Tree Fruit Pome Fruits Apples Pears There are many pests and diseases of apples and pears Purchase disease and pest resistant cultivars. Purchase from a local and reliable source Fire blight Codling Moth Fire Blight Caused by the bacteria Erwinia amylovora Causes shoot blight and canker and characteristic shepherd s crook Can kill blossoms, fruit, shoots, limbs If it gets into the trunk, the tree should be removed Gets in through blossoms and shoots Warm temperatures and rain during flowering can increase the severity of fire blight Prune out infected branches 12 inches below infection and disinfect tools between each cut 1
Coddling Moth Often confused with apple maggots Moths, ½ to ¾ inch long with a gray band appear when temperatures reach 50 o F t0 80 o F and lay upwards of 130 eggs per lifecycle Larva does the damage Control Sanitation Traps but they only catch the males Spinosad (bacteria) bimonthly Neem or pyrethrins bimonthly Helen Atthowe - Missoula County Extension Helen Atthowe - Missoula County Extension Cultivars Apple Master Gardener Handbook has a comprehensive list of cultivars Contact local nursery or garden center Pear Bartlett, Gorham, Seckel, Anjou, and Bosc Most pears are highly susceptible to fire blight and will need 110 days to mature from bloom Haralred or Haralson Very hardy and disease resistant Needs long summer Bartlett pear industry standard Picking From the Nursery Buy one year old whips (first year grafted trees) 4 6 tall ½ caliper Smaller tree with good root system Buy younger trees (one year old is best) That way, you can develop a good framework Don t buy damaged trees, leggy trees, or ones that have been in the nursery for a while Purchase trees with dwarf rootstalk Smaller trees Easier to prune Come into bearing at an earlier age 2
Planting fruit trees Much like ornamental trees (review) Graft union should be 2 to 4 above the soil level Unlike ornamental trees, fertilize annually Before Father s day Do not over fertilize More susceptible to fire blight Delays flowering Water regularly, but let harden off in the fall (like ornamentals) 2 4 Graft Union Pruning apple and pear trees made simple? It s different than pruning for an ornamental tree I highly recommend reading and studying proper pruning and maintenance. heading 1 st year head the top of the whip to promote branching Pruning apple and pear trees made simple 2 nd year space scaffold branches about 2 to 6 apart Apple tree after several years with good scaffolding Scaffold branches are spaced well and branches are headed back 3
Pruning apple and pear trees made simple Succeeding years Prune late winter or early spring before buds swell Continue to head back terminal growth and new scaffold branches Open canopy to allow light penetration to lower limbs Proper Branch Angles Proper branch angles for apple and pear trees are 40 o to 90 o Clothespin young branches Branch spreaders to widen branch angle of older trees Espaliered Apple Tree (pear too) Fun, but demanding May take 5 10 years to train properly Use for decoration and for small spaces Must be in its first year or two of growth to start Do not tie too tight Consider weight 4
Fruit Set Many fruit trees are considered selfunfruitful and need more than one cultivar for pollination Most do not set fruit from their own pollen, or pollen from the same cultivar It is always best to plant 2 or 3 cultivars of the same fruit to ensure fruit set Make sure they flower at the same time Example: Plant McIntosh with a Delicious Many times crabapples make good companion trees Fruit drop or lack of fruit set? Fruit will drop naturally if ovaries are not fertilized Trees will shed fruit that will not ripen Later drop from tree could be stress, disease or damaged fruit Treesnaturally thinfruitto to ensurecrop No flowers or fruit? Excess pruning Too much water Too much fertilizer (N) Some species take several years (up to 8) to fruit Stone Fruit in Montana Most stone fruit are native to warmer parts of the country and don t do well in most of Montana Most bloom too early and will succumb to winter frost Common stone fruit inmontanaare are chokecherry, sour (tart, pie, sand ) cherry, and plums Usually zone 4 or higher with many only producing a decent crop every 5 8 years on average (due to environment) Contact you extension agent or local nursery for local cultivars if any? Discussion? 5
Sweet cherries Montana has a sweet cherry industry on Flathead Lake Only grown in this region because of the lake effect warming winter temperatures on the bank of the lake (mostly on east side) Sweet cherries grown anywhere else will not survive! Plums and Apricots? There are many species and hybrids of plums that can be planted in Montana Only warmer climates It used to be said to only expect fruit one in every 6 years Climate Change? Usually flower too early and are killed by frost For plums, check to see if they are self fruitful. They may need a companion tree Apricots are hardy, self fruitful, but usually the flower buds freeze Questions? End 6