The best time to plant deciduous fruit trees, like apples, pears and stone fruit, is when they are dormant, in winter and early spring. Evergreen fruit trees, like citrus, avocados and olives, establish well when planted in autumn, so they have three seasons to develop their root system before the heat of summer.
The ideal planting time is December through March when nurseries stock bare root fruit trees. The best spot in your garden for a fruit tree gets at least 6 hours of sun, is out of the wind, and can be easily watered. The hole you dig should be twice as wide as the spread of the tree's roots, but not too deep.
Summary: All fruit trees can be planted in winter. Deciduous trees must be planted in winter whereas evergreen trees can also be planted in spring and summer.
Fruit trees need to be planted in a sunny spot that receives at least six hours of sunlight per day year-round, with enough room to grow in – space them away from other plants and surfaces, and well-drained soil. Dig a hole larger than you need to help the roots spread out when planting.
Pears are THE easiest fruit to grow on a tree! The round, gritty “sand pears” (derived from Asian pears) are among the easiest fruit bearing trees to grow.
Preparing the Soil.
We recommend digging holes 30-40cm deep and wide and filling them with compost, mushroom compost, manures, organic matter, scraps, actually anything organic and letting it rot down for 6 months. Green manures that have been planted before can be dug in.
Peach, nectarine and apricot all tend to be self-fertile, which means they'll produce good crops where there's only room for a single tree. Citrus trees are also self-fertile, which is why they are one of the most popular fruit trees in Aussie gardens.
Fruit trees are best fertilised just before bud break at the end of winter / beginning of spring using an organic high nitrogen fertiliser - chicken manure or fish, blood and bone plant food are perfect.
Fruit trees prefer an organic, high nitrogen fertilizer. Blood meal, soybean meal, composted chicken manure, cottonseed meal, and feather meal are all good, organic nitrogen sources.
How far apart should I plant my trees? The trees can be planted anywhere between 2 metres and 6 metres apart. Two metres if you are trellising them and using dwarf trees, apples, quinces etc. If planting in a standard orchard situation, you can plant anywhere between four to six metres apart.
Fruit trees love sun, so your location should provide six to eight hours of sunlight. You want soil that is rich in nutrients and retains moisture. Make sure there's plenty of room for your tree to grow so it won't interfere with anything on your property years down the road.
The rough rule of thumb we use is that a mature fruit tree, with a full crop, in the height of summer, will need about 200 litres of water per week. You may never need that much. However, if you're installing an irrigation system we recommend you bear this figure in mind.
Mulch is a name used for any material that we use to cover bare soil. People mulch their trees with organic materials like wood chips or compost, or with inorganic materials like gravel, plastic sheets or landscape fabric. There are two main benefits: Mulch prevents weeds from sprouting up in the bare soil.
Fruit trees really prefer to be planted in the ground, but in some situations it would be great to have them in pots. Although you wont get the yield or size of fruit, dwarfing fruit trees will do well either as a espalier or open tree in pots.
Any organic material can be used, e.g. Lawn clippings, weeds, straw etc. Hay, especially soybean stubble or lucerne hay is excellent. As the mulches break down they will feed the tree with valuable nutrients.
What are the quickest fruits to grow? The quickest fruits to grow are strawberries, blackberries and autumn-fruiting raspberries.
Banana. Of course, bananas had to be on the list! Australians eat more than five million of these golden yellow fruits every day – and they are the highest selling supermarket food.
Nectarines, peaches and citrus are most dependent on adequate water. Removing most or all of the fruit from apples, pears, peaches, nectarines, plums (prunes) and citrus can help the trees survive a very dry year by using about 20 to 30 percent less water.
The fruit of olives are botanically classed as a drupe, like the fruit of a peach or plum, and therefore appear in the list. They're also one of the longest-lived trees, that can live well over 1,000 years.
The “enemies” of apricots, due to common diseases, pests, and elements consumed from the soil, are apples, pears, plums, peaches, cherries, rowan trees, cherries, and, naturally, various nuts and their toxic foliage. You should not plant raspberries and currants next to apricots, which also have many pests in common.