Tree Fruit and Small Fruit
Basic Training for UME Master Gardeners
Jon Traunfeld jont@umd.edu
Reasons to grow fruit
• Flavor and quality, high store price, versatility,
health benefits
• It’s a challenge
– lots to learn (part science, art, and mystery)
– long lived plants that require timely care and
attention each season
• But please… start small; start with small fruit
Fruit plants grown in Maryland
Tree fruit
Major- apple, European pear, peach, plum (Asian and
European), sweet and tart cherry, fig
Minor- Asian persimmon, Asian pear, lemon, lime, orange,
banana, pawpaw*
Small fruit (take less space, more forgiving, can be grown
organically, less expensive to maintain and easier to dig up)
Major- strawberry, blackberry*, raspberry,* blueberry*,
grape*
Minor- currant, gooseberry, jostaberry, hardy kiwi,
elderberry*, beach plum*, chokeberry*, medlar, citron
*Native to mid-Atlantic
Will I have to spray a lot?
Pest problems (commercial
growers spray):
Peach (many pests)
Apple (many pests)
Sweet cherry
Japanese plum
Grape
Can grow these organically:
Fig
Raspberry/blackberry
Currant
Strawberry
Blueberry
Asian pear
Asian persimmon
European plum (maybe)
Sour cherry
How do fruit plants compare to
tomato plants?
• Perennials that require 12-month attention
• Require “hardening” (chilling hours) to survive
winter and produce fruit
• Maximum yields come with the correct balance
of root, leaf, and fruit growth
• Important to know when and where they
produce flower buds and fruit
• Correct pruning is essential to control growth and
encourage fruiting
Plan ahead
• Do I have enough room? Enough time? What’s
practical for me?
• Start planning one year before planting
• Select a full-sun, well-drained site
• Amend soil to achieve correct pH and increase
organic matter content
Picking cultivars
• Select well-adapted, recommended cultivars
with good disease resistance. Buy high quality
plants- “certified”, “registered”
• Bareroot plants will catch up to container
plants
• Do I need a special rootstock?
• Do I need more than one cultivar for
pollination?
Pollination
• Most fruit plants in MD require bees to pollinate
flowers and produce a crop
• Native bees (pollen bees)- bumble bees and solitary
bees; responsible for more than ½ of pollination
• European honey bees AND native bees need our
help!
• Avoid or reduce pesticide use and don’t spray when
flowers are open
What if my plants arrive too early?
• Keep roots moist and keep plants cool
• “Heel in” plants outdoors
OR
• Keep plants in garage or refrigerator
Hydrating an apple
whip in a bucket of
water for 12 hours
prior to planting
3-year old bare-root
apple whip has just
arrived from the nursery.
Notice graft union where
the scion is joined to the
rootstock.
Water and fertilizer
• Regular watering throughout the year is
essential
• Shallow-root small fruit plants are especially
vulnerable to drought stress
• Fertilize with 1 inch of compost each spring
• Use fertilizers according to recommendations
• Be careful not to over-fertilize
Weeds and mulch
•
•
•
•
Avoid herbicides
Keep mulch away from trunks and crowns
Organic mulch, pea gravel
Grass or other living covers can
compete with fruit plants for
water and nutrients
Wildlife “issues”
Deer scat
Vole feeding
Pruning
• Control size and shape
• Invigorate- stimulate new fruiting wood
• Improve air circulation and increase sunlight
interception
Strawberry
Two main types for Maryland gardeners: “June-bearing” and
“everbearing” (a.k.a day-neutral)
Aggregate fruits have
many stamens and pistils.
King berry is largest in a
cluster and has the most
seeds.
Blackberry
• Perennial crown; biennial canes
• Very well adapted to all parts of Maryland
• Four types:
– Thorny erect (excellent flavor)
– Thornless trailing (rampant growers; large fruit)
– Thornless erect (good choice for small spaces)
– Primocane-bearing, thorny erect
‘Prime-Jim’ thorny
erect blackberry that
bears on first-year
canes in late
summer through
frost.
Raspberry
• Perennial crown; biennial canes
• Less heat-tolerant than blackberry, but ok for all parts of MD
• Types:
– Red, purple, black; June bearing
– Red, yellow; primo-cane or “fall-bearing.” Cut them back
to the ground in late winter or early spring.
Black raspberrynew shoots
(primocanes) are
thinned to 6 inches
apart.
Red raspberry plant tied to
a single wire between
posts.
Tip rooting
New raspberry plant from
tip rooting
Landscape fabric
laid down to
suppress weeds and
raspberry suckers
Bramble problems
Orange rustfungal disease
Cane borer
Botrytis (gray mold)
Spotted wing drosophila
Spotted wing drosophila
(swd) monitoring trap made
from clear plastic container
with lid and ¼-inch holes
drilled near the top to allow
flies to enter.
Bait: 1 Tbsp. active dry yeast
and 4 Tbsp. sugar dissolved
in 12 oz water (better than
apple cider vinegar).
Grapes
• Vitis vinifera- European wine grapes (less cold-hardy
than native grape and more prone to diseases.
• Vitis labrusca- native fox grapes (seeded and
seedless)
Seedless table grape cultivars
‘Himrod’
‘Mars’
‘Canadice’
Black rot- #1 problem in backyard
grapes
Blueberry
Common problem…
Eastern garter snake
trapped in bird netting
Underused small fruits
Elderberry- Sambucus
Ribes spp.• Currant- red, black and white
• Gooseberry- American, European and crosses
• Jostaberry
Black chokeberryAronia melanocarpa
Beach plum- Prunus
maritima
Native to U.S. Atlantic
Coast
Wineberry- very invasive!
• Rubus phoenicolasius- China native that
displaces native plants
• Spreads by seed, suckers and tip rooting
• Delicious fruit- but Do Not dig up and
transplant into your landscape
Some keys to apple success:
– Dwarfing rootstock- BUD 9, EMLA 9, EMLA 26
– Disease-resistant cultivars (scions); e.g. ‘Liberty’,
‘Goldrush’, ‘Enterprise’
– Support with stakes and wire (vertical and oblique
cordons work well)
– Close attention to pruning, pest monitoring
– Don’t over-fertilize
Apple Pruning
Suggested Pruning Cuts
A. Suckers.
B. Stubs or broken
branches.
C. Downward-growing
branches
D. Rubbing or crisscrossing branches
E. Shaded interior
branches
F. Competing leaders
G. Narrow crotch
H. Whorls
From Clemson Univ.
Extension fact sheet
Apple problems and growth stages
Codling moth larva; eggs are
laid on young fruits by adult
females at petal fall stage.
Silver tip stage
Pink stage
Cedar apple rust- a common
fungal disease that is
difficult to control. Requires
Eastern red cedar as the
alternate host.
Fireblight- a bacterial
disease that can move
through the vascular
system of apple and pear,
killing branches and
trees.
Surround is a pulverized kaolin clay product that
suppresses and repels some fruit insect pests
such as codling moth, plum curculio, and apple
maggot.
Above: ‘Olympic’ Asian pear- good
alternative to apple and European
pear but can have insect pest and
disease problems.
Quince rust fruiting
bodies on ‘Bradford’ pear
fruit.
Brown
marmorated
stink bug injury
Late instar nymphs
Eggs and 1st
instar nymphs
Adult
Peach
Peach fruits need
to be hand-thinned
to increase fruit
size and decrease
disease problems.
Peach is best pruned to an open vase
shape to maximize captured sunlight
and fruit production.
Peach leaf curlfungal disease;
prevent with
fungicide
application when
buds swell in early
spring.
Black knot of plum
and wild cherryfungal disease;
prune out
symptomatic wood
to prevent spread.
Bacterial spot disease
Gummosis- peach trees
exude sap naturally and
when stressed by insects,
diseases and abiotic factors.
Brown rot- a major fungal disease
of stone fruits.
Dried, infected fruits are called
“mummies” and must be
removed from trees and ground.
Bagging fruit to prevent bird,
squirrel, and insect feeding.
Peach tree borer (PTB) larva feeding
on cambium.
Sap mixed with frass (sawdust-like
excrement pushed out of entrance
hole by larvae), indicates PTB
presence.
“Portable” fig in ½
whiskey barrel is
moved into garage
for winter rest.
Protected Baltimore
City fig (tree form)
with Southern
exposure.
Shrub form with multiple
fig stems pulled to center,
tied and covered for
winter protection.
Same plant during
growing season.
Bird netting surrounds
entire fig plant. Most
birds will peck through
netting and some may
get tangled.
Root containment and
root pruning will promote
fruiting.
Kudzu bug on fig- just passin’ through (very minor
feeding injury possible)
Thank you for participating!
• This Power Point is posted on the MG state
web site and will be periodically updated.
• Have questions?
– Send questions through the websitehttps://extension.umd.edu/hgic
PLANT FRUIT!!
GROW FRUIT!!