"When is the best time to plant an orchard?" the saying goes. Answer: "20 years ago." While this adage points to the most obvious mistake people can make when creating an orchard (i.e., not planting trees ASAP), there are other common orchard-related errors. This is certainly not to discourage anyone from planting fruit or nut trees! Certainly, if you want a low-maintenance food source, an orchard is an great place to start. But if you desire a bountiful orchard, there are a few other things you to keep in mind.

 

Tip #1: Selecting the Right-Sized Trees

I can't tell you how many times I've seen friends purchase fruit and nut trees with no thought about how big those trees will get once they are mature. The result? They plant trees that eventually grow so large, they risk broken house foundations or septic system damage, give excessive shade in non-desirable areas (like the vegetable garden), grow into roads, and so on.

So before you buy, have a plan about where you will plant your trees, and just how much room you can give them. It's also important to think about how you want to harvest food from your orchard.

Fruit trees (and some nut trees) come in a few different sizes: Standard, semi-dwarf, dwarf, and patio.  

Standard trees grow to about 25 to 30 feet tall and are an excellent choice if you want a tree children can climb on or swing from, but depending upon the variety, may take quite a number of years to reach full size. Most standard fruit trees produce food for 30 to 40 years; some produce past that. As an example of the sort of yield you can expect from a single tree, a standard apple should produce 336 to 420 lbs. of fruit. With a standard tree, you'll need a good ladder for harvesting and pruning.

Semi-dwarf trees grow to about 10 to 16 feet tall. They are productive for about 20 years (sometimes longer) and a single semi-dwarf apple tree produces about 252 to 420 lbs. of fruit. Harvesting can usually be done from the ground, with the aid of a fruit picker on a pole. You'll likely need a ladder for pruning.

Dwarf trees are an excellent choice if space is limited; these trees can even be grown in huge pots. Because they grow just 8 to 10 feet tall, they are easier to prune and harvest from than larger-sized trees. Dwarf trees usually live for 20 years or so. One dwarf apple tree produces about 126 to 252 lbs. of fruit each year.

Ultra-dwarf trees or patio trees are available for most types of fruits, including lemons, oranges, pears, plums, peaches, and apples. They are usually just 5 to 8 feet tall. They can be grown either in the ground or in large pots and patio apples yield up to 48 lbs. of fruit each year.

   

Tip #2: Select the Right Trees for Your Environment

Most people realize that not all fruit trees will thrive where they live. For example, if it snows on your homestead, don't expect to have a thriving lemon orchard (unless you plant patio trees in pots and bring them inside when cold temps hit). But not everyone realizes that not all varieties grow well in their location.

For instance, if you live where it is often humid or wet, you'll need to select varieties that are resistant to fungus (like leaf curl, apple scab, powdery mildew, speck rot, and Verticillium wilt). Or, if you live where spring weather can result in freezes or heavy rains that knock down tree blossoms, you'll need to select varieties that bloom a little later in the season.

Before you choose fruit or nut trees, it really pays to contact your local Cooperative Extension office and ask what sort of orchard diseases are common in your area. They can then likely give you a list of suggested varieties for your general area.

 

Tip #3: Select the Right Location

Yes, tree size matters when selecting locations for fruit and nut trees...but there are additional considerations about location you should ponder before planting. Ideally, observe any potential orchard locations for at least a year. Watch for signs that the area gets boggy, doesn't get good air circulation, is overly windy, or generally drains poorly. What you really need is a location that has excellent drainage, great air circulation, and is protected from wind gusts.

 

Tip #4: Plant the Correct Distance Apart

One current gardening trend is to plant as much in a small space as possible. However, fruit and nut trees need room to grow. Remember that your tree's root system will extend 1.5 to 3 times the height of the tree.

 

According to the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, proper fruit tree spacing depends on the mature tree size and the growing region. They say: "In regions with cold winters and short grower seasons, dwarf apple and cherry trees need a spacing of 6 to 8 feet, semi-dwarf trees about 15 feet, and standard or full-sized trees about 25 feet. Pears and non-dwarf sweet cherries are larger than other types of fruit trees, and should be given an additional 5 feet. Apricot, plums, peaches and sour cherries are similar in size to semi-dwarf apple trees. For regions with warm winters or long growing seasons, trees will need additional space."

 

With nut trees, consult an Extension office or the nursery label for details on spacing, depending upon the variety of tree you are planting. Remember that some types of pecans and walnuts can grow over 100 feet tall and have a crown of 50 or more feet.

Tip #5: Don't Neglect to Prune

Your baby tree is planted and now you can see it's beginning to grow and thrive; the last thing you feel like doing is cutting off branches. Or perhaps you already have mature trees, and you can't bring yourself to cut off any part of them. But to ensure your trees grow healthy, strong, and give a good harvest, pruning is a necessity.

Pruning serves several important purposes. It ensures good air circulation throughout the tree, which helps stave off disease. It allows more light into the tree, which helps fruit grow and mature. It helps the tree to remain vigorous. And it makes harvesting the fruit or nuts much easier.

While it is beyond the scope of this article to go into detail on how to prune fruit trees (your Extension office can provide step-by-step how-tos, based on the type of tree you've planted), the principles to keep in mind are:

1. Prune in late winter.

2. Lightly prune trees under 10 years of age.

3. Pinching off terminal one-half inch of new shoots will encourage lateral branching. This is an excellent practice for trees 1-4 years old.

4. Always remove prunings from the orchard, as decaying tree matter can encourage certain diseases.

In addition, you may wish to read the Oregon Extension Office's page on pruning fruit trees, as well as this Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources PDF on pruning fruit and nut trees.

 

Tip #6: Plant At Least Two

In general, fruit and nut trees require another tree of the same type, flowering at the same time, to pollinate and produce food. Even trees that are labeled "self-pollinating" will usually produce more food if planted in pairs.

If space is limited, you may be tempted to rely on neighborhood trees for pollination. (Depending upon the type, trees that are no more than 200 to 500 feet apart will pollinate each other.) I recommend avoiding this whenever possible. You never know if your neighbor will maintain his tree, keeping it productive. He might even chop it down at some point.

 

Tip #7: Prepare for Pests

While it certainly is true that trees produce ample food with less hands-on time from the gardener, fruit and nut trees do require some maintenance to prevent disease, encourage fruiting - and to avoids pests from destroying the trees or their fruit. If you're unsure which pests are likely to attack an orchard in your area, a call to your local Extension office is in order. Common orchard pests include:

• Deer, who kill young trees by eating all their leaves or by breaking trunks. (Prevent deer damage by surrounding young trees with fences.) 
• Mice and rats, who kill trees by eating their bark. (Prevent rodent damage by removing all vegetation from around trees and applying tree guards. Add cats to your homestead to help reduce the rodent population.)
• Voles, who attack fruit tree roots and bark. (Prevent vole damage by applying tree guards, installing cats on your homestead, and using vole traps.)
• Aphids, who suck the sap out of young trees, damaging or eventually killing them. (Prevent aphid damage by spraying the insects off leaves with a blast of cold hose water; you may also use insecticidal soap.)
• Apple Tree Borers, who burrow into young trees and kill them. (Prevent borer damage by wrapping tree trunks with several layers of burlap, from the ground up to the lower branches, before adults appear in the spring. Once the tree is infested with larvae boring into the tree, cut the pests out with a knife.)
  
  
   

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