Contact: Diane Relf, Extension Specialist, Environmental Horticulture

October 1996

February Tips
FRUITS AND NUTS

  • Pruning aging apple trees is largely a job of renovation followed by renewal of fruiting wood. The pruning must be moderate and spread out over two or three years to avoid stimulating excessive growth and/or causing injury to large limbs from sudden over exposure to sunlight. Such pruning consists of gradually lowering tree height to 18 feet or less, removing surplus scaffold limbs, and eliminating weak, damaged, and dead wood.

  • If you want to raise fruit in your garden, try grapes, raspberries, or strawberries. It is much less difficult to succeed with them than with tree fruits, and you'll get much faster results.

  • Producing insect- and disease-free fruit trees requires a thorough spray program, proper pruning, and good cultural practices. Give thought to this before planting a backyard orchard.

  • Ever wonder why apricots don't set much fruit in Virginia? It is because the warm days in February or March encourage the apricot to break dormancy and bloom -- only to be followed by freezing weather that kills the developing fruit.

  • Native chestnuts cannot be grown because of their susceptibility to blight. If you would like to have chestnuts, plant the grafted Chinese varieties, such as Crane, Nanking, or Orrin. These are fine trees for the landscape and will produce nuts within three to four years after they are planted.

  • Peaches grow best when maintained with an open center (no central leader). Keep three or four strong, scaffold branches evenly distributed around the trunk. Limbs that branch out at a 60 degree angle are preferred, but spreaders can be used to widen narrow crotch angles.

  • Grapevine prunings can be made into attractive wreaths. Decorate them with cut-out hearts, dried flowers, or bird nests, or shape them into a heart over a wire frame for use as Valentine gifts.

  • Blueberries are somewhat self-sterile. Be sure to plan for more than one variety to enhance the pollination necessary for fruiting. Highbush blueberries make attractive ornamental hedges with bright-red, fall color.

  • Prune fruit trees and grapes in late February or early March, after the worst of the winter cold is passed, but before spring growth begins. For disease and insect control, cut out dead wood and dispose of the prunings.

  • Fertilize fruit trees as soon as possible after the ground thaws, but before blossoming begins.

  • Nut and fruit trees should be planted three to four weeks before the last killing frost in spring.

  • Fruit trees, such as peaches, pears, apples, and plums, can be sprayed now with dormant oils to reduce insect problems.

  • Apple and pear trees are best trained with a modified central leader. Prune to maintain a pyramidal shape -- wide at the bottom and gradually tapering toward the top. Contact your Extension agent for complete instructions.

    Monthly Tips have been prepared since 1986 by various staff of the Office of Consumer Horticulture including Ellen Bennett, Michelle Buckstrup, Susan Day, Susan DeBolt, Sharon Dendy, Kate Dobbs, Sheri Dorn, David Gravell, Virginia Nathan, Jenny Shuster, Ellen Silva, and Ruth Sorenson. Resource material for the development of this information includes the Virginia Master Gardener Handbook; Extension Publications and newsletters from VCE, numerous other states, and the USDA; and an extensive library of over 900 books, magazines, and journals. Project funded by The Virginia Gardener Newsletter subscription fees. Diane Relf, Project Director and Content Specialist.

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