The
first step in choosing your fruit trees are to determine your USDA zone and
number of chilling hours in your area. Chill hours are the number of hours
below 45℉ that your area that your area
will have during the dormant season. You can find out your chill hours by
contacting your master gardeners or local Agriculture extension. Once you know
your chill hours then you can choose your fruit varieties. If you choose a
variety that requires more chill hours than what your area has, you may not
even get any fruits. On the other hand, if you choose a variety that requires
300 chill hours and you have 800 chill hours more than likely the trees going
to break dormancy too early and then you are going to have either frost damage
or the tree could die.
The
exception is fig trees. They only need 100 chill hours but they are hardy down
to -15℉
and if they get killed by the frost on the top, they will grow back from the
roots next year. The challenge with figs is choosing a variety suited to the
summer heat you get. For example, white Genoa figs do well in cool coastal
areas. On the other hand, Flanders figs need a nice hot climate in order to
produce the best flavor. Pay attention to where you’ll plant your tree with pointed
shovel and water your tree with 30m
garden hose, micro climates are important.
Another
thing to consider is a pollinizer. Most apple trees, for example, require
another apple tree planted within a 50 feet that blooms at the same time. If
you don’t want to plant multiple fruit trees for pollination, consider a multi
grafted fruit tree. Multi grafts are also fantastic solution for limited space.
Another option is to plant three fruit trees in the same hole. Consider the
space you have in your garden. Can you accommodate an 18-foot semi dwarf or a
40-foot standard tree? Or is a 10-foot dwarf tree more suitable for your space.
Keep in mind that by pruning you can keep to tree to any height and espalier
pruning takes up even less space. Speaking of pruning, we’ve got some good
quality gardening tools to help you do your gardening.
There
are different harvest times for different varieties of fruit trees so the
question to ask is do you want your feet to ripen at the same time for
preserving? Or do you want to stagger the harvest times for a constant supply
fresh fruits. If you have diseases that are prevalent in your area, you can
choose varieties that resist those diseases.
It is
time to consider some special characteristics that you want. Are you going to
harvest a good baking apple or a winter storage apples? Think about what you
want and make a decision on what tree to plant. I hope this information on how
to make the best decision.