We’re planting some fruit trees, and after reading through some threads on here I’m wondering if I even need to support/stake them? Are there certain varieties more prone to breakage that need extra support?
Also, pruning - I’ve heard it’s good to give a hard pruning when you first plant the trees so they can establish a strong tap root. True or false? Do I need to wait for the leaves to fall off before pruning if it’s true?
Editing to add info:
We’ve purchased a variety of standard sized fruit trees. Peach, plum, apple, pear, and permission. I know not all of those are known to thrive where we are but we wanted to give it our best shot. We’re in East Tennessee - I believe the grow zone is 7. We plan on an aggressive pruning approach to keep the trees relatively small (at least compared to a standard tree size) but weren’t sure how to prune at the start
Lots of this is dependent on what type of tree and where you are!
eg. Dwarf apple = very much needs support. Peach =probably doesn’t. non-dwarf apple = probably should stake for a while because they tend to lean.
Also, It’s not bad to plant trees right now in lots of places, but I would not cut the top off of any where I am or suggest it in most places. If you cut the top off a young tree where I am it might not be able to store enough energy to re-start in spring. Stone fruit seem especially prone to this.
But if we had a bit more info on location and trees maybe you’d get more specific advice.
We’ve purchased a variety of standard sized fruit trees. Peach, plum, apple, pear, and permission. I know not all of those are known to thrive where we are but we wanted to give it our best shot. We’re in East Tennessee - I believe the grow zone is 7. We plan on an aggressive pruning approach to keep the trees relatively small (at least compared to a standard tree size) but weren’t sure how to prune at the start
When I plant a new tree I normally stake the tree for at least 3-4 years. That gives the tree better support from winds and rain. I also use stakes to straighten the trunk out if the trunk and scion is bent. I try to make the trunk as straight as possible.
I don’t stake any of my trees - just some thing I don’t care for. I don’t think any of my stone fruit or pears need it. Apples on a lot of dwarfing rootstock definitely need it though. I have a couple on B9 and their anchorage is terrible. Those should be staked so I’ll be looking into using other rootstock in the future. I used g11 last year, this year I tried g890 as it came up a bunch on this site.
I do have a vinyl fence close to my trees and they’re also fairly high density in planting - both of which act as somewhat of a windbreak.
Pruning for compact size isn’t always a great thing. If they’re a bit off the ground they have a bit more protection from deer browse, you can protect from squirrels if need be and honestly it protects my fruit from my dog who will eat fruit that are close to the ground (such as raspberries and blueberries).
I do try to prevent the tops being higher than 7 feet though, so picking is easy.
Standard trees on decent rootstock rarely need staking beyond the first season honestly. The wind movement actually helps them build better trunk taper and root anchorage over time. I’d only bother if the site is really exposed or a tree is clearly leaning. For pruning, I’d leave them alone the first year and just let them establish.
They’re in an exposed spot, but I used a stretchy t-shirt yarn and tied it loosely to a flat strap with gromits around the tree. Just wondering if it’s worth the effort for the others
That’s actually really small. Especially for an apple or pear on standard rootstock.
You may have problems getting apple and pear to fruit since they will just be constantly trying to grow leaves.
Peach is only trouble because they grow a lot- and only fruit on 1st year wood. But they can be kept short with pruning and shaping.
I’m not trying to grow small trees (except for some apples on dwarfing rootstock and a couple peaches I’m keeping short) so hopefully someone who knows more about small trees can chime in.
I’ve done a lot of reading on it and it should be completely doable. And as my husband says, “they were really cheap. If you ruin these ones we’ll try again with a new method”
I think that if I had trees on standard rootstock and wanted to keep them under 12 feet tall I’d consider grafting a dwarfing interstem onto the standard roots.