Daleys Fruit Tree Blog: pruning fruit trees

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Pruning Fruit Trees in Winter (Timelapse

Video Transcript of Pruning Fruit Trees in Winter

It's the start of winter it's a

beautiful sunny day it's a great time to

be in the garden.

so firstly it warms up

your body and you feel great and it just

makes the day feel better if you're

outside doing something it's also a

really good time to get on top of all

those jobs that have been neglected

through the year so I always say here in

the subtropics we have two seasons we

have an in control season which is

autumn and winter when you get things

under control and we have an out of

control season which is spring and

summer which is the growing season when

we get a lot of rain and it's very hard

to keep up on the maintenance so here's

a pretty good example of something

that's got out of control this is a

citron citrus and you can see the

rootstock are just taking over the tree

and if we leave this like this these

root stock are actually going to

dominate the plant and we risk losing

our graft and our Citron tree dying and

what we're going to get left with is a

Trifoliata so this is the Trifoliata

which is the root stock that our Citron

is grafted onto and it's a very thorny

plant we choose this as a root stock

because it's Hardy to heavy wet soils

it's cold hardy so it does better in

cooler conditions and it's a really

vigorous plant so it's perfect to graft

citrus onto but we do need to make sure

we cut off all the suckers and as you

can see in that out-of-control season

this has been neglected so we're going

to get it back under control today so

what we need is some tools good pair of

gardening gloves to protect my hands

I've got a pruning saw and I've got some

cutters and I've got my secretaries

which are always on my hip so you can't

go wrong maintain your tools keep them nice and sharp

we're ready to tackle this job

so here we have our same Citron or

Buddhas Hand tree as it's also called

after we've taken the red stock out and

you can see what a completely different

looking plant it is so I've got my pile

of rootstock behind me and it was nearly

the same volume as that tree but the

easiest way to do it is cut the top off

and that way it gets all the deadly

spikes from your head height and it

makes them easier to actually take from

the bottom or weave your way out of the

existing tree because you don't want to

damage your plant so what we can do now

is we can do a bit of pruning a bit of

shaping to this plant and then in a

couple of weeks time once the weather

starts to warm up we're going to

fertilize it so you're not going to

fertilize it in the dead of winter but

as soon as spring starts to show you're

going to give this tree a good complete

fertilizer so balanced NPK fertilizer

they're heavy feeders and they love it

so that's how to deal with your rootstock

starting get your trees back under

control

in the winter when you have some time

and you want to be outside getting warm

in the garden

PlantNet: Secrets to Successful Fruit Growing

Site selection - Select a sunny, well drained position. For poor draining soils trees should be
planted on mounds or hills.

Pre plant - 3 months before planting, prepare soil by adding mulch and pelletised poultry,
or cow manure to the site. For pots a good premium potting mixed with about 10-20% of a
good loam soil will give the mix extra body and assist with holding water and nutrients. The
use of water crystals or a good soil wetter will assist in retention of moisture also.
Ensure the soil pH is between 6.0 and 6.5 for best results

Planting - Dig a hole twice the size of the nursery pot, do not tease the root system of
potted plants. If planting in a large pot we suggest 50 cm diameter minimum size. Do not put
fertiliser in the hole. A closed handful of blood and bone fertiliser mixed into the bottom of
the hole is fine.

If planting winter bare root trees look at the dirt mark on the base of the nursery tree and
plant this at the soil or potting mix level. For potted trees purchased in summer, plant the soil
level in the nursery pot level with your soil or potting mix and add a sprinkle of soil to cover
the roots in the nursery pot.

Fertilising young non bearing trees- The focus for the first 12-18 months is on building a
strong framework capable of bearing heavy crops. A good complete fertiliser or
composted manure is ideal. Give the tree a closed handful of fertiliser every 3 – 4 weeks
applied in a wide band from the drip line to within 30cm of the base of the tree. For pots use
half a closed handful. Do not apply fertiliser against the base of the tree as this may cause
tree death. An addition of a good trace element fertiliser twice a year is also important.

Fertilising bearing trees - From spring in year two from planting the focus now shifts back to
fruit production. Avoid fertilising during flowering and early fruit set with fertilisers high in
Nitrogen (N).( up to 15% is ideal). A good balanced fertiliser with high potassium (K) above
12% is ideal. Give the tree a closed handful of fertiliser every 3 – 4 weeks applied in a wide
band from the drip line to within 30cm of the base of the tree. For pots use half a closed
handful.

Watering - Fruit trees peak water demand is from when the first full leaf forms after trees
break dormancy. Not enough water at this time will cause poor fruit set and fruit
development. Continue to apply water in hot periods after harvest. Water needs will decrease
from April on and trees may only need a third of what is required during the growing season.
Be aware potted trees may need water more often than in ground trees sometimes every day
in hot dry periods.

Leaf removal - If leaf fall is not completed by mid June, strip leaves from trees. This is so the
tree achieves strong, even bud break in Spring, leading to larger fruit.

Pruning – Dwarf fruit trees require minimal pruning and only shaping of the tree is necessary
in winter time. For more specific information go to the pruning page on the PlantNet website.

Fruit thinning - For strong young trees up to 2 years old leave one fruit per lateral or twig.
For trees 3 years and older leave 1 fruit on small laterals and 2-3 fruit on thicker laterals. Aim
for 40-60 fruit per tree for strong healthy trees in year 3 and increase fruit numbers each year.
Pests and disease control information can be found on the www.plantnet/plant care page on
our website

Scan hereto go to the plantnet plant care page.

Dwarf Mulberry Tree - The Black Variety - Kids Love them

Luna finding some late season fruit on our Dwarf Mulberry Tree Black Variety. With regular pruning you can get several crops each year and also keep them under 1 metre. #mulberry #dwarffruittrees