. The last time I did it I used garden tape and tied the branches down to the trunk of the tree. It worked ok but I have the feeling there is probably a better way. |
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Post by nhmountains on Feb 9, 2017 23:23:07 GMT -6
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Post by Catscratch on Feb 10, 2017 8:18:42 GMT -6
I'll be damned, that is a cool article! Learning new stuff all the time.
Thanks!
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Post by Catscratch on Feb 11, 2017 8:29:34 GMT -6
If I do this the ends of my branches will go outside of my cages. I would rather not get bigger cages. Will it hurt to prune then ends of these limbs to shorten them? I figure I can either cut them short when I tie them down or the deer will do it for me later that night. |
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Post by smsmith on Feb 11, 2017 8:32:10 GMT -6
If I do this the ends of my branches will go outside of my cages. I would rather not get bigger cages. Will it hurt to prune then ends of these limbs to shorten them? I figure I can either cut them short when I tie them down or the deer will do it for me later that night. Cutting the ends of branches/limbs would be called heading cuts. Heading cuts are not recommended, as they will create lots of new vegetative growth. At what height are you training your first set of scaffolding limbs? |
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