2 Tricks for Keeping Fruit Trees Small (Do this right now!)

Here's how you grow a little fruit tree in your backyard!

Today we share how to festoon fruit trees and how to prune fruit trees to keep them small.

Summer solstice pruning keeps fruit trees small. Winter pruning is good for shape, but gives the trees more vigor - summer pruning reduces vigor.

If you prune fruit trees to keep them small, remember these tricks! It's all part of "backyard orchard culture," which makes Grocery Row Gardening possible.

[Morganistas]

Am I the only one who sees every cut branch as a potential new tree? Free plants for everyone!? It's like a plant hoarding/propagation disorder. All thanks to you, by the way. Appreciate the timing on this video.

[dvssayer]

I use rocks in a small mesh bag and tie it to the branches, to bend them. Works great and no strings.

[getalonghome]

I read Grow a Little Fruit Tree, and put a few little apple trees in our yard. Felt like a psycho cutting them back so small at first. Thought I might have ruined them, but they're growing just beautifully! Looking forward to some fruit in a few years.

[drmasroberts]

Ann Ralph’s book, “Grow a Little Fruit Tree” really is great. The technique was developed at Dave Wilson Nursery in Hickman, California. Following their advice, I planted 4 groups of fruit trees—4 Apples, 4 Nectarines, 4 Plums, & 4 Pears. I selected varieties for my climate, to effectively cross pollinate, and to ripen fruit in succession for a long season of harvest. Each group was planted just 18in apart in a square and shortened to knee height. I chose to plant the groups 10 ft apart. Each group was subsequently pruned as if they were a single tree—shaped in the winter and kept short by summer pruning to grow no higher than I can reach standing on the ground. This is a great way to fit many varieties in a residential lot and still get plenty of fruit. They can just as well be grown as espaliers or hedges.

[pineywoodsurbanhomestead]

I put in three rows in the grocery row style for this spring and i am absolutely sold on this system. Everything is thriving and more productive than anything else I've tried. Thank you for all the information, man!

[jeff]

I'm gonna take a few "enemies" out back & compost them. Thanks for both the advice & encouragement 😉🤣🤗

[Spangletiger]

Learning so much about pruning and I don't even have a garden of my own! 😢 Seriously though, I love how you don't just give the instructions but also explain why certain pruning and training methods are used. After your explanation for training branches to grow horizontally I realised that this was why espalier trees are trained that way. I honestly just thought that it was to keep them at a certain height or, to fit a certain space. I've (winter) pruned blackcurrant bushes in the past and would shove the cuttings directly into a patch of soil, to root and form new plants to give away. I pruned them to prevent crossing branches and to open them up and, used to cut just above an outward facing bud, to prevent new growth from growing inwards and undoing the benefits of my hard work! 😂

[ME_MeAndMyBees]

Here in Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 we grow these "New Whip Trees' as "Espalier Trained" Trees.
Bang in x2 upright Stakes either side, say x10ft apart. Add a Cross Rail (Nailed in) and then Tie those Branches in with Horticultural String, doing a figure of "8" Tie and Knot. The String doesn't cut into the Growth (that string decomposes over say a season of growth.) You Cut/Trim/Tie each new growing season. 👍
As those limbs thicken and mature, the Stakes can be removed.
Originally, in France, these "Espalier" were mainly trained up against x1000 Yard Brick Walled Gardens ! Who has that in their Homes these days. 🤭
You can't alas do it on your Home, as the Tree will not like the Gutter and Roof overhang, and your Home won't like any of those Tree Roots in your Foundations (!) So add 'Stakes' as a temporary 'Support' and when the Branches can hold their own weight, take out the stakes etc. Simples. 😏
You can even Espalier a Tree a bit like a Walking Cane, on its side. Aka the Tree Whip Grows tall but thin ! You then get that whip carefully turned onto its side, say x1Foot above Ground Level, then its bent (tied down) almost at a 90 degree angle (fine when still young and Green in growth.) To grow Horizontally forever ! OK, until it maybe meets its neighbour growing from the other way.
Again for a few Years a long Rail just above ground level is what you tie that low tree to.
Again once shaped, forever there. These Trees become like little 'Fruit Hurdles' that give Garden Grow Beds a Boundary Structure. Apples, Pears do can be used. Plum and Cherry not so good. They need 'Fan' Training, to aid and increase/ promote better volume of Fruiting. Also Stone Trees don't like hard repeated Pruning, especially in dormant times. These get pruned in the Summer months.
Unless in a Greenhouse* confining' their Sizes, is OK.
However, if your Climate is warm enough, Peaches, Nectarines can be grown on a Fan Structure too. They love 'Structure' in order to take the weight of their Fruit !
One time I grew a Peach* of nearly x10 Ounces in size. . . But it needed a Hammock (Net Bag) to support its weight ! 🙃
Boy was it good 'a Huge White Fleshed Peach with Pink Blush Skin. So juicey and Yummy. . .

Here : I grow my x3Ft Peaches (have x2 for Cross Pollination.) along the front of the Raised Bed either side of access Path, within my Greenhouse. (And the Tomatoes etc grow up big and bushy at the back area.)
Oh, and I have a Huge Purple Fig ! Its Root: Planted in the Foundation Wall (x1 Brick missing ! So its outside not !) But the Plant itself grows up within the Pointy end Gable, furthest away from the Door. It too Fruit like crazy in a Fan Shape. We don't have the Climate or the temperatures to grow a lot of things outside (or room on our Windowsills come Winter!)
So it has to 'Fit' the space we have got. 🤭
And having lots of Beehives in my front Garden (South Facing) takes up valuable space. More than they should !
With having surrounding Farm Land, all about, outwith my Cottage : All Trees, Plants and Shrubs are subjected to cross Winds etc.
So Structure/Shelter/Location are key !
Finally please don't fall over all those Strings and Wire Pegs. Get a Wood Structure up and maybe a Trellis too: and make those little Fruit Trees a "Feature". Hope this helps. 😎

[amyjohnson]

Your chair pear tree reminds me of the circus trees in gilroy gardens (formerly Bonfonte gardens) in California. There were sycamores that were grafted together that looked like lattice too.

[babetteisinthegarden]

David I put water and zip sandwich bags and put them inside of the red onion bags and hang them off of my branches Using a piece of wire woven through the bag so it's not girdling to weight them down this way I can add more water if needed

[TheEmbrio]

In France in many regions hedges ARE fruit trees, and they are pruned with agricultural hedge trimmers, no fuss whatsoever ;)
Unfortunately it was neglected or even ripped up since the 2nd ww, but people are now more aware and replanting or rejuvenating ood hedges.

[walkaboutjesusradio]

I am glad you made this video. I began my orchard using your advice, I bought the book, the video helped a lot though. I am pruning everything in the morning.

[tnijoo]

8:19 I like this idea of training trees into benches! This video is exciting. It’s like they’re bonsai trees sort of. I wonder if I could grow some trees in pots this way.

[rogerbeck]

I just pulled out my copy of Grow a Little Fuit Tree to review what I need to do since we're at the summer solstice time. Perfect timing for your video!

[PlumbsmartPaul]

The deer prune my fruit trees, so I'm gonna prune the deer this fall.

[JavierFernandez]

awesome. the idea of letting in light for more plants is an excellent point with packing in all the variety. i want something fruiting all year round. :)

[uschiaala]

I planted fruit trees last year and was quite ruthless with the initial pruning as most of them were mail orders and you get what you get - some of them were great but some of them were very odd shapes, and I had to have faith that if I cut them back to nothing, they would come back again. I cut an apricot back to just the main trunk (I vaguely recall one of your videos doing similar with a peach). It looked terrible, a sad little stump, but ended up putting on great growth and in a good shape.

I had a couple of apples that start branching only 20 and 25cm from the ground. Again, you get what you get when you order things online! I was nervous putting them in because frankly they looked ridiculous and I found it hard to visualise how they could turn out okay. They looked like bonsai trees. But they've put on great growth and have fantastic shape to them so far, and should end being a good height.

I'm also giving a stepover apple a stab, for fun.

Another apple tree was mangled by parrots and had to be cut back to the trunk because they did so much ripping/chewing damage to every branch. I was gutted - I lost two years of growth and had to start over. It has come back in a much better shape than originally and is now the perfect height (I always felt it was slightly too tall), so it was a happy accident in the end. The parrots (and bats) are likely to be a problem every year, so being able to net them as shrubs is a lot less hassle then having full sized trees.

Some of my other stonefruit trees put on growth this year but I wasn't happy with them - so they have been cut back quite harshly again and told they need to do better this year. It's a step backwards but I really want to make sure they are a good shape from the beginning. (Neighbours planted a small orchard and haven't pruned at all, and their trees are a cluttered mess, I'm itching to get in there)

My cherry and pear have done exactly what I wanted, so they get a pat on the head and will only need minor tidying rather than correcting any major issues. I will revisit in our summer (I'm in Australia). Each tree gets individual attention like you've done in this video, sizing up what I want for each of them in terms of final size and how they will relate to other plants around them.

I really love shaping and training trees, I find it really satisfying. Love pruning and training videos! :)

[doraw]

Haven't seen one of your videos lately. My bad. Thanks for reminding me about fruit trees staying small. I have your book "Grocery Row" and I have a restricted planting space for the food forest spots and kitchen row area. My second year has been a very good harvest/s. I give so much away to my many friends and they love it. They tell me what recipe they made from the veggies. Gardening has brought much joy into my life thanks to my brother who started this craziness to begin with. hahaha THANK YOU and blessings to your family.

[DEBranch]

This is the kind of information that puts Davids teaching and advice a step above.
I planted many of his suggestions from his masterpiece.
"Create your own Florida food forest".
Along side his book "push the zone" with the info on protecting the tropical trees during the winter. Hes really helped me loose my fear of growing frute trees in my backyard.
Thank you for being diverse and precise with you information.

[Leahslittlepatchofparadise]

I just read your book "grocery row gardening" yesterday, such great stuff ❤