Do you love fresh fruits that you can get from the comfort of your farm? Then you are more likely to love fruit trees whether they are cherries, apples or strawberry fruit trees. Although it is super fun and fulfilling to pick these fruits when they are ready and ripe. No one wants to have a fruit tree with no fruit production with only beautiful spring flowers. Therefore, it is best when you enjoy all the benefits and good fruit production is the most essential of them all. Therefore, to ensure your labor of watering and pampering the tree does not go in vain. Here are some of the ideas that you can borrow to boost fruit production from your fruit trees.
Space your fruit trees
Unless you have just one fruit tree around your garden. You mustn’t plant them too close to each other. This mistake is made during planting since the saplings that are used to plant the fruit trees are small. You can get familiar with the type of fruit tree sizes available. You should know how to place the yardsticks appropriately for your specific fruit tree. It is important to note that fruits that are smaller by nature like cherries, plums among others thrive even at a small spacing of 20 feet among each tree. Hence, it is vital to space correctly between each fruit tree to ensure that they get adequate sunlight and enough air circulation. You also need a useful guide that can help you boost fruit production.
Prune yearly
As much as pruning is important to boost fruit production. Yearly pruning is best than regular pruning. However, this depends on where you live and the type of fruit tree you have. Nevertheless, prune yearly especially when the tree has been dormant for a while. As you prune, make sure you don’t encourage branch growth by pruning small sections of already existing branches but prune from point of origin. This will increase fruit production, but, ensure you do not over prune as it will increase branch and twig growth instead of fruits which is what you are aiming for. The best way to do this by removing the dying and diseased branches for a healthy fruit tree.
Pick off excess fruits
This can also be explained as thinning excess fruits. Since fruit trees are known to be biennial bearing it is good to study this character of fruit trees. Whereby, they have a great fruit production for a whole year and then the following year they rest and have a low fruit production or no fruit at all. By knowing this character, it is easy to counter-attack this system and pick off excess fruits as they develop to boost their production after a year of great yields. The best ones to start with is the malformed and suspecting-looking fruits and cut them off with your secateurs. This procedure will make your fruit trees have less strain and you will see the results in the following year.
Don’t water often
If you are a first-timer in having a fruit tree to care for. It is tempting to feel the urge to water it often. Well, avoid this if you want to boost fruit production as fruit trees do not need much water. Nonetheless, there are still some considerations that can guide you to know how often you can water a fruit tree without overwatering it. For instance, if it is a newly planted tree it can be watered at least once a week until it is established. Other factors are like the type of soil, the amount of mulch applied and also the growth rate of the fruit tree. Since fast-growing fruit trees require to be watered often to keep up with their growth. Not to forget whether the weather is hot and dry as the temperature is a factor. All in all, to get it right consider watering when the soil seems to be drying.
Cross-pollinate
This idea is a vital one especially if the fruit tree that you have does not self-pollinate with their type. Hence you should encourage cross-pollination by planting different cultivars. Also, you can plant varieties close to one another as they can easily cross-pollinate. Through this, you will boost your fruit production further better than self-pollination. If possible, choose to plant trees that attract bees as they are the best agents for cross-pollination. Thus, if you have never tried this tip on your fruit trees. Try it and your fruit trees will thank you later with better fruit production.
Fertilize less often
Whether your form of feeding your fruit tree is through organic or chemical fertilizer. Do it less often. Since most fruit tree owners tend to think that it will boost the fruit production. Yet, this added fertilizer promotes branch and trunk growth. Compared to fruit development as many hope for, only the fruit tree will appear bigger. Therefore, do it sparingly like once a year in early spring. It is best to use homemade compost for it is organic and safer if it is possible. Observe fertilizer that is applied on the lawn to avoid it getting to the tree as it is easily absorbed by the roots and you can have it applied a distance from your fruit tree.
Pest control
Last but not least, be diligent with pest control. As many fruit trees are loved by pests due to the sweet fruits and the pollen-rich blooms. In case of a pest infestation treat it fast to avoid it spreading to other fruit trees or destroying the fruits. Also make sure that you maintain the surrounding area by removing weeds, dead branches that attract harmful pests and insects. Additionally, apply oil before the trees start sprouting flower buds to keep off scale insects and aphids.
Image Source: BigStock.com (licensed)
Related Categories: Food, Reviews, Work
