Including Fruit in Your Garden

backyard orchard 140.gif Eating fresh fruit is not only satisfying when picked right from your own home orchard, but it can also be a rewarding hobby with pleasant days of gardening. Peach, pear, pineapple guava, persimmon, quince, may haw, orange, tangerine, lemon, lime, kumquat, plum, banana, berries, figs, kiwi, pecans, and walnuts can all be grown in North Florida. Choosing the correct cultivar is key because the wrong variety will fail to survive regardless of how much care it’s given. A visit to an independent locally owned nursery will educate and provide you with what is available.

What to Buy / Plant

persimmon on tree 140.gif The beautiful Oriental persimmon with spectacular fall color, large glossy leaves and brightly colored orange’ish fruit is well adapted to our area, requires very little pruning, grows in a wide range of soils and has little or no pests. Fig varieties celeste and brown turkey are easy to grow and are self-pollinating. Citrus makes a nice evergreen tree; recommended varieties are Seville orange, Satsuma tangerine, Meiwa kumquat, Meyer lemon, limequat, and calamondon. Plant them where you can enjoy the fragrance because nothing smells sweeter than orange blossoms, or any citrus for that matter.

Fruit trees may be planted during the dormant season; this allows roots to become established before spring growth. When planting, dig the whole twice as big as the root, place the tree upright and at the same depth that they grow in the nursery and keep the roots wet while planting. Do not use mushroom compost. Deep water every two or three days for the first six to eight weeks, then give special attention to irrigation during the first year. Mulch to conserve moisture.

Prune/ Propagate

Pruning is a term that means selective removal of plant parts to obtain a desired growth response. For fruit trees, pruning usually refers to the removal of limbs, twigs, or shoots to increase production of high quality fruit and maintain tree vigor. It should be done annually as needed to regulate tree shape, size, vigor, and crop load.

Pear trees should be trained to a central leader system with spreading lateral branches. Peach and plum trees are best trained to an open-center system, which results in a low, wide-spreading tree. Remove water sprouts or suckers from the rootstock as they appear. Cut to outside of branch bark ridge, next to the limb or the next largest branch. Do not leave stubs. Occasional topping to control the height of tree can be done in early summer. Routine pruning of citrus is usually unnecessary. Remove dead, damaged or diseased limbs.

Often trees set too much fruit, which would need thinning for good fruit size to develop. This must be done prior to pit hardening, which happens just after fruit set, while proportion of flesh to pit is small.

Watering / Fertilizing

Irrigation during dry spells is necessary to increase fruit size. Apply 2 inches of water every 10 to 14 days, unless adequate rainfall occurs. Try placing a shallow container in the orchard near the sprinkler to measure amount given.

Fertilizer problems usually show up as discolored or misshapen leaves. Fruit trees require iron, zinc, manganese, molybdenum, copper and boron so look for an organic fertilizer that contains micronutrients. With a ratio at or near a 12-4-8, apply 1 pound of fertilizer per application for each year of a tree’s age. Spread fertilizer evenly over the root zone and water well. Fertilize once when the weather warms in about March, then again in May and August. Withhold fertilizer in fall and winter to slow growth and encourage dormancy during cold weather. Always follow label directions.

Edibles

Of course fruit doesn’t just grow on trees. Let’s not forget about the shrub, vine and perennial fruits such as grapes, kiwi, blackberries, strawberry, elderberry, gooseberry, blueberries, and loganberries, a cross between raspberry and blackberry. Check with your nursery professional to see if you need to purchase two plants of different cultivars for cross-pollination.

Pests

Fruits are susceptible to insects, disease, and nematodes. Look for citrus leaf miners and leaf and bark scale. Search out disease resistant varieties and rootknot nematode-resistant varieties such as Nemaguard or Flordaguard. Apply summer-weight Dormant Oil in mid summer as both a treatment and a preventative. Read and follow label directions.

For fruits that can be damaged by frost the ground should be kept clean. Heavy weed growth adds to the frost hazard by insulating the soil from the sun during the day and decreasing the radiation of heat from the soil at night. Protect citrus from freeze when temperatures dip below 32 degrees.

For Fun

Fruit punch and juices, jams, jellies and preserves, fruit pies, tarts, sorbet, relish and chutney are a few fun things to do with your harvest. Give both fruit trees and the items they produce as gifts to friends, family and neighbors.

Reference: Stennis, M.A., Florida Fruits and Vegetables. State of Florida Department of Agriculture, Tallahassee.

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