My family has been apple growers in western North Carolina since the early 1900s. While our focus is on the commercial production of apples, we always keep a few peach, cherry, and pear trees thriving for family use.
Winter is a welcome season for those who own and care for an orchard. It’s a time for pruning or shaping the fruit trees, planning, and preparation for spring blooms and growth.
As farmers, we have seen wide-ranging changes in equipment, weather patterns, and market patterns but many seasonal practices remain true. Let’s take a look at how to care for fruit trees over winter.
Protect Young Trees From Animals
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Apple trees can live for 100 years, but they typically reach their prime production of fruit at around 25 to 30 years. So maintaining a plentiful harvest replacement of older trees with young trees is a constant practice. While usually planted in the late fall, these trees are the most vulnerable to damage from rodents during winter months when food sources are not as plentiful.
If a tree wrap or guard wasn’t added at the time of planting, it can be added in winter to protect the trees from animals who may chew the bark. The wraps offer protection from rabbits, mice, voles, deer, squirrels and other rodents who can destroy young trees.
You can find tree guards made from wire, vinyl, or plastic. We typically use a spiral vinyl wrap that is easily applied and expands as the tree grows.
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Mow and Remove Debris Under the Trees
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Many fruit trees are deciduous and lose their leaves in the fall. To help prevent the spread of damaging insects and diseases like apple scab, it’s a good idea to remove the fallen leaves. The leaves can be raked up if you only have a few trees or you can mow under rows of trees. Mowing will shred the leaves and help them decay much more quickly.
Prune Fruit Trees
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Perhaps the most critical winter chore for fruit trees is proper pruning to keep growth balanced, remove dead wood, and improve light penetration. While different types of fruit trees may require different shaping, there are some general guidelines for pruning fruit trees.
- Prune during dormancy. Trees should be pruned only while they are dormant before buds begin to swell in late winter or early spring depending on your growing zone.
- Shape young trees. Young trees (one to five years) should be shaped with a central leader trunk and scaffolded limbs. Additional pruning should be limited to the removal of water sprouts or limbs that are crowding or shading the permanent scaffolds, broken branches, or weak growth.
- Prune wisely. Trees that are six to 10 years old grow rapidly. Examine each scaffold limb on the sides of the center leader and only remove thin wood, broken or damaged branches, and water sprouts. Pruning too heavily will delay the fruiting of the tree.
- Maintain the size of mature trees. Mature trees will require more pruning to keep the tree a manageable size without stimulating more upward growth. In addition to removing water sprouts, broken limbs, and thin wood, moderate pruning at the top of the tree each year is necessary to keep growth down. Never remove all the branches from the top of the tree, leaving the center of the tree exposed. Trees in this age group need to be pruned as much on the outside as on the inside. Limbs touching the ground should be removed.
- Remove the pruned limbs. All pruned limbs should be removed from under the trees and mulched or burned.
Remove Trees as Needed
If a tree has died, is diseased, or no longer produces fruit, winter is a good time to remove it from the orchard or garden. If trees have been planted too close and are crowding each other, pruning will not be enough; trees should be removed to improve spacing. Your harvest yield will drop for a couple of years but you’ll have much healthier trees in your orchard.
Plan and Prepare
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Winter is the time when apple growers plan and prepare for the seasons to come. We attend seminars on pest management and safe and responsible chemical application. We repair equipment, meet with potential buyers for next year’s crop, and contact suppliers like beekeepers who supply hives to help with pollination.
Winter is a good time to test the soil in your orchard or garden. The results may show that certain nutrients like lime should be added before the trees begin springtime growth.
