Fruit Tree—Growing Your Own Fruit Has Its Rewards

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We all know what a fruit tree is—a tree that produces the fruit that we enjoy every day, such as apples, peaches, and plums. However, from a horticultural view, almost all trees and flowering plants produce fruit, that is, an ovary that contains seeds for the next generation. This includes the nut trees.

This article discusses the trees that have a fruit (or nut) that's edible to humans.

Fruit Tree Propagation

Propagation of fruit trees is usually carried out asexually by grafting the desired variety onto a suitable rootstock.

This is especially important for fruit such as apples, which don't self-pollinate. Since these trees can't use their own pollen, every apple on the tree will be a cross between that tree's variety and a nearby tree's variety.

Since orchardists must know that every apple will taste the same, grafting is their choice for creating new trees.

Pruning a Fruit Tree

Pruning is a technique employed by gardeners to control growth, remove dead or diseased wood, and stimulate the formation of flowers and fruit buds.

The best time to prune is early in the season, when buds begin to break, and you can pinch off soft tissue with your fingers (which gives us the expression "nipped in the bud"). A lack of new growth indicates which branches may be dead and need to be pruned.

Many people who plant fruit trees at home make the mistake of planting and then neglecting the tree until it begins to bear. Careful attention to pruning and training your tree when it's young will improve its productivity and longevity:

• Prevent later injury from weak crotches that break under snow or fruit load.
• Let in more sunlight to increase yield.
• Improve the tree's suitability for different situations and conditions. For example, pruning to a pyramid shape means that you can plant trees closer together. Cordons, espaliers and fans let you produce fruit against walls or fences, in two dimensions instead of three.

Parts of this article are adapted from Wikipedia.

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