Growing Dwarf Fruit Trees and Nut Trees
(Page 4 of 5)
March/April 1986
By Robert Kourik
A low stone wall can also enhance the ripening of fruit. Miniature trees need only a four- to five-foot wall. "Solarization" of this sort helps insure good fruit in previously marginal areas. Elsewhere, it hastens ripening.
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Where spring frosts and rains are a problem, the eaves of your home, especially if more than two feet wide, can protect a miniature tree's blossoms. You needn't worry about the shade cast by the eave; the sun reaches its highest point above the horizon on June 21 and then begins a gradual descent. Choose a variety that ripens in the late summer and there will be plenty of sunlight to finish the fruit.
For mail-order sources of dwarf trees, visit the Mother Earth News Seed and Plant Finder:
Container Gardening: The Portable Orchard
Miniature fruit trees can be grown in containers and still be fruitful, although container trees are more work. Even though miniature trees are grafted onto standard roots, they will thrive in containers — if cared for by a fastidious and methodical gardener. Even so, miniature trees planted in the ground always outproduce container plants.
Miniature trees are, however, the only reasonable tree crops for decks, porches, and roof patios. The seasonal bloom alone will be a welcome addition to an urban container garden.
Fruit Tree Diversity Without Limited Space
A selection of early-, middle-, and late-season peaches is a great way to protect yourself from unpredictable weather. And spreading the harvest out with miniature trees reduces the need for canning. Because you can plant so many more trees in the same area a single standard peach would require, the initial cost is greater. But the precocity and productivity of miniature trees quickly compensate for the initial higher cost. And the cost is coming down, thanks to greater volume of sales, and may soon be comparable to that of other dwarf fruit trees.
Longevity
An exciting virtue of these trees is their probable longevity compared to dwarf trees. With standard peaches, the expected commercial life is only 15 years. Dwarf peach and nectarine trees fare worse. Grafted onto Prunus tomentosa or P. besseyi rootstock, they have a productive life of only four to eight years.
Miniature trees appear to be different. Mr. Donald Harris of Novato, California, bought one tree as a dwarf from the garden section of a local department store — 18 years ago! The tree is still vigorous and shows no signs of decline. Mr. Harris claims a yield of 300 fruits on this four-foot-high by eight-foot-wide tree.
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