Steve Delgadillo

If you are considering fruit trees for your Elbert County property, here are a few planting tips that will help you this spring.

The site that you pick should be a north, northeast or east location from your buildings. Sunnier locations can affect the tree trunks because of the extreme temperature changes of winter.

Avoid low areas that have “frost pockets.” It is better to plant out of watered lawn areas if possible. The root competition from grass is hard on the tree and lawn watering keeps the lower trunk too moist.

It is best to plant ½- to 1-inch caliper trees. Bare root trees are a good choice. They should be planted in February, March or April only. Containerized trees and balled and burlapped trees can be planted from February to November, but care should be taken when fall planting so the roots are kept moist during winter because they don’t have a chance to establish and must receive adequate moisture to survive.

The trees should receive a minimum of 6 hours of direct sunlight in spring, summer and fall.

You can amend the excavated soil at 25 percent to 33 percent by volume with organic material for bare root and containerized trees. No fertilizer is needed unless soil tests recommend superphosphate.

Fruit trees have low fertilization needs. In clay soils plant 2-4 inches above the grade, mulch with 2-3 inches of organic mulch but keep it 6 inches away from the trunk to avoid pest damage. Avoid overhead irrigation if possible.

Check the soil under mulch to determine frequency of watering; it should be moist but not overly wet. An indoor plant water gauge works well to check the soil or dig down 6 inches at the edge of the planting hole. If dry, water with 10 gallons per inch of caliper. Again, winter watering is critical during dry spells.

The goal of training and pruning fruit trees is to have maximum sunlight entry with either an open center or a central leader.

Sunscald prevention is a good idea for winter. Use tree wrap on younger trees from October to April only, wrapping from the bottom to the lower branches.

For stone fruits, plant late-blooming cultivars. For frost protection of blooms and young fruits water the soil to make it darker as it will absorb more sunlight. Water-filled plastic milk cartons painted black under the branch extremities during the day will absorb heat, and then cover the tree to ground with plastic film over framework before nightfall.

Program volunteer network strives to enhance Coloradans’ quality of life by: Extending knowledge-based education throughout Colorado communities to foster successful gardeners. For more information call the CSU Extension, Elbert County Master Gardener office at 303-621-3162 and request Fact Sheet 7.003 on Training and Pruning Fruit Trees or access it at the CSU Web site www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/ garden/07003.html.