Winterizing Fruit Trees

Check out a few ways of winterizing fruit trees and learn how to boost their natural immunity, thus ensuring bountiful harvests for years to come.

Reader Contribution by Mary Lou Shaw
Updated on November 10, 2022
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by Pixabay/Igor Levitskiy

Learn a few ways of winterizing fruit trees as part of your winter garden preparation. Your fruit trees will thank you for the extra care.  

You’ve pruned your fruit trees in early spring then harvested fruit through the summer and autumn. Before heading into the warm indoors, take time to prepare your fruit trees for winter. This includes giving them protection from cold temperatures, rodents, infections, and even the sun. The following three steps will help ensure healthy trees for your next year’s harvest:

Mulching fruit trees with a thick layer of organic material will protect the roots from severe cold weather. Because fruit trees naturally grow by the edge of forests where the soil is littered with branches and leaves, similar high-carbon mulch is best. Wood chips, straw, and leaves are usually the most available and will protect the trees’ roots during winter. As this mulch decomposes the following spring, it gives soil a slightly acidic pH that fruit trees require for their best growth.

Wood chips are a valuable source of high-carbon mulch and minerals. The highest in minerals are small branches not more than 2.5″ in diameter. One source of these branches is springtime pruning. Additionally, if tree trimmers are clearing electrical lines in your vicinity, ask them to dump loads of chips at your house. It may be a chore to transport them from the driveway to the orchard, but worth the effort any time of the year.

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