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”