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jtillerman

New orchard

jtillerman
11 years ago

I have just planted a new orchard with 5 to 7 feet trees from lowes how many years will it take to get fruit. Apples. Peaches. Plumbs. Bing cherries

Comments (6)

  • jtillerman
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    New member and new grower. Do I need to prune all my trees back I'm needing advise

  • ltilton
    11 years ago

    Different fruit will bear at different ages. Peaches bear very young, pears take years. But you shouldn't be in a hurry to get large harvests. If trees fruit prematurely, or too much when young, it can stunt their productivity when mature.

  • mrsg47
    11 years ago

    Did you make sure that your apples will pollinate each other? Different varieties flower at different times. Mrs. G

  • jtillerman
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Apples are Macintosh and honey crisp I think they will pollinate thanks if they won't please let me know

  • megamav
    11 years ago

    Honeycrisp and Mac are a solid pollination pair.
    Take a look at this great series of videos about planning orchard fruit. There are like 5 parts of the series covering, early, mid season and late varieties along with rare.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Stephen Hayes Orchard Planner

  • dmtaylor
    11 years ago

    You will probably not see much if any fruit until year #2 or #3. By year #4 your semi-dwarf trees should begin approaching maturity and will have a good amount of fruit, and by year #7, plus or minus, the trees should be fully mature.

    Pruning is all about balance and training the tree to be in the shape that you want it to be. If you have a 7-foot tree but the root system is not very great, then you should lop the top off the tree at 4 or 5 feet and remove a total of about 1/3 of the wood on the tree (but not the roots of course. If the root system seemed pretty strong, then you don't need to prune off as much, but you should consider removing any branches that are crossing, or are too vertical. You want the branches to all be 45 to 90 degrees from vertical, i.e., the closer to horizontal, the better. If the branches are all leading almost straight up, consider pruning most if not all of them off, lop the top off the tree at ~4 feet, and start all over with the branching so you can train them down towards horizontal while still young using clothespins, weights, tying down, etc. Alternatively, you can allow for a vase shaped tree by leaving 3 or 4 upright branches towards the outside of the tree, and remove all upright branches at the inside of the tree. It's your decision, and it could be based on how your tree wants to grow. If the central leader is strong, then prune to a pyramid shape. If not, then a vase shape may be the way to go.

    Best of luck to you. And have fun with it!

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