Homesteader Depot

Tag: fruit trees

  • Can You Grow Miniature Fruit Trees and Non-Native Plants?

    Can You Grow Miniature Fruit Trees and Non-Native Plants?

    Can You Grow Miniature Fruit Trees and Non-Native Plants?

    Well, the short answer?  Yes.

    It is possible to grow just about anything on a homestead or even in an urban environment, with the right care and maintenance. And, if you are successful, you can provide yourself with your own rice, coffee, citrus fruit and more.

    The main trick?  Growing everything in planters and pots, essentially creating a mobile farm.  During the summer they can be kept outside.  When it turns cold you have a few options:

    • Cover the plants with clear plastic to create mini-greenhouses
    • Move them inside your home
    • Move them into a greenhouse structure

    If you have space, consider closing in a porch to create a sunroom/greenhouse.  This will make it easy to keep an eye on your “babies” and make it less obvious to passers-by that you have this food source.

     

    First, what is a Miniature Fruit Tree Anyway?

    Before you begin picturing a tidy row of little trees that Mr. Miyagi would be proud of, you need to understand whatever you choose to cultivate is still going to be fairly substantial.

    Depending on the variety, you are going to need space for anywhere from a 3-foot to a 10-foot tall tree.  The key thing to remember though is no matter how small the tree is; the fruit will still be a normal size.

    Before we get too far, you will probably be glad to know that NO genetic engineering is used to create mini fruit trees.  Instead, it uses an age-old grafting technique, allowing the new tree to develop in a natural way.  By grafting a branch from a fruit tree to a separate rootstock, the trees only grow as tall as the new root system lets them.

    While you are taking all this in, here’s a list of potential fruit trees you could add to your property.

    • Apple
    • Pear
    • Apricot
    • Peach
    • Nectarine
    • Lime
    • Lemon
    • Grapefruit
    • Orange
    • Grapes
    • Tangelos
    • Almond
    • Coffee
    • Banana
    • Cherry
    • Fig
    • Olive

     

    Or, you can get really adventurous and get one of those new-fangled “fruit salad” trees that have three types of citrus trees grafted into one.  While there is a part of me that considers this to just be so wrong, if it means you only have to care for one tree instead of three to get the variety you want, why not?

    Non-Native Plants

    Besides the standard lettuce, spinach, zucchini, carrots and other native veggies and grains we are accustomed to including in our gardens, have you considered others, such as rice, cotton, and peanuts, or beans? If you’ve done any research on long-term food storage options, you’ve probably seen rice come up on everyone’s list of suggestions.

    You can produce rice in multiple containers to provide yourself with an excellent source of this long-term storage food. As with the mini-trees, your mini “rice paddies” will need to be moved indoors in winter, whether that’s in your home, or into a greenhouse.

    If you live in a fairly temperate climate, you may not need to rely completely on containers to grown rice.  If you have an area you can “flood” and make marshy, you may be able to grow an entire crop between frost cycles.

     

    You CAN take it with You!

    Another great advantage of cultivating mini fruit trees and planter foods, if you decide to move, you can take it all with you. Granted this would have to be during a carefully planned move, not a bug out scenario.  But, if you find you are ready to try a new place, you can make arrangements for your “movable feast” instead of starting over from scratch.

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  • Tips for Growing More Apples  

    Tips for Growing More Apples  

     

    Apples are one of the most popular fruits, pretty much everyone loves an apple.  But they aren’t always easy to grow, at least not successfully.  Here are a few tips to increase the quality and quantity of your apple yields.

     

    • Young apple trees are much more susceptible to damage from disease and the wind. Protect young trees by supporting them with trellis or tree stakes (that are wide enough that they do not impact that roots) to protect them from wind damage, and removing all blossoms in wet weather to protect them from diseases like fire blight.
    • If you have a healthy tree that doesn’t produce well, consider grafting so that you can take advantage of a well-established healthy root system and get faster productivity.
    • Use drip irrigation instead of sprinklers to reduce the amount of moisture that blossoms and fruit are exposed to.
    • Remove all but one apple from a bunch so that you will have larger, more healthy apples. It’s better to have less apples that are nice to eat, than more apples that have rotten spots on them.
    • Keep your trees pruned. This will help protect them from damage from the wind and overburdening with too much fruit on long branches.  Remove any portion of the tree that has curled or discolored leaves to reduce the impact of disease.
    • Mulch your trees with a thick layer of aged wood chips to combat weeds, but make sure that the chips do not touch the trunk of the tree.
    • Never leave fallen fruit on the ground since it will attract pests like fruit flies and even mice or rats that might burrow into the root zone of the tree.

    Apples don’t have to be difficult to grow or bought from the store, keep these tips in mind and produce all you need yourself in your own backyard.

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  • Tips for Pruning Fruit Trees

    Tips for Pruning Fruit Trees

     

    Fruit trees, like all perennials, are a great source of food for years to come, and should therefore be taken care of to keep them healthy and productive.  Some find it hard to bring themselves to cut anything from their fruit trees thinking that pruning will harm the tree, or that it will reduce productivity since in other cases in the garden, the more the plant grows the more food that it will be able to produce.  But this isn’t the case, fruit trees can benefit greatly from pruning when it is done correctly.  Here are a few tips for pruning your fruit trees.

     

    Clean Cut

    Always use a sharp saw or sharp snips.  If your tools are dull you can cause the branches to break or split rather than produce a clean cut.  Splitting will increase the risk of disease and will cause the affected portion of the tree to die back.  When removing a large heavy branch make a cut at least two feet from the crotch since the weight will likely cause a snap, then the final cut can be made at the crotch after the weight has been removed.

    Selection

    It’s important to know which branches to remove.  Focus on broken or sick branches first.  Then look for branches that interfere with each other or point back to the center of the tree.  Branches with sharp angles are likely to split when weighed down with fruit, remove branches with angles sharper than 10 o’clock and 2 o’clock.  All shoots coming from the roots can be removed, they will only interfere with the top branches are unlikely to produce good fruit.

    Timing

    Pruning should be done when the tree is dormant.  This is when the tree is not growing, for the most part this will be in the winter or the fall.  Emergency pruning, like branches that have been damaged by wind or broken under the weight of fruit should always be removed as soon as possible and not left until winter.  Root shoots can also be removed out of season.

     

    Proper pruning can help your fruit trees, so don’t shy away from removing a few well-selected branches this winter.

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  • 3 Amazing Benefits to Growing Fruit Trees in Containers

    3 Amazing Benefits to Growing Fruit Trees in Containers

     

    I’m normally not a fan of growing food in containers, other than wooden raised beds which I guess are a form of containers.  But fruit trees are an exception and one that most people don’t ever consider, probably because they don’t think it’s possible.  But it is possible; lemons, oranges, and avocados are three examples of commonly purchased fruit that you can grow at home, and in containers.  Here are a few reasons why you might want to consider containers a strategy for growing fruit.

    Space

    Space is a factor for a lot of gardeners.  And trees are not light on the space they require.  Their roots need room, and the taller they get the more shade they will cast on the ground that you would otherwise like to be used to grow food.  But growing fruit trees that are specially-suited for live in containers (though these varieties can be put in the ground) will give you the ability to grow fruit trees in areas not available otherwise, areas like steps and patios.

     

    Mobility

    Keeping a tree in a pot, even a large pot means that it is mobile.  You might have to use a handcart, but you will be able to move it where you want it.  This means that you can move it from your front yard to backyard as seasons and light change, you can relocate it if it starts to shade other crops, and if you move you don’t have to say goodbye to something you have worked hard for.

    Poor Soil

    If your soil quality is not good enough to produce fruit in, you don’t have to wait while you build that quality up.  You can start your trees in containers with rich compost and later transplant them into the ground once you have improved the soil if you can.  If not, you can leave the trees in containers and not have to worry about the ground.

    So if you have poor soil, are considering moving, and don’t have enough space, you still don’t have any reason why not to be growing fruit trees.

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