The story of your fruit harvest starts now – in the rising of the sap and the swelling of the buds. It’s a tale told by the bees, as they go blossom to blossom; then taken up by a fruit that evades rats, possums, wind and rain. It’s a cycle, that if unbroken, creates baskets of fruit. A cycle, that’s a blimmin’ miracle and deserves your witness. Watch it unfold and learn this years story, because this year wont necessarily play out the same as last year did.
As the years roll by, all that time spent amongst your trees does the inevitable and grows a really cool connection. A sacred nature connection, as old as life itself – confusion fades and understanding dawns.
A light prune for height in plums and peaches
Stone fruit are naturally spreading trees, so for best shape and health – let them reach and spread as much as is practical, that being said if you’ve pruned hard in the past and ended up with loads of tall shoots, spring is an excellent time to either tie the shoots down, or prune them so as to fit birdnets later.
When pruned in spring, trees respond with gentle growth because they’ve already used a chunk of energy up making blossoms and new shoots. There’s less fuel in the tank, so to speak. Use it to your advantage – though not as an excuse to go hard out! A few light snips may be all that’s required.
Divide +plant comfrey
Now’s the time to take root cuttings of your comfrey and plant them out.
Comfrey is a must have herb – gathering mineral riches from soil: silicon, calcium, potassium, phosphorus, iron, iodine… and more besides! This accumulation of minerals comes up from the deep, via a set of licorice like tap roots that open and aerate soil and create nutritious greens on top. A wonder plant indeed! Heres the comfrey low down.
Train deciduous fruit trees
Young branches are flexible in spring as sap begins to rise making this the perfect time to tie them down.
Use this gentle technique:
- in the early years, to create a balanced shape and make the most of the productive potential. Transforming an upright shoot to a horizontal branch, inspires more fruit spurs and opens trees for light and healthy airflow.
- on older trees when new shoots arrive where a bigger branch has been removed the season prior. Use them to fill the gap.
A Spring Feed for Deciduous Fruit Trees, Citrus, Passionfruits and Strawberries
Feeding in spring works with rising energies – as fruit trees begin to move, lets support them, not in a rich, heavy handed way but with biological steadiness. Read all about it here.
Mulch + Airflow
If your region is damp and cool in spring, slash long grass/weeds/herbal ley to bring airflow. Use the slashed stuff for an awesome mulch in the vegie patch, or for making compost.
Then spread a mixed woody mulch to stimulate beneficial fungi – just what trees need, simply scatter the mulch about.
Double check your pruning as foliage begins to arrive to see whether or not you need to thin a few more shoots to let air and light through.
Spraying
In my little world, spraying is biological. Its about coating the trees in beneficial fungi and bacteria in order to promote immunity and diversity and all round strength. A strong growing environment is full of life – fungi, bacteria, nematodes, bees, worms, insects of all sorts, birds, lizards – the more life, the stronger the garden, and the less pest and disease management you need do.
If spraying to you means copper, pause a mo. Copper’s a big call, impacting the beneficial soil life in a huge way, so lets be sure. Do your tree’s really need it? If blossom is out – you’ve missed your moment anyway … copper kills bees. Maybe this year is the year you go fungicide free!
Read my healthy fruit tree game plan here, a journey to longterm holistic health.
A daily walk
The easiest and most pleasurable job of all! Wander your trees regularly and watch them wake up. Watch them through the different weathers.
When it rains, bees often stay in the hive and those that do venture out, find it difficult to transfer pollen. Its worth a watch to appreciate just how difficult wet pollen is!
f its windy, blossom may blow off. Thoughts of adequate shelter spring to mind.
Keep an eye out for disease – just in a relaxed, noting it, kind of way. It’s so very helpful for diagnostics later, when you can speak to this whole process, starting with the first signs.
All these parts of the equation, set the scene for the harvest. If you are intimate with the process, then when things go awry you can cast your mind back through the season and hopefully find the ‘circuit breaker’. Most often, its something super simple – look to the obvious things.
Hey Kath,
I missed the boat on my peach tree pruning this year and now that I have read a bit more I see a centre branch that needs to come out to promote air and light. It is pretty close to bud break .. …what happens if I do the chop now? I was just wondering if it would be good timing after reading about been ablte to tame the height of deciduous fruit trees in spring,
Cheers Kath, looking forward to the arrival of your book =)
No worries Jen – now is a great time to clean out that middle air/light blocking branch!
Kia ora Kath, thanks so much for all your info! We have bought your pruning book which is great. We have a Luisa plum tree that we pruned for the first time about a month ago – it’s central leader had broken off so we cut that out, plus some other branches (using your advice of observing, and no more than a third). Since then there are a gazillion watershoots! Some of them have blossoms on them, and some don’t. The tree is blossoming now (prolifically) and just starting to get leaves. Is it best to thin every third watershoot now, or wait until after it’s fruited? And is it better to prune the tree in summer, rather than end of winter? We are in Whatawhata, just out of Hamilton.
Nga mihi nui
Anna 🙂
Pull down any watershoots that you can to fill gaps and yes thin a few out now is sweet as. Ideally prune after fruiting, check out the pruning diary in my book 🙂 Enjoy!
Hello Kath,
I’ve been out there pruning this week, carefully following your advice. But I’m very worried about my ‘Blackboy’ peach tree. It’s been in for over 2 years, is over 6′ tall, produced only 3 peaches last year, lost its leaves just after they ripened and hasn’t shown any sign of life since. It has what looks like the beginnings of buds along all the branches, but they’ve been there all this time and haven’t budged. It doesn’t look dead though and the one small branch I cut off it wasn’t dry. We’re in Auckland, where everything is beginning to flower, but not this baby.
Last summer from early Feb till early April there was a rubbish skip parked beside it, cutting out some of its sun and, perhaps more important, airflow (it’sclose to a fence). And before it lost its leaves, while the skip was still there, they turned spotty and looked diseased.
I sprayed it with neem and seaweed today, and will continue with that in the hope it helps. And I’ve been feeding it potassium water from soaked banana waste. It’s been fed and mulched throughout. But is there any hope for it, in your view?
Fingers crossed, Deborah
Kia ora Deborah – pretty hard to say remotely. 2 years is oh so young in peach years dont give up just yet! Loss of a bit of sun and airflow is far from fatal. Wonder in this targetted way – have you checked in with the soil. If its heavy clay and or wet it’ll go someway to explaining as this isnt the preferred environ for peaches. Secondly head back a branch a tiny bit and check the wood – if its alive itll be white. Thirdly – Neem is for sucking insects, not useful in this instance – instead hop on my webiste and checkout biological sprays and get set up with that. While you are there read my healthy fruit tree game plan. Blackboys flower later than many other peaches so a little more waiting and you may well be in the money!
The weather in Auck was horrendous all last year. I lost all 6 of my peach trees & think is was because we had a year of rain & despite all being planted on a north facing windy slope the wet got the best of them
Oh darn! sorry to hear that Joanne – 6 trees is a big loss! Peaches are super fickle, and not fans of the wet at flowering, during fruit development or of having wet feet – basically being wet! Its worth investigating the right variety in this regard, those more tolerant like good old Sanguine or Red Haven or Paragon, and if clay soils are your lot best to get them grafted onto a plum rootstock. Sanguine is pretty bombproof as a seedling tree on its own roots. Ask around the neighbourhood to see what varieties survived the awful weather. Grab some fruits from them this summer, and grow them on – they’ve a better chance!
Hi. I have apple, pear and plum trees in my garden. Currently I let the chooks out every now and again as I have read they do a good job of dealing with grubs and possibly codling moth. I want to so some companion planting around the trees, but the chooks will destroy it. Am I better to keep the chooks out and do my planting? Or is there a time that the chooks would be more beneficial e.g. when the codling moth pupae are doing their thing. Then do planting.
Let the chooks in during winter when the comfrey and most other companions are asleep and when the grubs are asleep beneath. Enjoy!
Hi Kathy,
I planted a dwarf Cleopatra avacado tree on Queen Street Levin 4 weeks ago. I have protected it from wind and as much rain as possible. We have very good drainage being on an old river bed. Still the ground is wet. pH is 7.5. The leaves have yellow veins and are droopy, only 4 remain. Flower buds are showing. It has grown in the four weeks. What to do. So disappointed. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Wet ground is by far and away avocados worst friend. Also better to wait and plant avos once the soils and night temps have warmed. Avos are heat lovers! Have a read through here to check the foundational basics off – https://www.ediblebackyard.co.nz/avocado-how-to-grow/ You can find these articles by popping the topic in the search bar on top of my website – loads of info there for you all for free!
Let the tree be and as things warm up it may very well come to the party and if it doesnt well – just gotta let it go and try again with the bonus that you now know a few more things to make it better next time.
Good luck!
Thanks Kath!
Hi Kath, would it also be prudent to head back nectarines and cherry trees at this stage?
You can indeed Lesley – gently!
Hi Kath, I have a 2-year old peach tree which has just come out with curly leaf. There is quite a lot of small fruit on the tree. Is it worth spraying now, or should I wait until next winter. I wondered if the biological spray you have would do it any good at this stage. Thanks, Linda.
Hi Linda, Young fruit trees are more susceptible, so don’t worry too much – with thoughtful feeding, right variety et all they may grow past it – read through my healthy fruit tree game plan to check that all is in order. Botryzen is best as foliage begins to emerge with a few repeat sprays through the season – there is no concern regards the fruits. Depending on what stage your leaf development is at – give it a go. Have you checked their website? EM + seaweed sprays are well worth while to support the tree through the season.
Hi Kath I have 2 columnar apples, three years old, both growing and fruiting well. They have both decided to grow a double head – about 95cmm above ground, the top has split into 2 heads, both of these now approx 50cm in length. Shall I leave these as they are or should I be removing one head on each tree. (They have many healthy spurs.)
Arohanui
MArgaret Holloway
Hi Margaret, such good fruiters! If you want to retain the column yes you will need to head back one of the two leaders.
is it too late to cut it back now?
nope!
Hi Kath,
I have 3 baby avocado trees and they all appear to have rust on the leaves. Anything I can do for them? I am in West Coast of SI and we have had a lot if rain over the last three weeks.. Also one of my Hazelnut trees is going brown on the edges of the leaves. What would cause thus? The otter one is fine. Again they are still babies.
Yes indeedy, rain can cause this. There’s no instant solution for this – the answer is in your setup – avos must have free draining soil. If the roots are at all waterlogged, esp when young, it spells all sorts of problems. Depending on whereabouts on the west coast you are, this can be very tricky. check your drainage as a good first step. A mixed woody mulch will help to a degree but it wont solve it.
As for the hazel – artificial fertiliser at planting? or waterlogged roots?
cheers
K
Kia ora Kath
We live in Central Otago and have a home orchard – more often than not affected by frost. We want to take out a Pacific Rose apple tree (not because of disease but because I’m not a fan of the apples’ flavour or texture) and replace it with a Sturmer. Is it ok to plant the Sturmer in the same place that the Pacific Rose was in?
Many thanks
Karen & Andrew
sure is – the only reason I wouldn’t is if the other tree had died there indicating its not a good spot. As long as the sun is on the blossoms in spring right through till ripening and good drainage = good to go.
Great choice of apple might I say.
K x
Kia ora Kath
I have a Monty’s Surprise in an evergrow bag planted in spring 2023 waiting to be moved to our new garden. I didn’t realise that the bag got moved and the trunk had been rubbing against a concrete wall making a big rotten wound in it that looks like it goes at least halfway through the trunk (argh!!). It’s quite low down unfortunately – about 20cm above the graft. Is there any chance the tree can go on to be healthy after this kind of injury or should I do something drastic like chop it off below the wound? Or better to start again with a new tree? It’s healed somewhat since I last saw it and the trunk around it is less squishy…!
Thanks as always
Alana
Trees are pretty blimmin amazing healers Alana. If you have some EM1 you can gently scrape out any gooey stuff from the wound and spray the wound and the whole tree with a biological brew. https://www.ediblebackyard.co.nz/my-2-ingredient-biological-liquid-feed/
Give the tree some vermicastings by spreading them along the top of the bag and covering them with mulch.
Then talk to it encouragingly and see what happens. Amazing things do!
Thanks heaps Kath!