Here come the early plums! Gorgeous times ahead as fruit trees wake from their winter slumber. As the carbs start to flow, I swear the trees get a glow on. Cross your fingers the weather aligns and keep your eye on the prize because boom! from swelling bud to that first slither of pink to blossom! It happens so fast – if you blink you’ll miss it.
Being present for all stages of growth tells you all you need to know. If the crop flopped you understand because you were there for the big wind that blew most of the blossoms off or the rain that made it impossible for pollinators to move pollen about. Equally when crops were great, the bee covered blossoms + sunny, calm days foretold it.
Frost damage
Should any of your citrus or subtropicals get frosted, leave those burned and brown leaves on as a layer of protection. If more frosts are likely, cover trees with frost cloth.
Prune the frost damage off, after risk of frost is gone.
Biological Fungicides
Rot, cankers, oozing sap, fruit scab, leaf spots or leaf curl in the last growing season are pathogenic fungi/ bacteria ruling over your tree, and beating back the beneficial fungi/ bacteria. It’s a numbers game. Simple as that.
Good news is that turning the equation on its head and making the beneficial’s the rulers, is as simple as a solid set up + good garden practice. My healthy fruit tree game plan takes you through the nuts and bolts. That’s all it takes! Do the basics well, and good health will follow.
New gardens, and gardens transitioning to a holistic style, are more disease prone because they lack the necessary diversity of life that is at the heart of naturally healthy fruit trees. Creating this diversity isn’t as arduous as you think – a dedicated year can make a huge difference.
You may, during this transition, choose to use a biological fungicide to combat overwhelming populations of fungal disease (read all about it here.) Buy a bottle now because the window to apply it is small – as soon as buds unfurl you want to get it on.
Or you can just hunker down and tick away with creating your awesome set up. It will win out in the end.
Notching: a cool pruning trick!
Towards the end of this month, you have a cool opportunity to create new branches on young, deciduous fruit trees in training. Notching is a simple, old school trick that stimulates a branch to grow. Use it to fill any empty spaces in your scaffold structure. Read about it here.
Prune Citrus
Timing is everything when it comes to pruning citrus.
- If you live somewhere warm and mild, then prune late winter – right after harvest.
- If it’s frosty at yours, delay pruning until risk of frost is over – mid to late spring is fine.
Here’s your guide: “How (+ when) to prune citrus”
Good morning! I recently purchased a lifestyle block, most of which is old orchard. I’ve spotted an avocado tree. Unfortunately it has grown in between a large old plum. And All the foliage is is about 15 foot high. Any suggestions as to how I could promote some new growth nearer to ground? Should I take out the plum to give the avo a chance? Oh how I would love to grow my own avos!
I can relate to the wish for Avo’s! but gosh without seeing it Gus I cannot possibly advise. Check out my “how to prune an Avocado” post ok (search it up on my website) and perhaps also “How much space do my fruit trees need” blog as well. The thing is all sorts of strange and unusual spacings and combinations work well – depending on where you live as to available light to your plum/ avo situation will the a big determining factor re amount of fruits. Have fun! Kath
Kia ora Kath!
I have continued to have leaf curl issues and was very keen on trying out the apple cider vinegar remedy you have mentioned in the past. My question is… would this replace the need to copper/sulphur spray at this time of the year? And what is the right time to start using ACV on the trees?
Sue
Great question Sue. You can do them altogether if you wish. When the foliage comes in, begin your ACV. Keep building your orchard area – it is but young. Also those trees were pretty hammered when you began if I remember rightly so it may even be a case of letting go – something to sit with anyway.
Hi Kath,
I live in Masterton, and have a few fruit trees (apple, plum, quince, citrus, grape, etc,).
I usually spray EM1 quite frequently, but have been getting leaf curl on all my plums. I’m not using the EM1 over winter (quite frosty at the moment!), but will restart as soon as it’s warmer.
My questions:
Is lime a good thing to add around the apples and the plums now (or should I have done that earlier)?
How do I use the apple cider vinegar for the leaf curl?
You’ve recommended Botryzen for as soon as the foliage starts – can I use them all together?
I always appreciate your newsletters and will look forward to your advice.
PS I’m also a proud owner of your book, The Edible Backyard – maybe I’ll find the answers there? I’ll check now, but will still look forward to hearing from you!
Thanks,
Ashok
Big questions Ashok! Respectfully, these constitute a consult/ garden coaching session 🙂
You will find a feeding regime in both my book and in all my free online info on the site – look under the fruit tree tab for all you need – especially read my healthy fruit tree game plan. Enjoy! K
Thanks Kath – you’re right… booking a session now! Ashok
Hi Kath
Far out, fruit trees need way more care than I ever thought!
I have a Hawera plum tree which had a moderately alarming infestation of Plum Tree Aphid last summer. Am I too late to do a bare tree spray, and if not, what would you recommend I use?
Warmly
Rachel
Aphids wont be helped by lime sulfur Rachel – these are fungicides for fungal issues only. Hop onto the biological spray section and read through – adding Neem will help your cause as will a booming population of beneficial insects.
Can I safely spray my citrus tree which are a fruiting. Do they need regular spraying and if so how often. Thanks.
With what are you wanting to spray your citrus?
Kia ora Kath
Love all your advice and I’ve inherited well developed fruit trees (about six years old) so our first full summer here last year and there were huge numbers of Louisa plums but sadly the tree is right in the middle of the vegetable garden! so most of my veges got no sunlight and didn’t produce well. I’m a pretty new gardener but I can see how much shade the tree gives out in the height of summer. A number of people say I should chop it down (it’s a little smaller than the one in your photo on this page) but I was wondering if I could just try chopping it right back but I don’t want to kill it.
Appreciate any advice – there’s a nectarine tree close by about the same size as well . . .
Thanks
Mel
Ha! Curly! Gotta love a well thought out garden layout 🙂
You could for sure try prune your plum in a way that lets enough light through. My pick (without seeing it) would be to remove lower branches. Watch the play of light through the seasons. You can prune the odd bits and pieces during summer as the shadow becomes evident. The other hold up here will the tree roots. Some vege are fine but others not so. Potatoes, pumpkins, zuchinni, leafy greens all suit this zone perfectly well because they are shallow rooted and low growing and you can create a no dig zone so as not to disturb shallow feeder roots.
Perhaps you grow some with the plum and create another vegie growing area north of the tree in the light.
Or move the entire vegie growing area elsewhere.
Another option is to get another Luisa plum growing in a more suited place and in 4 years when it starts fruiting remove the original.
Kia ora Kath,
I’m afraid I just made the mistake of pruning our nectarine and plum trees. I thought it was just the cherry trees that are not pruned in winter but now realise it is all stone fruit 🤦♀️
Will be doing regular EM sprays from here on in and thinking also to try Botryzen as we did have a problem with leafcurl last year, but is there anything else you would suggest? I’m really hoping the trees won’t come down with silverleaf or some infection, especially as our apricots had a nasty bacterial-looking infection last year (fortunately no winter pruning for them!)
Any advice appreciated,
Thank you so much, Bianca (Wairarapa)
Hey Bianca, Yip EM is great and Botryzen too. Remember the health of your trees is the coming together of your whole system – the soil, mulch, herbal ley et all. Look up my Healthy Fruit Tree Game Plan – its on the blog, and read through for further inspo. I pruned stone fruit in winter for many years before I learned about summer pruning – and they were by and large good as gold. I’m sure your trees will be AOK! Especially if you remember to send them encouraging vibes, not worried ones. Enjoy, K
Thank you for sharing the great article.
Hello Kath,
Before winter, I planted some fruit trees here in Gisborne and realized that I needed to know how to prune them! I decided to look for a single source of information rather than take bits of info from here and there and still have to balance them up based on zero experience. Once I saw your videos and how you are able to stay on point with the key basics, you were the obvious choice so I bought your pruning book and am very glad I did! Thank you.
One corollary you have not covered is whether the notching technique that you use to stimulate a branch to grow can be used to help espalier what in my case is a Peasgood’s Nonsuch apple tree that has a strong single, unbranched leader that runs all the way up to the fifth support wire. It would seem a waste to cut it back to stimulate the first of the scaffold branches when notching might well to the same thing. 8 notches would set the whole structure up from the get go or would that be too taxing on the tree? What do you think? Is it something you have tried?
Good morning Ron
No I have never tried such a massive amount of nothing in one go! Love your enthusiasm! If it were me I’d go 1 notch per side at the bottom tier using well positioned, strong buds, and perhaps head the leader back a little – to the 4th or 3rd wire, either that or if it is broaching the top start to train it over this spring rather than cut it.
Enjoy
K
Great to get your thoughts on the topic thanks Kath. There certainly are lots of factors to consider and I will look to train rather than cut back the leader as you suggested.
I did some more digging this morning and found these articles and a video from the University of Massachusetts, all focussing on non feathered apple trees.
Re Double-notching Whip Apple Trees at Bud Break Is Effective at Promoting Branching
http://umassfruitnotes.com/v86n3/a1.pdf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2EqTUTBhFc
Heading vs. Notching
http://www.umassfruitnotes.com/v75n3/a3.pdf
Notching Techniques Increase Branching
https://journals.ashs.org/jashs/view/journals/jashs/119/4/article-p678.pdf
It seems that even when the double notching technique is applied multiple times to the same tree, if it is done at bud break, which for my tree is just a week or two away, the trees never look back.
Here’s hoping! 🙂
Warm regards,
Ron
Look forward to hear how it goes!
K x