Question:
VERY WARM TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED THROUGH NEXT WEEK ----WATER OFTEN : Earlier this summer, I planted a Fuji Apple and a Nectarine tree together in the same hole as my front and back yards are too small. What's going to happen when they both start to fruit?Answer:
- I'm not sure that anything negative is going to happen when they start to fruit.
- That said, there are other more pressing concerns that need to be addressed before they get to that point.
- Small yards are a dilemma for gardeners looking to grow various types of fruits—the typical, semi-dwarf fruit tree grows fifteen to eighteen feet high with a ten-foot spread. The idea of planting multiple trees in a single hole is a great solution: however, the trees have to be compatible with the same watering requirements and have a similar growth pattern.
- Unfortunately, that is not the case with your choices, as they're very dissimilar. Nectarines have an umbrella shape canopy, while an apple growth pattern is stiff and upright. Nectarines are pruned annually, removing fifty to sixty percent of the growth while with apples, you remove about ten or fifteen percent. As these trees mature, this combination will look very odd and awkward in the landscape.
- The key issue is the watering requirements. Apples tolerate frequent summer watering while nectarines do not; hence, planting under their canopies is not recommended, and that's a problem with small yards. Personally, I think there is little chance that you'll be successful with this grouping.
- You're going have to remove one of the trees and replace it with a variety the better fits the location. Apples, Pears, and Asian Pears, are best planted together. This is your best choice as you can maximize the planting space under the canopy.
- Peaches, Nectarines, Apricots, Plums, Plumcots, and Pluots are the other groupings. Planting two, three or even four fruit trees in the same hole will work. They're spaced no closer than two feet apart. The collection is viewed as a single canopy with multiple trunks, and each variety is pruned accordingly.
- It's important to layer the different branches of each type, so they aren't growing into one another, along with minimizing the rubbing and crossing branches and eliminating the congestion in the center of the trees.
- These trees must be pruned annually as one variety may be more aggressive than another. You prevent this by limiting each variety to a certain percentage of the space, fifty, or twenty-five percent etc, depending on the number in the grouping. It's also important that you have access around the entire diameter of the canopy to prune efficiently. It's not as difficult as it might seem when planned correctly.
- Also, whatever combination you choose, select varieties with different ripening times. This allows you to space the crops out, so they don't ripen in the same week and a half. And finally, the selection at your favorite garden center is minimal now, so I suggest you wait until January for the new selection of trees to arrive.