My Fruit Trees and My Strategy for Caring for Fruit Trees at Home

I bought three different kinds of fruit trees: a Lisbon Lemon, a Celeste Fig, and an Anna Apple.  The ideal lemon tree for our climate is the one that is most cold hardy, a Meyer lemon (a hybrid between a lemon and an orange).  However, we couldn't find a decent price for one, so we went with the Lisbon Lemon.  It is still quite cold hardy and should do fine as long as we move it into the garage during our coldest winter days.  This is why we put it in a pot instead of in the ground.  Because of this, we can't let it grow too tall.  I took the central leader that was pointing up and tied it to point downward.  This should stunt its growth and redirect some of the vigor to the other branches.

One advantage to this lemon is that it is known to be very productive and has very wonderful smelling blossoms.  One of the reasons I'm excited about this one is because when I was 10 and we lived in San Diego, we had a huge lemon tree.  Whenever we wanted to make lemonade, I would climb up onto the roof to gather up a bunch of lemons that had fallen on the roof (the size of grapefruits) and they were so sweet you could almost eat them plain.

The Lisbon lemons will probably not be that sweet, but they are supposed to have a very good flavor.  Lemon trees, like other citrus, like to develop what's called a closed canopy.  This means that the leaves on the outward edges of the branches form a dense layer that prevents light from reaching the trunk or inward branches.  Therefore, lemon trees are pruned very little, if at all.  Branches are instead trained to make the tree grow in evenly and attractively.

I chose the Celeste Fig because, of all the varieties that are winter hardy in our area, this was said to be the best tasting.  Although, the fruit are slightly smaller and somewhat less productive than the Brown Turkey Fig.  These trees can get 20 feet tall and 20 feet wide if you let them.  This is much larger than what I want to deal with, so I believe that training the tree to have a vertical central leader and nearly horizontal side branches will allow it to use its space more efficiently than just allowing it to grow into a bush-like shape on its own.

Like all figs, the Celeste Fig is not tolerant at all to heavy, wet soil that does not drain well. Our soil hardly drains at all so I put it in a raised bed filled with a loose mixture of compost, potting soil and earth. The necessity of building raised boxes for drainage looked to double the cost of my first little orchard so I found lumber on sale at Habitat for Humanity. It's not pressure treated and therefore temporary but I can replace it when I have to.  I paid about $10 per box for building supplies and another $10 for garden soil.

I had my heart set on getting a peach tree. Of any fruit, that is the one I have the most fond memories of from my childhood and, to this day, is my absolute favorite fruit.  I knew that I would have to get at least two to cross-pollinate and that our mild winters wouldn't always provide enough chill hours to make it fruit the following season. Undeterred, I went to the nursery to buy a few peach trees and came home with an apple.

At first I thought that apples were out of the question here in the Lowcountry because apple trees need even more chill hours than peaches.  Then I found the Anna Apple which needs as little as 200 chill hours.  It also does not require any cross-pollinators to get a good yield and quality fruit.  Since I will only get to care for the these trees for a maximum of 4 years, most anything I chose would only give me fruit the final year if I'm lucky. When I came across a more mature apple tree at a great price that was already covered in blossoms I knew it was my best bet to get a few seasons of fruit.

Once again, it's in a raised bed to get it out of the swamp that is our yard when it rains.  Like the fig tree, I want to make it as productive as possible in limited space.  There are two factors that affect the development of fruiting buds and vegetative buds.  First, is the flow of sap up the branch which feeds the growing tissue.

Second, the flow of a bud inhibiting hormone called "auxin," that travels from the terminal bud down the branch.

A tree will develop a central vertical trunk because the terminal bud at the top of the tree sends auxin down which inhibits the growth of lower branches as long as it is the highest and the only one pointed vertically. On the left I have trained the central leader downward to dwarf it, as I did with the lemon tree.  If another one of the branches point vertically, it will begin to act like the central trunk.  It will inhibit all of the fruiting buds, it won't produce any side branches, and it will keep growing taller and taller.

Most commercial growers train the branches to grow at about a 45 degree angle so it will balance between the growth of the branch and fruit production on the branch.

If a branch is horizontal, none of the fruiting buds will be inhibited and it can be very fruitful.  The vegetative buds will also be uninhibited and can produce vertical shoots known as water sprouts.  Like the branches, any shoot that grows vertically will be very vigorous and can out-compete the fruiting buds for flow of sap.  This can make the horizontal branch also unfruitful.  Water sprouts anywhere on the tree need to be taken care of or they will use all the tree's energy for growth rather than fruiting. 

I plan to train my main branches to be nearly horizontal and control the water sprouts with a combination of pruning and training them away from growing vertically.  This is similar to the way espaliered branches are cared for.  I know I won't get to keep these trees for long but I hope to have fun learning how to care for them so when I get my dream home I will be ready to put in some great fruit trees.

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The nice thing about growing fruit trees at home is that you can give them more attention than commercial growers can and use pruning and training strategies that would not be practical on a commercial scale. You also get to grow interesting varieties that you cant find in the store. The Anna Apple for example only keeps for about two weeks and bruises easily in shipping. If you don't grow one yourself you'll never get to taste them. 

Below is an excellent video that shares the difference between commercial fruit production and caring for fruit trees at home.