Spring fruit tree prep

At first backyard fruit trees seemed daunting to me. Take a few quick searches and youtube videos plus a few years time & we've perfected (or so I think) our backyard orchard. Knowing what zone you dwell is the best place to start since certain trees require certain climates. As much as I'd love an orange tree, Pennsylvania is not the most forgiving climate. We're zone 7, so peaches and apples work well. We also have a fig tree we're maturing to eventually move outside too!

This year we have 2 peach trees (an elberta & haven variety) and a 5-in-1 apple tree (YES it grows 5 different varieties of apples!) but we've learned, in our environment, we have to be diligent about a few steps in late winter to ensure a bountiful crop. 

1. Pruning: in late winter (I usually use the last week of February as my marker) each tree needs to be pruned. Different trees have different pruning requirements but in our case, we prune back around 25-40% of the tree to allow for bright sun exposure & ensure each main branch has adequate ventilation. For an active demonstration, I searched youtube!

2. Fertilization: We use a 10-10-10 fertilizer on our trees. To keep us in check, we prune and fertilize the same time & intentionally line it up with a good rain if we can. 

Total it takes about 20 minutes to prune and fertilize !

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