How to Care For Your New Fruit Trees
Far too many fruit trees don’t survive those first few years because they aren’t cared for properly. That’s often because the home owner simply doesn’t know what they need to be doing. Let’s see if we can get you on the right track.
During those early stages right after you plant your fruit tree’s trunk, branches, and root system aren’t yet strong enough to withstand the elements, nor are they ready to produce fruit. If you have a young tree that’s producing fruit the weight is likely to break the branches because it’s just not strong enough. You need to pick the fruit as quickly as possible so that your tree has a fighting chance to survive, mature, and bear edible fruit.
Even once the tree is strong enough to bear fruit, in the early years you should only let a handful of fruit ripen because it takes a great deal of energy for your tree to not only bear fruit but feed it until it is ripe, and that means that energy will not be available to help to grow a strong healthy tree. When it comes to healthy fruit trees it really is about patience.
You need to make sure that you are properly fertilizing your fruit trees not only to improve its ability to bear fruit, but to help it stay strong, and to extend its life span. The feeding needs will depend on where you are located.
You also need to make sure that your fruit trees are getting adequate water. This is especially true when they are young and they don’t have a very supportive root system. Not enough water and they will die. Of course, too much water and this will cause fungal infections that weaken the root system. The correct way to water a tree is to give it a really good soaking once a week, called a deep watering.
Once your fruit trees are established, you’ll be able to enjoy the delicious, fresh fruit they produce.