Growing Trees for Shade

If you are planting trees to provide shade for your garden, you will want a tree that grows quickly and provides plenty of shade from it's leaves. You should have no problem finding a shade tree with the many different types available and there are many things you can do to speed up the growth of trees.

Typically trees are separated into two categories: long lived and short lived. If you are looking for temporary shade for your garden, you are better off with a short lived tree. If you want to keep your shade tree for many years, choose a long lived tree.

If you decide on a short lived tree, you will want a variety that has speedy growth. This means the root system will be particularly aggressive, so be sure not to place it near any septic tanks or other deep rooted plants. If the roots have plenty of area to grow, then they will shoot out extremely fast and your tree will take off in growth. Your placement should also be based on the tree’s relative position to the area you are wanting to shade. You should keep it to the western or southern sides for maximum shading.

Preparing your soil well for the shade trees can be the best way to enhance the plant growth speed. The bigger hole you dig for the root ball, the better. Also when you dig out the soil from the hole, you should work it over well before you replace it. This will allow the roots to penetrate through the soil better. If you mix in all your fertilizer and nutrients to the soil before you replace it, you will end up with a superior tree. Also try to use organic materials as mulch. Bark and any branches or twigs work well for this, and will encourage the quick growth.

When you buy your shade tree, it will usually come with the root ball balled up and in a burlap bag. It might also be grown in a container or simply with bare roots. If you get a tree in a burlap bag, you should plant it anywhere between fall and early spring. Trees grown in containers can be planted any time of the year. If the tree just has bare roots, then the ideal planting time is winter or early spring. If you buy a tree that has been grown in a container, make sure that the roots are not constricted by the container as this will cause the roots to go in circles underground after you plant it. After you buy the tree and before you plant it, be sure to constantly add moisture to it.

Make sure to put the tree into the ground at the proper depth and replacing the soil without compressing it too much. Immediately after planting, you should give the tree its first watering before putting the layer of mulch on. You should always use organic mulch, and have a 2 or 3 inch layer of it at the base of your tree.

You should always use nitrogen fertilizer during the first segment of the tree’s life. Simply follow the instructions on the label in order to find out exactly how much to apply and when to apply it. Never apply too much fertilizer while the tree is young. You should usually wait until it has been established for about a year. The fertilizer that you do add should be watered down completely.

Maintaining a Healthy Fruit Tree

To make sure your fruit tree stays healthy is very important, but not as hard as some might think. There are several vital things you need to do: don't harvest all of the fruit on the tree at the same time; make sure the soil is healthy; watch out for pests; plant it correctly; be sure it is protected when it is young.

Never harvest all of the tree's fruit at the same time, but make sure you harvest some of the fruit, if all of the fruit is left on the tree, it will grow to an branch breaking weight. Once the fruit starts to grow, you should always pick some of them before they are completely ready. Even if you don't want to pick the fruit before it is ready, it will be beneficial to your tree. While you should do this to prevent it from becoming too heavy, you should also never over-harvest as this can be equally damaging.

Another part of making sure that your fruit tree stays healthy is planting it in fertile soil. If you plant anything in soil that doesn't have the proper amount of nutrients in it, it will grow poorly. You also need to plant the right tree in the right kind of soil, some types of fruit trees do better in drier soil while other trees do better in damp soil. Just look up what kinds of nutrients your desired tree requires and you’ll know if your soil type is acceptable or if you need to modify your soil to meet the tree's requirements.

Keep pests away from your tree and try to eliminate places by your tree that pests might be living. Always look for old piles of brush, weeds, old leaves, or any other decaying matter where pests could be hiding. Another way to keep pests away is by using bug sprays and repellents. Also, regularly turn over a little bit of soil around your tree and look for pests that could be hiding underground. Sometimes the ones that are hidden out of sight can be the most harmful.

If you don't plant your fruit tree correctly, it could end up being very unhealthy. So to avoid this, always look for instructions before you plant trees. When you are planting a tree, make sure that your tree is perfectly vertical, so it won’t grow to be pointing off in an abnormal direction. When you are planting a tree you should also spread out the roots so that the tree will always be stable which will make the tree live longer since the maximum water intake will be optimized.

If your tree is young, you need to tie it to a stake to help it survive strong winds. Don't tie it too hard or you will strangle the tree and restrict it's growth, always allow room for the tree trunk to grow. Another thing to do when it is young is to put a small fence around it. This can help keep it safe from animals that will eat at it's bark and guard the base against strong winds and other weather conditions.

Protecting Trees From Birds

If you have a problem with birds, you have probably tried many solutions such as plastic animals, scarecrows, wind chimes, or highly reflective tape. All of these things can do a great job to help reduce bird problems. Birds have a natural tendency to get more bold as time goes by. In the beginning my scarecrow scared them senseless, but now I look outside and see them sitting on his shoulder and having a meal together from the cherries on my tree. I love having birds in my my yard, but I already provide specific trees for the birds to ear from.

Bird netting is basically a giant net that you throw over the entire tree. The holes are about one half of an inch wide. Bird netting can stop the birds from eating your fruit, but birds will get caught in the netting and get choked to death.

Another safer alternative is an inexpensive product called “tulle” that you can get at a fabric store. Tulle is a very fine netting with holes too small for any bird to fit their beaks or heads into. Purchasing enough Tulle to cover one tree cost me less than half of the cost for the lethal bird netting.

I installed the tulle onto my tree (I’ll admit it was a lot harder to install than the bird netting was. I had to attach several large pieces together at the seams) and watched it for a day. I wanted to keep an eye on it every second, so that if a bird got caught I could quickly help it out. Fortunately, no bird ever got caught. Tulle is a much safer and cheaper alternative to bird netting, and I suggest it if you have any problems with birds. Just remember to let them have at least one tree for themselves! Sharing with birds is an essential part of being a good gardener.

Training Branches

Many people associate pruning with changing the structure of your tree to fit a different shape or style. However, this is not the case. Altering the structure of the tree is known as “Tree Training”. This is a much better way to develop an alternate form for your tree. Pruning should be used to prevent diseases, prevent lopsidedness, and encourage healthier fruit growth.

Pruning is also used to maintain the proper shape for the tree. For example, if you have an abundance of branches on one particular side of the tree, then you will use pruning to get rid of the larger segments which weigh down the tree to one side. Think of pruning more as maintenance instead of altering or destroying a tree. Pruning is very useful, but most of the time you can use training as a healthier and more efficient alternative.

Training has not been around for very long. Through tying down branches or propping them up from the ground, one can direct the growth of the tree to take whatever shape they want. This theory is usually used in the early days of the tree to encourage it to develop fully. If you direct the tree and get it started off on the right foot, you’ll save yourself a lot of pruning time later.

Training is usually done in the summer months, instead of cutting off all the branches that aren’t going in the right way, you try to redirect them. The mechanisms you use can be thought of as orthodontic braces for your fruit tree. They pull or push the branches, like teeth, in whatever direction you want them to go. Eventually they naturally grow that way due to your training.

It can be hard to decide how exactly to train your tree. There are many different forms and shapes to choose from. Some are meant to allow a high density of trees in one orchard, and some are meant to provide maximum fruit bearing per tree. Depending on where your tree is and how you want it to function, you will have to look for different types of forms that will perfectly fit your situation.

The theories of training can also be applied even if you are growing a tree in the traditional (natural) form. Sometimes branches will grow too close together and block each other out, so training them to grow away from each other can prevent the need to prune them later. This is highly beneficial even if you are just growing a tree in your backyard, in a non professional environment.

There is no tree grower that couldn’t benefit from using a little training in their tree growing escapades. Whether you have decided to give your trees a completely new form, or just optimize the branch placement for healthier fruit, there is surely some way that training can benefit you.

To train a tree, you will need some sort of outside brace to push or pull a branch. If you want to push 2 branches closer together or further apart, you can place something in between them or lash them together with rope. Successfully training your branches just takes a little imagination in deciding what to tie things to and what to push things off of. I have found that stakes, fences, or simply an upright 2x4 leaning away from the tree can work wonders.

Treating For Moths and Other Pests

Many fruit tree growers don't understand how easy it is to get a serious infestation of worms in their fruit. I can’t think of anything more unpleasant than biting into an apple off of the tree you’ve slaved over for so long, only to find a worm beat you to the meal, it makes you mad to the core.

It is a chore to spray with pesticides and you need to learn how to use pesticides without killing yourself, but spraying should never be overlooked. Spraying pesticides is a fairly quick and easy process, and you shouldn’t have to do it very often at all. Believe me; it is worth it to just get out there in the yard every couple of weeks and spray.

Spraying is a time consuming process. You need to buy all the supplies, mix the chemicals, apply them, and clean up everything you used in the process. Sometimes you’ll even need a ladder to reach all segments of the trees. Doing this every 2 weeks can get very tiresome and irritating, but keeping up with regular pesticide spraying will help prevent infestations of moths, but sometimes it’s just not enough.

Usually you can recognize if moths have laid eggs on your trees by the ends of the branches. You should check your trees carefully and if you notice something that looks like a cluster of moth eggs, you should immediately prune the branch you found the eggs on and destroy it. If the eggs were to hatch, you will have a large amount of moth larvae crawling around through your tree and into your fruits.

I live in a moth prone area, but I have never had a problem with moths because every Sunday during springtime, I go outside and spray down my entire tree. Preventing the infestation of unwanted guests is much better than having to cut down a tree and start completely over just because of a little laziness.

If you have not thought of spraying pesticides in the past, you should definately consider it. Find out what pests are most prevalent in your area, and buy the appropriate pesticides to prevent them from ever visiting your trees.

Preventing Diseases in Fruit Trees

Pitted fruit trees such as plums, peaches, or cherries are more susceptible to diseases than any other type of fruit tree. The most common disease known as “Brown Rot”. This is a fungus that attaches to many of the leftover fruits after the picking season is over. Not only does it look disgusting on the leftover fruits, but it also can come back on the newer fruits, rendering them inedible (unless you enjoy eating fungus). To prevent this from happening, you need to prune your trees often to encourage good air circulation. Buildups of moisture are the main cause of brown rot. When you are done picking fruit for the season, you should get rid of all of the leftover fruits in the tree or on the ground.

A cytospora canker is a disgusting dark, soft area on tree branches. Gum protrudes through the bark, along with a large callus. The pathogen which causes these cankers usually enters the tree through older wounds. If you prune all of the sprouts that occur in late summer, cankers will have a harder time making themselves known within your tree. When you prune, always allow the wounds to heal naturally rather than use the wound dressings that you can buy at gardening stores, in my experience these do very little and just make the tree look unnatural.

Plum trees commonly get a disease named "Black Knot", it's symptoms are rough tumors or growths that can be found on the tree’s branches. If you see any of these, you should immediately remove the branch it has attached to by pruning it. Don't use the pruned branch for mulch either, carefully discard it because the disease can easily spread back to the tree if it is within a certain distance.

If you have a cherry tree, you have or will deal with “Cherry Leaf Spot”. It usually shows itself when there are old dead leaves accumulated on the ground. Preventing this disease is fairly easy. All you have to do is be fairly diligent in raking up all of the leaves that fall from your tree. If you have already seen signs of the disease, you should destroy all of your raked leaves and discard of them carefully.

When your fruits ripen and become ready for picking, you should always be completely finished with picking within 2 weeks. It is best to daily go outside and pick all of the new ripe fruits, along with any that have fallen off of the tree or are starting to rot on the tree. By doing this, you will prevent bees and wasps from becoming too dependent on your tree for nourishment.

Growers of fruit trees are constantly faced with diseases and pests to worry about. However, if you take the proper precautions then you can avoid most of them. You should also look for any diseases that have been affecting your local area, and try to take steps to prevent those as well.

How To Grow Big Fruit

The one thing that usually shocks new tree growers is when their fruit trees produce fruits that are smaller than the ones they’re used to seeing at the grocery store. Small fruits are a natural occurrence, it is possible to attain larger fruits without any genetic altering or added chemicals. It is only through advanced techniques that the professionals reach such large sizes with their fruits.

Usually in the early stages of a fruit trees growing, veterans do something called “fruit thinning”. The theory behind this process is that with less fruits to pay attention to, the tree will be able to more efficiently send cells to the leftover fruits. When there are hundreds of little fruits on one tree, competing for the available materials necessary for growth, you will most likely just end up with a bunch of stunted fruits. To take care of this problem, simply pluck a third of the fruits extremely early on in the process. You should notice larger fruits that season.

On almost any tree, the success of each individual fruit depends on the spacing. Usually there should not be any fruits within 6-8 inches of each other. During the fruit thinning process, this is the distance you should generally aim for to optimize the amount of nutrition that each fruit gets. Any closer and you’ll find they are crowding each other out. This is a very common mistake that a new tree grower makes. Having tons of fruit starting to grow is not always a good thing!

Sometimes small fruits are caused by conditions out of the gardener’s control. During the process of cell division that all new fruits go through, cool weather can be fatal to the largeness of your fruits. Likewise, if the weather is particularly cloudy very early in the season, then fewer carbohydrates will be available to your plants. If the factors are all against the well being of your fruit tree, then the fruits will drop to the ground before they are even ripe. A lack of water or certain nutrients, or excessive pests and diseases can also damage the growth of fruits. If you notice these things going on early in the season, you should do more fruit thinning than normal. Sometimes as much as three fourths of the fruits should come off, to allow full nutrition to those who remain.

The best way to find out how to gain larger fruit sizes is to experiment. If your tree has been around for a while, there is almost nothing you can do to it to cause it to die or stop producing fruit. Just test different thinning techniques or anything you can think of to make the fruits larger. You might even head down to your local nursery and enquire about what they would suggest.

If you follow all of this advice during the early years of your tree, you should have an experience that is nothing but joyful. Hopefully you’ll learn from the mistakes of others, and take great care of your tree. Just remember to always look up information on the type of tree you have, so that you can find out what exactly it requires.