Outstanding Advice for Successful Fruit Gardening
Are you wondering when to prune your fruit trees? Are bugs bugging your berry patch? Do you need hands-on advice to create a fruitful berry garden and home orchard? It's at your finger tips right here - Stella Otto, horticulturist, teacher, and award winning author shares her years of experience and answers your questions while guiding you on the path to many fruitful harvests!
Timely attention is one of the keys to success in growing fruit. It plays a role in helping growers keep ahead of pests and diseases, so problems remain small rather than becoming overwhelming. It also helps preserve the best in just picked flavor before fruit becomes overripe. Let the reminder list below help make your gardening routine timely, tasty, and bountiful!
May 02, 2013
Planting dormant fruit trees and berry bushes as soon as possible after the soil is workable allows for adequate root development before leaf growth diverts the plant’s energy.
If plants are heeled in while preparing your garden spot, choose a cool, shady location to help keep them dormant. Heel-in at a 45 degree angle. Cover roots with soil and a straw mulch to keep as cool as possible.
Potted berry bushes can remain in posts for several weeks before planting. Be sure to check soil moisture regularly. Black plastic pots absorb a lot of the sun’s heat and can dry out quickly. If possible shade the pots, as plant roots do not tolerate high temperatures well.
Thinning raspberry canes to 4 to 6 per foot of row and tipping them is best done before they leaf out much. This enables the cane to direct more of it’s energy fruit growth.
Spring is arriving quickly in many parts of the midwest and east causing rapid blossom development and flowering. Be prepared to cover strawberries on the inevitable frosty nights still to come.
Diligently protecting emerging green foliage from fungus diseases early in the season will go a long way to reducing disease pressure and can often reduce the need for spraying later in the season.
Early season pest to be on the lookout for include tarnished plant bug, leafrollers, green fruit worm, and scale.
