Fruit trees: feeding and mulching / RHS Gardening (2024)

FAQs

Fruit trees: feeding and mulching / RHS Gardening? ›

Feeding fruit trees promotes healthy growth, giving the plant all the nutrients it needs to produce the best possible crop. Mulching helps conserve moisture in summer and prevents weeds from growing.

Apples, pears, peaches, plums and cherries. Tree fruit should be mulched to the drip line with 6 to 8 inches of straw or hay in May. Mulch should be reapplied periodically and pulled away from trees at the end of August or early September.

Nitrogen Fertilizers: Nitrogen is an essential nutrient for fruit trees as it helps with leaf growth and overall plant health. Nitrogen fertilizers such as ammonium sulfate, ammonium nitrate, and urea are commonly used.

It is a good practice to hold off using any nitrogen fertilizer for several months in the first growing season. Once the root system becomes established, you can put a light application (one cup of sulfate of ammonium) around the drip line of the young tree.

Choosing the right mulch is important for fruit tree growth as well. Organic options like well-rotted manure or leaf mould not only cover the soil but also enhance its fertility over time.

Straw mulch is often used when you are growing strawberries. It keeps the berries from touching the soil, retains moisture and protects the roots of the plants from extreme hot or cold temperatures. Straw mulch is also beneficial for fruit trees.

You bet you should, with a few caveats. Keep the wood away from the trunk of the tree. Shape it like a bowl with the rim 8–12 inches from the tree, tapering down to nothing at the trunk. Make sure you use some fertilizer on the tree, since the wood chips can rob nitrogen from the soil in the short term.

In general, mature apple trees should put on between 8 and 12 inches of growth each year, pears about 8 to 15 inches and stone fruits like peaches between 12 to 18 inches. If soil test potassium is below optimum, use a 10-10-10.

Ultra Epsom^® Salt is the highest quality Epsom salt available, and is widely celebrated for its positive impact on household plants, shrubs, flowers, lawns, trees and even fruit and vegetables.

A thick layer of compost applied to your soil either around your fruit trees or directly into your garden beds is an effective way to improve fertility immediately and over the long term as the compost breaks down. Compost comes in many forms and strengths.

What do you add to a fruit tree when planting? ›

Improve soil with a 50/50 blend of Miracle-Gro® Garden Soil for Trees & Shrubs and native soil. Support each young fruit tree with 3 stakes so it will grow tall and straight. Until your fruit tree is established, water deeply (about 2 feet) every week and add a 3-inch layer of mulch to help maintain soil moisture.

As long as fruit trees are small, it is better to use an organic fertilizer combined with compost or mulch. A low analysis, slow release organic fertilizer scratched into the soil's surface around the tree, watered in well and then covered with compost and mulch feeds the soil, which in turn feeds the tree.

Apples and Pears

Apply one pound of a 12-12-12 fertilizer (or equivalent) for each year of tree age or each inch of trunk diameter, up to a maximum application of 8 to 12 pounds per tree. Apply in early spring. Mature trees should have 9-15 inches of shoot growth annually.

Adding manure to the home vegetable garden can increase soil organic matter and may alter soil structure. Adding manure to soil will not change soil texture. Fall is the most common time of year for adding manure to a vegetable garden. The manure may be spread atop the soil or incorporated into the garden soil.

Each year you can add compost to the area around the trees, two to four shovels full if you feel the trees are lacking nutrients. You do not say how old the orchard is but as time goes on, compost (made up of leaves, wood, greens) but not necessarily manure is good for your trees.

What is the best organic fertilizer for fruit trees? As usual, the chicken manure, well aged. Some people might call it guano, or phosphate, but it is essentially the same thing, any which way you wrap it up in.

This excess mulch can promote surface roots that ultimately end up strangling and killing the tree. Additionally, it can cause too much moisture retention during the wet seasons, promoting fungus, rot, and pests.

Moisture and Rot

Bark deterioration may result from mulch that is in close proximity to the bark because it retains moisture in the region and encourages the growth of fungi. The entire health and structural integrity of the tree may be jeopardized as a result.

Mulching conserves water by retaining moisture for prolonged periods of time and giving your plants the protection they need in the heat of the day. During the fall months, it's recommended that you make sure there's a healthy application of mulch to ensure your plants don't get too cold.

For newly planted citrus, move the mulch to the outer edge of the canopy (and beyond). This way, the shallow roots near the root crown (as well as the crown area itself) have less of a chance of getting root rot problems. Another strategy: plant citrus in raised beds to improve drainage.