Art's friend, Cal recommended a fruit tree book that he has been reading with a great deal of interest.
The book is written by Ann Ralph of Northern California.
Art really enjoyed picking up quite a few tips from Ann Ralph. She also validated some things he's already been doing.
According to the book you can trim your tree so that all the fruit is where you can easily pick them without a ladder. Art already does that. Every so many months he prunes off the top of our lemon tree.
It also says you should thin out your fruit or they will be too small. We've seen this happen, but have a hard time doing it. I guess we'll try to do this from now on.
Another thing it mentioned is that you should plant your tree without enriching the soil at the root ball so that the tree will be accustomed to the soil in that area and won't be shocked when its roots grow past it.
I wonder if it had anything in it about papaya trees that grow too tall. Do you have any fruit trees? What kind?
The book is written by Ann Ralph of Northern California.
Art really enjoyed picking up quite a few tips from Ann Ralph. She also validated some things he's already been doing.
According to the book you can trim your tree so that all the fruit is where you can easily pick them without a ladder. Art already does that. Every so many months he prunes off the top of our lemon tree.
It also says you should thin out your fruit or they will be too small. We've seen this happen, but have a hard time doing it. I guess we'll try to do this from now on.
Another thing it mentioned is that you should plant your tree without enriching the soil at the root ball so that the tree will be accustomed to the soil in that area and won't be shocked when its roots grow past it.
I wonder if it had anything in it about papaya trees that grow too tall. Do you have any fruit trees? What kind?
I have two crab apple trees. I think of them as ornamental bird feeders, but I guess some creative people make crab apple jelly.
ReplyDeleteInteresting tips Kay. I used to have 2 royal gala apple trees at back of our first house. It was a lot of raking in the fall and the birds and insects had a great time with all the fruit. One year I sprayed the trees and we were able to share apples with the neighbours.
ReplyDeleteNope, no fruit trees here. There are plenty of ornamental plums around, but they don't bear fruit. The next-door neighbor has a plum tree that really bears plums and I've snitched one now and then. :-)
ReplyDeletei don't have any fruit trees but i have always wanted a lemon tree and an apple tree!! right now, i feel like i already have enough stuff to take care of!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteNo fruit trees, though we used to have a papaya tree (the birds got to the fruit before we did) and a lemon tree, but both were removed when they died.
ReplyDeletemy cherry tree jut died. it was small and never got off to a good start. my apples are loaded this year. and i have a new fig tree. that is it for me.
ReplyDeleteits wonderful to find books offering advice and tips, but as Art is doing, learning hands on is good as well, we had many fruit trees on the farm, they mostly survived the hands of time, the bears were the worst offenders, breaking limbs to reach fruit, it always intrigues me to see trees growing with so much asphalt and cement around them, I know this sounds weird but for me this is an unusual sight, its not done here very often, the frost heaves the cement and asphalt in spring as it leaves the ground, damaging the roots,,
ReplyDeleteI love the look of your garden , it is so very neat and tidy,,
I would love to have a lemon tree, but northeast Ohio is not quite a good location for them! I have a lovely apple tree which produces a lot of apples every other year and doesn't need any spraying and doesn't get many worms. I also have a pear tree which does produce enough pears and raspberry bushes and elderberry bushes which, of course, are not trees....But I love them. Oh, and we have a mulberry tree. My grandchildren love it! Having that in the yard was one of the only things my mother and my mother in law agreed about. They both said we should not have it! But it's fine if a bit messy.
ReplyDeleteReading the comment from Laurie about the bears reminded me of my amazement at seeing a groundhog climb into my apple tree (which has limbs close to the ground), I never knew they could do this.
ReplyDeleteOoh look at all those fruits. Hopefully they will become luscious lemons for Art. BTW how is his very tall papapaya tree doing?
ReplyDeletePS all my fruit trees grow berries for the birds....Chokecherry, Serviceberry, Holly, Viburnum, etc. I have strawberries in pots and they eat those too.
ReplyDeleteNo fruit trees here, but two interesting nuggets from your book. Thinning the fruits and not enriching the soil. I wonder if that caused the sudden demise of my plum tree--two years from decline to dead. My dad planted it in a very wide and deep hole in the clay. Lots of loam and compost went into the hole, which had to be bigger than its branchy diameter, at the time. It grew well for several years, bore fruit. Then one year it looked awful, in spite of everything I tried, and the next year, just a skeleton.
ReplyDeleteMy brother on the farm, where we are currently visiting in Illinois, has cherry trees and three varieties of apple trees, and they are all going to be loaded with fruit. The cherry tree has so many little cherry blooms already.
ReplyDeleteI have lots of pruning to do here. Most of our tress are 6-7 years old, but boy do they grow fast. We have: macadamia nut, mountain apple, ice cream bean, cinnamon, papaya, breadfruit, mango, fig, star fruit, avocado, lychee, rambutan, coffee, coconut, orange, tangerine, Meyer lemon, lime, and kafir lime trees... so far!
ReplyDeleteI wish I had such trees in my yard.
ReplyDeleteI love lemons what a pity I can't grow them in Poland
ReplyDeleteI wish I had fruit trees. Years ago we rented a house that had a big lemon tree.
ReplyDeleteI had a marvelous peach tree that an ice storm broke it off at the ground. It didn't come back. One of my plum trees met the same fate so now all I have is a small plum tree. They sure are sweet though.
ReplyDeleteI have a mango tree that I shape too often, banana trees that multiply at the ground level too densely and need to be hacked back, a very short meyers lemon tree, a kaffir lime tree that we use the leaves for in Thai cooking, and a kukui tree that has star shaped leaves. I planted several new papaya trees because they are pretty, imo. One of them is getting too tall and the heat and lack of rain results in smaller papayas.
ReplyDeleteI love trees.
Some papaya trees are the type that get really tall.
My tree trimming skills are very limited. I will be watching.
ReplyDeleteIn New Zealand, we have the feijoa tree. You are right about thinning out the small fruits to get big fruits.
ReplyDeleteNo, I used to have a green thumb, but now I live in a desert condo.
ReplyDeleteLots of pruning going on here with our espaliered apple trees.
ReplyDeletewe have one miniature peach tree and tiny peaches that usually fall off before they ripen...but our strawberries are prolific!
ReplyDeletePeach trees courtesy of the neighbors who farm on my property. Had pecan trees but two year drought killed them all. I hate being so far behind on your blog posts and probably won't get caught up. I am just back for a second.
ReplyDeleteI had (until I moved south a week ago) 3 apple trees, a sour cherry, and an apricot, all at least 25 years old. They were dwarves but the pruning got away from me somehow and of course, all the best fruit was at the top and too high to reach. I always got plenty, though. I have a lot to learn about gardening in a tropical climate now.
ReplyDeleteWe lost our cherry tree this ear. It's so sad. I'm not sure what to do about it. I mean, it's dead, and how to replace it.
ReplyDeleteHello!
ReplyDeleteI tried to post a comment on the blog using my phone but my comment deleted from my screen. Maybe my phone is only semi-smart.
Thanks for posting about the little tree book. The day of your post I checked the library app and they had it at the library close to me which was luckily open late that day. 😄 I started reading it that very night.
You're post made my day! We recently moved to a house so we have space to plant a tree but I have no idea about growing anything. The house down the street has 3 small fruit trees and I've been wondering how it was possible that they could possibly have so much luck with growing only tiny trees. Thank you so very much for getting me pointed in the right direction.
Misty
Hi Misty! I'm so sorry your comment got deleted. I just copied it and posted it for you using Anonymous. I feel so bad for everyone who is trying to comment and having a hard time because I treasure every single comment I get. I'm thrilled that you're finding the book helpful. Art really enjoyed the book.
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