Totally Preventable Mistakes When Planting Fruit Trees
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 ต.ค. 2024
- This list of do's and don’ts will help you prevent some seriously preventable mistakes when planting fruit trees in your home orchard. Check out our new clothing line! http:www.freshpickedapparel.com
My peach from seed has peaches year 4.
That's awesome I'm gonna try and plant some this year also 💜👍🏿
Did they come out okay? I'd love to try to plant some seeds but I'm nervous that the fruit won't be good :/
@@PerpetualJoy that’s the risk you take with planting from seeds, but it can also be rewarding, you never know how good it’ll be, heck you could even get a new variety not in the market and make money off of it if it’s really good
I planted a few peaches from seed about 3 years ago and the trees grew up like a rocket! Can’t wait to see if I get fruit this year. They are much hardier than the one I bought.
I'm working trying that too
I’m an ISA certified arborist and this video was spot on for most things. The only additional tips I have are plant the tree slightly above the surface level as it will settle over time and can end up being low. The reason you don’t backfill with light weight soil is that water can easily settle there in the air pockets. Thus in a way creating a mini pond around the tree. Overwatering or these practices are typically the number 1 killed of new plants. Also I would always recommend a root growth hormone with planting trees. Generally kelp based products help speed up root growth as whatever container they were sold to you in is far inadequate. Don’t fertilize the tree in the first year and in most soil conditions fertilizing will just make the tree rely on your feeding it. Checking ph conditions or doing a simple soil test will let you know the issues you might face nutrient wise. Mending ph over time and allowing the roots to grow will ensure a strong tree with high fruit yield. Remember reproduction is not as important to a tree as survival.
I thought you said abortionist lol
Edit- I have a question. I plan on growing moringa trees. You said not to use fertilizer the first year. How about seed fertilizer during germination?
Thank you for adding to the video, which has changed the way that I will plant my trees tomorrow. Now, I will implement your advice as well.
I have two trees I planted that did great then died. These are all great tips to try again.
@@ememman1460 he's talking about a transplanted tree, not trees from seed
Zone 8b Georgia I've planted several fruit trees from figs,citrus,peach,pear,nectarines,pecans,persimmon ,oak and on and on I've only lost 2 and they were both key limes those things are finicky.
I managed to convince my parents to let me try a small fruit tree in our yard this year! I am loving these videos! They are so informative!
Fantastic 😁
Hey good luck and look for updates on your new tree
How's the fruit tree doing?:)
@@rbux1636 Ah, unfortunately, the nursery I bought it from had trouble with their apricots, and mine died with the big heats we had where I live. It was too fragile. I learned a lot, still, so it's not all bad. There's always next year! Thanks for the ask! Hope you're doing well!
@@ainavirin Thank god it died
Message from, an experienced Arborists wife, about planting trees. I would have liked to see you do a complete (from start to finish ) video on planting a tree. All the way with the mulching included! I believe that would be an outstanding choice! Thank you for your GREAT videos.
Everything you say in your videos is always so logical I find myself nodding along throughout the whole thing except somehow you coach it in such conversational manner it's like I never heard them before. Great job, as always!
sherey gould I was nodding too after I learned something haha very informative!!!
Ugh, I totally did all the wrong things when I planted my orchard about 6 years ago; however, we sold that property a few months after and they removed all of the orchard anyway so they could use it as field for animals. This video is full of information that I totally needed, Luke. We are planning out our garden and orchard space this year and this video was perfect timing for me, because I would have made the same mistakes about fertilizing and amending and all the wrong things. Thank you so much for your awesome channel and sharing your knowledge and experience!
Thanks for this brother. I've deliberating over the spacing my standard fruit trees, thinking they might be too close at about 20 feet trunk to trunk . Many people say they should be like 30+ feet apart etc. Overlapping the foliage makes a lot of sense, and backed up by science.
President Zachary Taylor once said, “I wouldn’t trade a square foot of Michigan or Ohio for a square mile of Florida.” When you dug your hole, I was so jealous of your rich, black soil. Where I live on the North Carolina coast, it is sand and gravel. There is very little organic matter in my soil. When I plant a fruit tree, I dig a hole literally ten times the size of the root ball and amend the soil. It takes awhile, but I use the native soil and mix in a bag of compost and potting mix. I’d say I still use 70% native soil so once the roots get mature enough they can traverse into the native soil without too much shock, but I wouldn’t plant a tree in my soil without some type of amendment.
I dig the hole so large so the tree can get years on it before roots transition into purely native soil with the hopes that my years of mulching and fertilizing the top will “catch up” to all the soil.
I just wanted to toss my hat in the ring and throw out there that things may be different for us southern coastal gardeners. The only other thing I’d toss in is to dig your fruit tree holes with a square shovel to dissuade roots from binding in a round hole like a container would.
Thank you! We’re getting ready to plant our trees and I’m so happy I saw this before I filled the hole with a compost mix!
I love your new video without the intro music. You get in right to what I am looking forward to about fruit and veggies. Keep up the information and the new set up. Thanks!
Indeed God save us from irrelevant, confusing background music!
I've always done what my gut says "let the tree get used to your soil" "keep the graft point above ground" etc. "Don't stake, let it toughen up" And luckily my gut aligns with the advice
More and more I hear about how you shouldn’t put compost/fertilizer in your hole and never knew why. Now I look back at all my failed fruit trees and it’s no wonder! Thank you - I’m glad I changed the way I plant my trees but it was interesting to hear the “why”!
We were able to germinate 1 seed from my husband's late father's apple tree. So anticipating the day we can put it in the yard. Love your videos!
Tina Reid Have you tried taking cuttings from the tree? That is what I did with our fruit trees and saved so much time when comparing to starting from seed.
It is also possible that the seed will not create the same Apple. Grafting is the way to go to ensure that you are getting the same Apple type. You are also keeping the tree going this way!
Foodie would love to have the opportunity ...his home was sold afterwards. Hoping to connect with new owner sometime soon and see if she would be willing to let us take a cutting.
Tina Reid I am sure the new owner would understand if you explained the situation. Take a few cuttings to be sure you will have success. There are many ways to propogate cuttings but I've had the best success with the technique in the below link.
1. Leave cuttings in water for at least a week
2. Pack cocopeat
3. Insert cutting
4. Poke holes at the bottom of the plastic bags for water absorbtion and creates greenhouse effect
5. Let sit in water for around 2 weeks - should see roots
th-cam.com/video/KqTk_K9PHMY/w-d-xo.html
You’ll get a completely different tree from that seed, we replicate apple varieties with cuttings. The apples from your new tree may well be inedible, but they could be good for cider!
i like how he explains why you need to do these things. that really helps.
One of the best things I like to do when planting trees is to add a microrizea into the soil before I finish planting to encourage the microbe symbiosis relationship.
I watched a few of your videos and you spread a lot of incorrect information. Semi dwarf trees get a lot bigger the 5.5 feet tall. Even dwarf trees get up to 10 feet and more.
Gamer Clownz amen to that! My “dwarf “ pears and semi - dwarf apples are about 15-18 feet tall! I take 8 feet off the every year to keep them within managable bounds!
I'm looking at Stark Brothers website and semi-dwarf get 12-15' tall by 9-11' wide.
The love for and the enthusiasm towards gardening that you display in your videos makes your tutorials exciting and inspiring! Always something new to be learned here, thanks for sharing MIgardener!
Spacing by dividing by half isnt 15ft to 6ft. Thats 15ft to 30ft. Divide by half is x by 2
I gotta disagree with you Luke on back filling with purely the native soil. That might work for some areas if you have more sandy soil or just better quality soil in general to begin with. But not here where I live in California. Our property is mostly heavy clay, and clay as we know has very poor drainage. So if I were to plant in just that the vast majority of the fruit trees I plant would die from root rot. When I plant my fruit trees I mix in 25% of the existing soil I dug out, 25% compost from my pile, 25% sand for added drainage, 15% composted mulch made locally, and 10% worm castings. I have had a lot of success with this method and I don't find that the roots stay in the hole due to the size they have put on for me over the years. There is just no way a tree that was just 3 foot to begin with and is now pushing easily 9 feet is still only growing within the 4 ft x 4ft hole I planted it in.
James Fox I do the same thing. I live on a rock, when I dig out a hole I dig up 30lbs. rocks💪
Same here with the clay. My yard has only 1to 2 inches of top soil. We also loosely stake young trees so they can sway with gentle winds and get stronger. The heavy winds would topple them if they weren't staked for at least a year. Didn't know about the trees touching though. Thanks
Same in Phoenix. If you only planted in our desert rocky soil the trees would die really quick. You need to amend the soil in certain places. When I was watching him dig his hole for his tree I was thinking how great his dirt looks in Michigan.
I had the exact same thought. I also live in an area of California with a lot of clay and very rocky soil. It really comes down to the overall soil competition and the types of plants you are planting.
Roots are "Alive" ...Think of them like worms. they are going to go in search of nutrients. If you amend the soil around the roots you will cause them to not "search". And the first year is the most crucial. Amend the soil AFTER you have back filled...Amend the soil the exact same way nature does. Leaves fall from the tree and break down above the soil and the nutrients then absorb into the soil. The roots are looking for these pockets of nutrients and they will pause growth when they find a pocket of nutrients and start to search again when the deplete that pocket.
Great video as always! I just wanted to point out in regards to backfill while planting (as a certified arborist in my state) that soil quality is drastically different in certain parts of the country. If our soil were as beautiful and rich as your soil is in the video, I would certainly just backfill with the original soil. Where I live (on Cape Cod, MA) we're essentially on a sandbar, and in most towns we're never 3-4 inches away from 95% sand. In small pockets we have 80% clay, or just plain glacial rock. If we were to backfill with either sand or clay directly without amending the tree would decline and die 9 times out of 10 from drying out or drowning. To amend the sand we use a large amount of peat moss to add organic material for beneficial bacteria and mycorrhizae to bond. We normally also have to add some degree of compost or manure, because of the extreme leaching effects of the sand of the available nutrients in the immediate area. We mix it directly in the hole to encourage the spread of the native bacteria and mycorrhizae already in the soil (sand). Organic matter slows this considerably and is a very important aspect of planting here. For clay, we dig a much , much larger hole, add sand, then gravel, sand, peat moss/sand mix. With flowering and fruiting trees we do indeed cut back the amount of manure or fertilizer added to the hole, while also using a rod and deep root irrigating in a grid pattern with the appropriate mycorrhizal blend for the species planted. Love your channel! Keep at it! Absolutely awesome!
Thank you for this comment. We just planted a bunch of trees here in New Hampshire and there is nothing but sand and a thin layer of loam on top. So we added compost to the backfill. Do all your trees last long term with the methods you used?
@@samzsong4652 Hi! Yes, we've always had very good results. The trees thrive and survive! As long as they get adequate moisture through the growing season, they do incredibly well! Good luck with your trees!
@@AllCapeTree this gives me some hope that we didn't mess up, thanks!
@jon B This give me hope! After watching this video I thought we planted our last few trees wrong! We are all sand and we added some top soil/compost to the holes. Was thinking we should dig them back up and remove the compost!
Thank you so much. Where I am in Appalachia, most of our soil is either hard clay or rock. I worried about putting all that heavy clay back on the pecan trees I ordered... It just doesn't seem right. Almost nothing will grow properly in our native soil where we live without some compost to help. I think I'll just dig a REALLY big hole and try to make it mostly clay with some compost, as well mixed together as I can get it. That way hopefully they'll have a lot of room to grow into and be big and strong enough to persevere into the clay if and when they get there.
thank you! I had read once a long time ago that one shouldn't amend the soil in the planting hole, but I had forgotten, and I did lose the most recent fruit tree I'd planted; so now I'm reminded again, and also now I know not to stake.
Planting an apple tree? Watch this video BEFORE YOU PLANT! It'll tell you why NOT to put fertilizer and compost into the hole with your tree! It'll tell you why NOT to stake your fruit tree! Amazing!
good information
Thank you for this very informative video. I lost a few fruit trees and was about to give up on them, but I now know what I’ve been doing wrong. I’ve been planting them not necessarily too deep, but I would form a ledge around the perimeter to hold water in 😬. Thank you teacher😉
Thank you, for making this video.
I think you live in Michigan right? Do you get high winds there? Don't you think it's important to stake a tree if you live somewhere that's prone to hurricanes, like New Jersey, where I live? Even when it's from a storm that's not a hurricane, I've seen trees get snapped right in half from high winds. I had a huge, old, naturally grown apple tree in my backyard that I absolutely loved, get ripped out of the ground that way. It was healthy and strong and I never would've thought in a million years that it could happen. So with the newly planted saplings, the wind is a big concern. I think there are ways you can stake it that still allow it to sway and grow properly.
What about people in dry sandy climates like AZ? I was told do a 40/50 mix of fertilizer and native sand. What are your thoughts?
I live in southern AZ and that’s what I have done with every plant I have grown. I use 40/50-50/50 mix. All my plants have done very well, I just add some new soil on the top every spring.
what if you have very sandy soil? I have almost no darkness to my soil beyond about 4 inches deep. Is it OK to mix the back fill soil with some compost. organic material? Or should you just backfill with the loamy sand?
What about sandy soils? Seems logical to amend the native soil with compost and other goodies, but maybe I’m wrong? (New to this growing zone 8, but the soil is 75% sand here near the Gulf Coast)
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I absolutely learned something! I'm growing apple and cherry trees from seed and they are about 6 inches now and I am watering them twice a day even when the soil is still wet. I wonder if I am doing it right. Needed help. I like what you said about spacing, that is kne of my questions that have been answered from this video! Awesome!
You grew the from seed? I don’t know why more people don’t do that. I’m going to try. My grandfather used to grow peach trees and cherry trees and the peaches were like nothing I’ve tasted since! He was an old Belgian!
@@Tinyteacher1111 The reason why most people don't grow from seed is because the variety you will get is unpredictable, and you lose the advantages that are selected for when grafting. Here's an example: Honeycrisp pollinators tend to naturally be varieties of crab apples. There's several other varieties that it can pollinate with, so it all depends on what a bee or other pollinating insect brings it. Honeycrisp's are not self fertile, so they require a few varieties to even get it to fruit. Those varieties are going to determine what kind of apples will produce from the seeds. I've had friends get some really interesting varieties this way, but they also pollinated their trees by hand to do so. Getting the seeds out of a random store apple though is going to be completely random. Mind you, I'm not saying that you shouldn't do it, you might get lucky and get something really interesting. I'm just saying that if you plant a honeycrisp seed, don't expect more honeycrisps.
Great advice. The root stock is a different type of fruit in the same and usually a type that is not tasty. the root stock is done for disease resistance and other positive qualities.
Thank you, I always learn things from you Luke Some times right after i plant, like today.
Exactly. I planted my pear tree a week ago and today this video us posted, lol
😂
So yesterday my husband bought me 2 apples and 2 pear trees and these next couple of days I'm going to learn as much as I can on taking care of my new trees Thank you for sharing
Sandy soil -- I just bought a little plum tree but I'm planting in sandy soil. Are you saying I should fill the hole in with this sandy soil and nothing else or should I add some good soil to the sand. Thank you and great video!
I would really love to learn how to plant trees and blueberries in hard clay soil please. There is not much information anywhere on planting in heavy clay grounds.
I would do blueberries in pots
In my experience(and I don't have much) when planting in heavy clay soil you are going to want to double the width of your hole(so instead of 2× the pot size do 4×) and then when go to back fill mix a 3 part native soil and 1 part nice top soil(I use store bought) and put that down in the hole. Lastly you are going to want to mulch the entire width of the hole you dug. This is what has worked for me but I'm only a few years in. I also try to put limestone down at least a month in advance preferably a year
That native soil looks pretty black, in Arizona it's clay and lacks organic material, does what you say still apply here? Most ppl say to amend it so I'm not sure
You say not to back fill with richer compost, but what if you are planting in hard red or orange clay soil that has little to no nutrients?
You kind of contradicted your self when you said that about the roots hitting a wall.
In some soils like clay that exactly what they would do, grow through their original potted soil and hit the hard clay wall and not be able to grow?
So what are your thoughts on this?
Semi dwarf trees can get 15' tall and wide good buddy. You could keep it pruned small though if that is what you are looking for.
My peach trees had hundreds of fruit last year but a late freeze ruined that, but this year my peaches and apples have a ton of flowers! First year for the apples. Hopefully nothing goes wrong 🤞
@Freedog13 yeah it does, last year we just had a really late freeze that screwed up everybody's fruit production
@Freedog13 at least I'm hoping that's what caused it!
The only time I stake a tree is to straighten the trunk when it’s growing in a weird direction. If the wend is blowing it over I normally cut the top out so the roots can grow out and support a tall tree.
So if my only option is to plant in heavy clay I still shouldn't amend the soil at all? Will they still do ok if I just put compost on top of the soil
I live in a very heavy clay region, and I have found that the old practice of adding amendments [which I was deeply addicted to ] is indeed misguided...
My ego was married to it; I had to be dragged to this conclusion, kicking and screaming...after all, where do • I• fit in then, in the planting process? What am I THERE for? What about the Amendment RITUAL?
Finally, I saw that the no-amendments view makes sense. My place is to dig a proper hole, site the tree perfectly, in every dimension, make sure the tree is positioned perfectly relative to every point on the compass; left and right, back and forth, up, down, then get out the way; chuck the native soil around the roots and water it in. [TIP: I always plant a tree circa 1.5 to 3 inches [4 cm to 7.5 cm] above grade, some tree settling always occurs, you can always add more earth around the tree, but you can't later lift it up]
It is especially crucial to NOT amend clay soils in tree-planting, the stark contrast between a soil-amended tree planting hole vs the heavy clay outside the hole makes it imperative that the soil NOT be amended: the tree's roots will never want to venture out into the world, if it has been initially coddled by amendments being added to the hole.
< bites tongue; makes no references to human offspring >
I always knock the roots free of the sawdust compose--mix this with the soil from digging the hole. I spread the roots ( which are growing in a circle inside the plastic bucket) backfill , tap down the soil, cover with straw, add 3-4 T-Posts and a wire protector for deer. I also cover the soil with mulch/straw then add 2 gallon of warm water. I water once a week for 4-6 weeks
Wondering if you have some advice on an issue I am having with an apple tree. In the spring I planted 13 bareroot apple trees, all small whips. I pruned them all, and all but one took off when the weather warmed. The one that didn't remained dormant until about June. Then it sprung a few leaves. It was fine for about 3 weeks, then the leaves dried up and fell off. All of the other trees are fine, include the two that are on either side of this one. What can I do to save the tree, or is it too late? The trunk/stem shows greenish in some parts, so pretty sure it is still alive. If I cut it in half, would that stimulate new growth? It is only about 2 feet high now, so a little scared to trim any more than I already have. It is summer now in Southern Ontario. The tree is a dwarf freedom apple tree. 2/3 sun, 1/3 shade. Thank you!
at least get a cutting or two and root them so you don't have to buy a new tree
So don't use soil amendments to back fill... But I live in PHX, AZ and most fruit tree TH-camrs are saying to add roughly 1/3 compost 1/3 worm castings, & 1/3 native soil.... What should I do? There's almost no nutrients in our soil but I can get truck loads of free mulch here
You can make a bigger hole, like double the root ball of your tree, and then create a gradient, starting with the native soil, and then mixed with some sand, then another layer of more fertile soil, to finish with the layer higher with that ratio you mentioned
You got some good lookin dirt there MI 🌱💚
Thanks for the info. I was going to backfill with nice lush compost and garden soil. Local soil is very sandy, so I will amend the surface. Excellent.
We grow a little differently here due to our conditions. Our fruit trees are spaced 4 meters apart as we grow a lot of really big trees like mangoes, tamarind, lilly pilly and we are on a solid clay bed from an ancient mud flat/mangrove. We also have to have enough spacing to let the water run off... we get a monsoon... this February we had 2 meters of rain in 13 days, so we need to let to have quite a lot of airflow to prevent fungal issues. We also use our orchard as a [hobbyist/ameture] apiary.
So I just refill the hole with the clay I dug out? Rather than admend the clay. In your April 2017 video on planting cherry trees you stressed to admend the clay soil to make it lose so the roots could easily move. I'm planting cherry trees and am not sure which to do. Best way to protect tree from deer ? Thanks
If you amend the soil in one location all you are doing is making a clay "pot" in the ground. If you are planting in clay it needs to be in a slightly amended mound at least 12 inches off the ground.
I'm just getting ready in Minnesota to plant my mini orchard. Thanks for this video. Glad I caught this. I was taught to amend the soil in the hole. Thanks again.
Can you do a quick update on the apple trees? i just installed 8 trees myself this year. I'm curious to see how you're trees are doing.
thank you for the info, I im preping to plant fruit trees and i was going to amend the hole with compost and fertilizer, now i will just amend the surface, thank you!
I planted a pear tree last week, in my back yard and I ran into a huge rock the size of a bowling ball right in the middle of the hole! It must have weighed at least 100 pounds. It took me three hours to figure out how to get it out. I dug around it the best I could. Then I tried leveraging it out with two pieces of wood, but that didn't work because you need a second person and I was alone. Then I tried lifting it with a strap and that didn't work. I tried using one of the pieces of wood as a ramp to roll it out and that didn't work either. Finally, right when I about to give up, I tried to roll it out of the hole, one more time with my hands and I was actually able to get it. I had lifted it by propping it up about two inches or so with a piece of wood and I managed to get it at just the right angle. I was able to roll the boulder across my yard and put it under my chicken coop. I'd like to see some tips on removing large rocks like that, or checking to see if one is there before you dig a hole to plant a tree. Maybe you could use a sledge hammer to drive a long sharp metal tool, such as a pick ax or a metal stake into the spot where you intend to dig, beforehand, so that you can check to see if there are any rocks. I think I'll try that next time.
Just drill holes in it then use dexpan demolition grout which is a non-explosive slow expanding grout powder you mix with water and pour into your drill holes and it expands slowly over 24 hours and breaks rocks into pieces in all directions from the thousands of pounds of expansion force it creates. Marble quarries use it as do gardeners and contractors for busting concrete and large rocks apart with ease
@@artbyrobot1 That's assuming I have a powerful enough drill with a sharp enough bit to get into something like solid rock, and want to spend the money on something like that.
Great video, and everything you say makes so much sense, I have a question or if you already have a video on this, my husband and I planted a peach tree about 5 years ago, and this year only half of it bloomed, the other half looks dead, I really hope you see this and you have a few answers as to why this could have happened, we are just crushed over this, we live in Carson City NV. we did have a good winter, I don't think it was a water issue, I also don't see any bugs?
Great video! I'm growing my first garden this year so I've been binge watching your videos lol
Great video as always.🌱🦋💕🤗😁
Hi Luke! I love all of your gardening videos, thank you for creating them. I am in my third year of gardening and still learning so much every year. I watched a previous video you did from about 5 years ago about planting bare root fruit trees and you recommended amending the soil if you have heavy clay soil however in this video you said never amend the soil. I'm slightly confused, is their a difference between planting bare root trees vs these trees? Should I amend the soil for bare root trees?
Thank you in advance!!
just was wondering the same thing???
Living in Orlando, every time I see a new video I'm like, "why is he wearing a coat???" haha. :)
Lol im in Colorado wondering the same thing
What if you mix the original soil and fertilizer, so that way it isn't as shell shocked when it grows past the fertilized area?
I live in southern AZ and I mix fertilizer with native soil for every plant. So far they have done very well doing that. So I’ll just stick the to mix method.
Hi Luke, my husband gifted me a semi-dwarf Elberta Peach tree for mothers day. You had mentioned you capped your fully mature fruit trees at 10-10.5 feet. I will do some research on your channel but would love to learn how you did that. We don't have super limited space here but I do want to try and keep it somewhat controlled.
Hopefully they’ll respond, but i think selecting dwarf varieties naturally keeps them smaller size-and physically cutting them/pruning it to maintain the size. Similar to espalier growing, a bit of maintenance to keep the shape but worth it. 💜
Oops,,,, gotta run out and take the stakes off my trees.....
I have a nectarine, Chinese apricot, and a peach tree. I lose each year to the birds and squirrels. I realize I’ll need to net but would love some tips.
Thanks a bunch!
Question please: We are planting 2 dwarf applies and two regular cherries in about two weeks. We live in an area in NW Montana and literally, there is no 'soil' to speak of so your comments about backfilling with compost and manure where perfect. BUT we're not sure what to do now. We created this huge garden/orchard space and the ground is literally clay and rocks so the garden we're creating this first year is all raised beds of course. Do you have suggestions? We're thinking we need to dig (painfully) very wide holes, get the rocks/pebbles out of the clay and at least mix this dirt that is there with some dirt that we bought for the raised beds. I can't see that the fruit trees will actually do well in the dirt that is there now. I feel a little lost at this point.
oh also.. i planted a tree last spring without a stake and it started to lean....so i did put a stake on it and a bungy to pull it back while it was still slightly supple and young enough to do..... should it take that off? let it grow kind of crooked anyway? we get winds from the same direction all the time and thats why it was leaning.
Every time I watch one of Luke's videos, I feel like I'm one step closer to earning my PhD in Horticulture. Like seriously, these videos are so informative.
Luke I would love a guide like this on planting fruit trees in pots!!!! Are the principles the same? Should I not use amended soil for the pots and just add compost to the top? PLEASE HELP ME!!!
And thank you for this info. If I don’t hear anything else, I’ll use the principals from this video for my potted fruit trees.
Container gardening is not the same. The only nutrition they receive is from what’s in the pots. Use a good rich well draining potting soil.
I accidentally bought an apricot & a plum - 2 trees that had flowered and are about 4 feet tall. Should I clip all the flower woody branches off? Or let it be? In Zone 6A. Thanks!
Shilpa Mankikar i did the same!!! I just clipped the blooms idk
I'm about to plant a pear tree and came by this video at random, glad I did lol..Thank you for the info
As I agree with most of this I do not agree with it all. I always backfill with garden soil and native dirt mixed with a 50/50 and it has always worked really well. Currently have 4 apple trees, 2 plum trees, and a peach tree that are all doing great after three years in the ground. I also agree that staking can be bad, but it can also be good in high wind areas. We had one apple tree that we did not stale and it is the only tree that snapped in half due to the high winds. All the other trees came out ok. I am not completely disagreeing with you just stating my experience. Great video though.
Great video with some good tips. We have always wanted to plant an orchard on our land and start with the fruits we like. We have a hillside that is pretty steep with about 100' across and 300' or more in length, so room isn't an issue. I bought and planted 4 apple trees, 2 cherry trees, 1 pear, 1 peach, 1 plum. All the trees are supposed to get up to 20' tall and about that wide. So if I planted them about 15' apart, I should be ok, right?
We already have 2 older established pear trees about a few hundred feet apart from one another. Those pears from those trees are very small and they are very hard to eat. There use to be an orchard behind our house from what the previous owners told me. Their Grandfather built the home, we are currently living in & own, from a Sears catalog in 1929 on 1.8 acres of land. Should you fertilize with store bought fertilizers or can I use my compost from coffee, tea bags, egg shells, twigs and leaves, grass clippings, and other items I compost? I want to get them off to the right start and make sure they are getting everything necessary to grow. Should I fertilize the first year or not? Is garden soil ok to use to get the trees started?
Great video. But I do have to say that I disagree with soil amendment. Especially for those living in the south where “soil” isn’t soil. I’ve always put an amended base, mixed with native soil in the planting hole. I’ve had wonderful results. Oh, and definitely water in your new planting!
I'm getting ready to plant 2 standard size Peach trees and I really love your video and want to plant them at the best distance apart from each other , everything I have read says 18-25 ft apart! I saw a video you did for an 85 year old orchardist and I want to train my tree's limbs like his so they don't get to tall ! I like the idea you have discovered about planting them close together as possible but mine are standard size Peaches! Any advice will be appreciated 😊
I saw a few videos of gardeners not recommending amending the soil when planting fruit trees. How about when you have really bad clay soil? We get lots of rain here in the UK and when it rains (at the moment it looks like it will rain for almost 2 weeks non stop) my garden is a mud pool. I bought a dwarf cherry and pear tree which I`m planning to plant in a bigger container but I`m also tempted to try to plant the pear tree in the ground. Thanks for your tips, I found your video very useful.
Wouldnt that be the case as well with planting vegetables like tomatoes and stuff? (What you said about the backfilling with fertilized soil and compost)
So, does M.I. Stand for Michigan? Why not pronounce it "my"?
I knew I needed 2 apples and 2 pear tree for pollination but I thought they had to be the same kind but the guy at the store told us they can be different types of trees. MY concern is will it make my apple be a granny fuji apple or some sort of new type of apple or will my granny smith be a granny smith and my fuji be a fuji. I need to know so I can exchange one of them to the other type of tree.
The day before watching I planted two bare root apple trees. A Fuji and and combo tree. I dug the holes hauled off the old dirt and added nice fresh beautiful compost.....and planted both trees....then I watched the video.....
On a side note Today I pulled both trees, removed all the beautiful compost and added in the old dirt and replanted them....
So glad I saw this video! Who would have thought adding beautiful compost would be a bad thing? Thanks!
So, you don't recomend backfilling with compost. But what if you have clay soil. Here in Ohio, you dig between 5-10 inches of top soil and everything below is just yellow clay that you can use for pottery, lol
When it comes to staking, I would say this depends on your location. Here in the wide open flatlands of South West MN, I've had and seen saplings that were just transplanted blow down in the wind that weren't staked. Heck, I've had staked trees tip over. If you're in town or don't receive so much wind that Chicago would willingly step off it's Windy City throne, then you can probably skip staking. But for some of the prairie lands, I find that staking the first season usually yields the best results. I usually take my lines off right before winter sets in since the ground will be frozen fairly quickly. Also, if you stake lower, you might be able to get best of both worlds? Not sure.
Love the pointers about spacing though, I've been struggling to figure out the best spacing for my trees in my little yard and this confirms my pondering.
This was great, thanks for sharing. Just watched a recent Garden Answer orchard video and I believe they amended the soil for all of their trees. I know they live in a harsh environment and tend to amend nearly everything they plant. We'll be doing an orchard soon and plan to follow your steps. Thank you! Also, how do you plan to keep your non-dwarf fruit trees at 10-11 feet tall? Just pruning them at that height?
Hi. I have an 8' peach tree in a pot that i forgot to plant in autumn. What should i do now? Im in nj, night temps as low as 10f. Should i bring in garage untill spring and then plant it?, because im afraid the roots will freeze up being above ground in a plastic pot. Thanks
Most of this was counter intuitive for me so I had to change my planting plan especially heavily lining the hole with compost. I'm going to follow and trust your instructions.
Very nice video. Thank you so much.
You are a mind reader. On the past weekend I FINALLY started my garden after procrastinating all these years. I used the Lasagna method and was pleased with the outcome (SO FAR). I also wanted to get some fruit trees. I've got friends in various parts of TX who have purchased fruit trees from retail stores and have had big success. I started asking all the questions that you've answered in the this and the last video. I was looking at the instructions on the trees and they talked about AMENDMENT and STAKING. I'll be buying my trees this coming weekend knowing that I've got it RIGHT THE FIRST TIME. Thanks
MIgardener - Do you (or anyone reading this) ever use "tree skirts" around your fruit trees as a mulch alternative? I bought some on-line for the first time that are 3' x 3'. They are a heavy black plastic weave and don't allow water to go through. I'm wondering if young trees will get enough water that way. Also since it gets up into the 90s and 100s here for 4-5 months per year, won't it make the ground too hot? Should I cut holes to allow water in closer to the tree trunk?
Sorry for the pain I am about to induce...
Tropical Aus... and currently it is...
29ºc and 75%+ humidity... it is late afternoon here and the sun is just setting and the white cockatoos are flying overhead... it is rather glorious...
I have pet cockatoos here in USA, and I hope to be able to visit and see them in the wild one day. They are loves.
Wow, I'm a big believer in your advice. I bought a Red Delicious tree from our local garden shop 2 months ago. They said they to buy the compost and root developer as well. Told me to dig the hole put compost in the hole and rub the root developer on it and then plant.
It grew beautifully. For approx a month. Then all the leaves turned yellow and started dropping off. I was told it was probably getting too much water. I slowed the watering, didn't seem to help, and now I think it's dead.
Lesson learned the hard way.
Oh no! I brought too many trees and I only have 24 feet to use that my parents gave me. I saw other peoples backyard. I wonder how they did it :/ maybe it looks smaller on camera
yes, I made the mistake of digging a too deep of a hole for my fruit tree because supposedly a friend told me soo that that is how it is done.
How can I save my tree, it is dying I need HELP! I live in tx and we have been getting a lot of water and I see the soil is not draining well and gets filled with water.
PLEASE I need some HELP, I also backfilled my dirt with rich compost instead of original soil. I should have watched this video first
Luke thanks for another valuable lesson. I have a question. I container garden. I purchased a 4 in 1 semi dwarf pear tree and planted in a container. I noticed two things, 1 the soil didn't go above a notch on the base of the trunk so I added more soil, 2. the tree is leaning. Is there anything I can do about the lean besides repotting it? Or does it leaning really matter?
I agree with what you are saying about backfill however i live in an area where the soil is all clay so i have to dig a very wide hole 4 times the size of the root ball and backfill with good soil. Do you agree that this is what i should do or will the apple tree grow in clay soil?
I have bought some apple trees and they recommend 10-20' for spacing. Do you half the higher, lower, or average number for High Intensity Spacing?
Very informative video. I just love growing fruit trees and veggies. Check me out and leave some recommendations or tips for doing it better.
Great video. I love how you are always in such a positive mood. Been watching your videos for a couple years and enjoy each one of them. Keep up the great work positive vibes from Southern Cali
Would love to get blazed with him too , smart fella n positive
🥂
just planted my lemon tree without thinking or watching this video... feels kinda trillseeking!!!
ok. I think I plant the tree too deep :/
Wish I would’ve watched this 3 years ago before I planted! My tress are planted at suggested rates so they won’t be able to hold hands. Poor lonely trees :( Rats!
Lots of good info in the vid, but be cautious about the spacing advice. This is a permanent decision, not a one season decision. I saw him back off of his dense carrot planting advice, which sounded convincing at the time.
Thank you very much. A great video! One thing I do when planting trees as well is to break up the side walls of the hole with my shovel. Where I live in Virginia, the red clay soil can create a somewhat impermeable surface if one does not.
Great video, but I wish you would have talked about pressing the soil down with your foot during the back-filling part of the video and not afterwards in the staking part of the video, because I followed along with the video rather than watching the entire video first. So I loosely back-filled my soil thinking it would help the roots. Lesson learned on my part.
Great video! Thanks. Quick question. Do you fertilize the soil for berry bushes such as haskap, black currant, raspberry? Or do you just plant it into native soil without adding any fertilizers just like with the fruir trees?