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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] High Density Planting

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  • From: <dmnorton@royaloakfarmorchard.com>
  • To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] High Density Planting
  • Date: Fri, 29 May 2009 16:29:28 -0500

As the Midwest Fruit Explorers web site says: "Anyone who doubts they have enough space to grow apples should talk to Gene Yale. He'll set you straight." If you have never seen Gene's backyard orchard, take a virtual tour of his backyard orchard at http://www.midfex.org/yale/intro.html.

Dennis Norton
Royal Oak Farm Orchard
Office (815) 648-4467
Mobile (815) 228-2174
Fax (609) 228-2174
http://www.royaloakfarmorchard.com
http://www.theorchardkeeper.blogspot.com
http://www.revivalhymn.com
----- Original Message ----- From: "William C. Garthright" <billg@inebraska.com>
To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Friday, May 29, 2009 1:39 PM
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] High Density Planting



Wow, interesting document, didn't realise you could get away with cramming trees so close together.



Well, in my very limited experience with this, there are advantages and disadvantages:

Advantages: Basically, this was the only way to grow a *lot* of different kinds of fruit in my backyard.* I live alone, and I don't want much of any one kind of fruit at any one time. Planting this way, you get less fruit of each variety, but you can get a bigger variety. That means different kinds of fruit, but it also means different ripening times. (That has worked particularly well with my peaches, with one variety ending just as another gets ripe.)

If I had a large planting area, I wouldn't even think of using this technique. But that's not the intention. (* This wasn't the ONLY way, I guess. I could have learned grafting and then grafted different varieties onto one tree. That might have been a wiser choice, I don't know.)


Disadvantages: It's a LOT harder than I expected to keep these trees small. OK, I don't do enough summer pruning, but it's usually very hot and dry here in the summer, and I worry about stressing the trees even more. Or maybe I'm just too lazy, especially when it gets hot. But the whole idea of keeping a tree whatever size you want doesn't work nearly as well as it sounds.

It's also hard to prune trees that are this close together, especially when you can only have branches on one corner of the tree! And it's very hard to spray them, especially when you've got different kinds of fruit trees, because you have to worry about getting the spray on the wrong tree at the wrong time (notably when they're blooming). I can't find anything, much, that I can spray on every kind of tree, especially while avoiding damage to bees. And note that crowding the trees like this probably increases the disease pressure. If you've got the room, I'm sure you're much better off keeping them at a distance to promote better airflow.

I planted four apples in one spot (in a square 18" apart), four plums in one spot, and four peaches in one spot. This has worked, but for each tree, you get all the branches - and all of the heavy fruit - on one corner of the tree. So I've had to worry about them falling over. I've tied the trees together, so we'll see how that works. But I probably wouldn't do that again. Instead, I might plant them in a line, close together, but so that I could have branches on opposite sides of each tree. That way, the weight of the fruit would be balanced.

In other cases, I've planted fruit trees in a row, 8' apart. But even there, I'm having trouble keeping most of the trees small enough. Some "dwarf" trees are surprisingly vigorous, and there are some fruits which are hard to find with dwarfing rootstock (and "semi-dwarf" are VERY vigorous here). Again, it's been harder than I expected to keep the trees small. Heck, even my fruiting bushes are getting bigger than I expected (and since the gooseberries are heavily thorned, I'm paying for that in blood).


Would I do this again? Yeah, probably. I just keep seeing all the neat fruit that I DON'T have, and I'm still trying to find room for something else. It's an addiction, I suppose. But I wouldn't plant this way if I had lots more room.

Bill
Lincoln, NE (zone 5)

--
It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into. - Jonathan Swift







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