Fall Fruit Tree Care and Pruning

Easy Fruit Tree care and Pruning Tips

Here are a number of things you should do to your fruit trees before winter to ensure the best possible production next season.

Fruit trees need so many chilling hours in order to produce fruit. Call and ask your friendly nursery what kind of fruit trees do well in your area.  Also call you local extension agency for the number of chilling hours in your area.

Fig trees are productive with or without heavy pruning. Pruning fruit trees brings fear and concern to southwestern gardeners. Pruning and training your fruit trees are important to creating an arrangement that will yield the maximum crop of fruit.
Pruning tools can be disinfected with a 10% solution of bleach before and after use to prevent diseases from spreading with the cuts that you make. Pruning in the late summer or fall may encourage the tree to continue growing. The pruning of the tree in early years is called tree training as you have to prune the tree so it is a triangle shape with a point at the top. This means that no part of the tree is blocking another part from the sun.

Also there may be variations in the best pruning methods depending on where you live. Start your pruning by removing any dead, damaged or diseased branches. Fruit trees need regular pruning and insect treatments to keep them healthy and by proper pruning and care will encourage optimal growth and most importantly a good healthy large harvest during the fall season.

Always remove any diseased or damaged branches, any crossing branches, any narrow angling branches, and one of the branches in a fork. If you want healthy fruit crops, spray your trees with Neem Oil to control pests and diseases.  This should be done in early spring to prevent a large infestation of insects.  You can also use a systemic insecticide to get rid of fruit tree insects.  However be sure to read the label for the proper time to apply this insecticide.