Tag Archives: fruit trees

Fruit Tree Pruning Guidelines

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  1. Make a Chimney – trim every spur or small branch that is within 6 inches of the main trunk
  2. Keep only 12 to 14 main branches.  Prune the following:
    1. Low branches that will touch the ground (less than 40″ from ground)
    2. Big branches – 50% of main trunk size or larger
    3. In the Line – growing with the line of trees or directly toward the path
  3. remaining branch trimming – trim smaller branches underneath main branch – maintain branches that look like a hand, with a fan on the end of the branch
  • Trim a small kerf on underside of branch before cutting to avoid peeling off bark when branch is cut off.
  • avoid branches growing directly above another branch in same direction

 

Peach, Apricot, and Plum Trees – Planted 1/23/2018

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My order of bare root fruit trees came in today, and I immediately put them in the ground.  I planted them in a pattern I learned about in a the film “The Permaculture Orchard“:  2 fruit trees, followed by a nitrogen fixing tree and prevent two fruit trees of the same type from being close to each other.  The idea is the nitrogen fixing tree will provide for the fruit trees on each side of it, and if one tree gets attacked by pests or diseased, the problem doesn’t easily just jump next door and take out another tree.  I planted at 12 foot intervals, and about half of the trees will be shaded for the first half of the day.  The fruit trees and redbuds came from Womack Nursery in De Leon Texas and the 3 nitrogen fixer trees are on order from Cold Stream Farms in Freesoil, Michigan.

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