How to Choose and Prune Bare Root Fruit Trees

Before you purchase your bare-root plants do a little research. A little time spent talking to your local certified nurseryperson, reading catalogs, or better yet talking an actual orchardist can make your garden a more productive one – with higher quality fruit.

In so doing you can match your local climate to individual tree needs. For instance, a Pacific Gold Peach requires 1,000 hours of winter dormancy chilling (45 degrees and under) to set quality fruit. By matching the tree cultivar to your area you’ll be one step ahead.

In addition, some varieties of fruit trees require pollinators – setting fruit better with a different cultivar within the same species. For instance, a Bing cherry requires pollen from different gene pool – such as a Black Tartarian Cherry to set fruit. Pollination is carried out by bees and wind to a degree, so if neighbors have different cultivars – all the better.

Whether you purchase multiple varieties of one type of tree for pollination purposes, or because you happen to love that particular fruit – do your homework first. Most varieties will have different ripening times, so select named varieties accordingly so you’re not overloaded with more fruit than you can handle.

Now that you have your intelligently thought out list, head to the nursery for your bare root. Don’t select the largest tree in the row. Because many roots were lost when the tree was removed from grower, -the larger the tree the more out of balance the root to stem ratio. Pick the medium to smaller specimen.

If you’ve purchased a peach, nectarine, plum (prune), apple, pear, almond, apricot, or persimmon, you’ll want to develop it into a vase shape. In order to develop this form, with an open center to allow for good air circulation and shape, you’ll want 3 to 4 side branches arising from the main stem at wide (apx 45 degree) angles. It might help to drive by an actual orchard in the area and look at the trees for a better idea.

A true grower will actually top first year bare root off at 2 to 3 feet tall, with no side branches remaining. When spring comes, and shoots emerge from various locations along the trunk, the scaffold shape is then a selective process. The idea here is that the lower the scaffold (lower side supporting structural branches) the lower to the ground the fruit will be – making harvesting and pruning an easier chore.

And don’t forget that the pruning isn’t done the first year out – you’ll need to keep those shears sharp each winter. Peaches and nectarines will need to be pruned heavily each dormant season. Apples, pears, almonds, plums, persimmon and apricots need moderate pruning once established.

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