How to Fertilize Fruit Trees

, written by Barbara Pleasant us flag

Apple blossom

Early on in my garden writing career, I visited a man who had been growing apples and peaches for 50 years. As we toured his orchards planted with ancient trees and vigorous young ones, he stopped to talk about individual trees and their nutritional needs. “They’re not all alike,” I remember him saying.

Since then, I have grown many tree fruits myself, and slowly realized the truth of Mr. Scott’s advice on fertilizing fruit trees. I have seen first-hand what a difference thoughtful feeding can make, especially when you consider each tree’s needs. Spring is the best time for fertilizing fruit trees, because that’s when they need plenty of energy to push out new leaves and nurture baby fruits.

Fertilizing Young Fruit Trees

When fruit trees are first planted, the priority is to encourage them to grow roots by maintaining even soil moisture in good-quality soil. Once young trees find their feet – usually one to two years after planting – you can start fertilizing them to promote strong, steady growth.

A leading fruit tree nursery in the US recommends using a high nitrogen fertilizer applied to the soil’s surface around trees, but this method has drawbacks. Grass growing beneath the trees may take up much of the fertilizer, and heavy rains may send dissolved nitrogen into streams or drainage ditches, where it becomes a pollutant.

“Fruit
Mulch beneath young fruit trees to enrich the soil and suppress weeds

As long as fruit trees are small, it is better to use an organic fertilizer combined with compost or mulch. A low analysis, slow release organic fertilizer scratched into the soil’s surface around the tree, watered in well and then covered with compost and mulch feeds the soil, which in turn feeds the tree. This method for fertilizing fruit trees increases biological activity in the soil, which helps young trees form relationships with beneficial soil microbes that help them feed themselves.

To know how much fertilizer to use, consult the product’s label. I err on the light side with young trees that are not yet bearing fruit, often choosing to feed trees about half as much as might be recommended on the package. The idea here is to support sturdy new growth that can stand up to insects and disease, in step with the steady expansion of the young tree’s root system.

“Fertilizer
Fertilizer spikes are an easy way to feed large fruit trees with expansive root zones

Feeding Mature Fruit Trees

Most mature trees outgrow their owners’ ability to keep them mulched, and eventually the orchard floor becomes covered with low-growing weeds and grasses. The larger the tree, the more sense it makes to use fertilizer spikes that are driven into guide holes made with a stake and hammer, or perhaps a stout rock chisel. Whether they are made from conventional or organic components, fertilizer spikes are easy to install, and the nutrients they provide always go to the roots of the trees rather than ground cover plants. Filling deep holes with columns of granular organic fertilizer fed through a funnel is a little messier, but equally effective. Fertilizer stakes or columns of dry fertilizer are easiest to install when the soil is moist.

“Making
A rock chisel is a good tool for making deep holes to fill with slow-release organic fertilizer

As with young trees, it is best to be stingy when fertilizing fruit trees that are fully mature. Excess nitrogen can cause apples to be less red, and many research studies have shown that heavily fed fruit trees produce no better than those provided with a modest supply of supplemental nutrients. This is where knowing your trees as individuals comes into play. When a product’s label instructs me to install six spikes around my productive, well-adjusted pear tree, I will put in three. I will be more generous with a semi-dwarf apple that produces well enough, but always seems needy.

Nutrient Deficiencies in Fruit Trees

Should any fruit tree struggle despite attentive pruning, feeding, and meticulous protection of the main trunk, a spray made from liquid kelp is the first remedy to try. Micronutrient deficiencies are common in fruit trees, and kelp or seaweed sprays contain a buffet of micronutrients including calcium and zinc, in a form that fruit trees can take up through their leaves as a foliar feed. The best times to apply kelp sprays are late spring, after the new leaves appear, and again in early summer when leaves show their mature green color.

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Comments

 
"Thank you, I am going to hoe and mulch around my young fruit trees tomorrow, so this was very inspiring reading."
Dobby on Saturday 14 April 2018
"Should the blossoms be removed in the first year ?"
Joe on Sunday 22 April 2018
"hi I have a young quince tree for the first three years it gave good quality fruit but for the last two years the fruit gets brown blobs on the leaves and fruit and the gets infected and the fruit drop off. an old French guy suggested spraying the tree with something but I've forgotten what. have you any idea whats happening to my tree"
melanie on Sunday 22 April 2018
"Joe, you don't need to remove the flowers, but do remove any small fruits when they are about an inch across. This will help the tree will put its energy into gaining size."
Barbara Pleasant on Friday 4 May 2018
"Melanie, are you in the US? If so, the disease most likely to cause "blobs" is called cedar-quince rust. Please look up images of that disease and see if that's what you have. I have battled a similar disease on apples, which involved taking out 20 junipers. If there are junipers around to host the disease, it could be a losing battle. "
Barbara Pleasant on Friday 4 May 2018
"ni I live in north france, I don't think I have any junipers but i'll have a look . i'll look up cedar quinze rust and let you know. the first two years were fine., thanks for the info Barbara "
melanie on Friday 4 May 2018
"hi Barbara, no that's not it, there's no brown rust on the branches, it looks fine now but half way through the fruit growing it will start to get marks on the leaves and then on the fruit. I've not got any junipers. I have conifers as a wind break, i'd have no house without them. we live on the top of a hill. we call it windy willows. i'll have to wait until it does it again and then take some photos, it's a very nice looking tree, i'd love to be able to make some quince curd again. thanks again"
melanie on Friday 4 May 2018
"Melanie, you will need to rule out quince leaf blight, Diplocarpon mespili. Please do an image search using the scientific name and see if your fruits look like those with this awful disease. "
Barbara Pleasant on Thursday 10 May 2018
"yes Barbara that looks like it, I have three orchards with apples, pears, cherry, peach and the only thing that gets effected is my quince tree, I only have one so it's disappointing. my parents have the same problem down the road. we watch the fruit grow nice and big and then watch them rot."
melanie on Thursday 10 May 2018
"I have a pear tree about 15 years old that, out of ignorance, I have never fertilized, and this Spring no blooms or buds. Is it too late to fertilize? The squirrels got all the half grown pears in years past, but I enjoyed the shade."
dale on Friday 19 April 2019
"Dale, if the tree is healthy you can leave it alone. Many fruit trees take off a season after a fruitful year, so your tree is simply having a non-bearing year. It should bloom heavily again next spring."
Barbara Pleasant on Saturday 20 April 2019
"I Planted a Cherry tree Month ego. It was good. From 2 weeks I notice that the leaves are getting yellowish and the plant is not looking that fresh. What do I need to do.? any remedy?"
Theresa on Thursday 20 June 2019
"Thanks for this information. I planted a pear tree in my garden about fifteen years ago. I never got a pear because squirrels got them all when half ripe, but I enjoyed the shade it provided. I kept it trimmed to around twenty feet high, but out of ignorance, and neglect, I never fertilized. Just never considered it, and this year it put out no leaves or buds. A tree guy I called pronounced it dead. I feel stupid and guilty, of course and it's a lesson learned."
dale on Thursday 20 June 2019
"In my defense, let me say that I "never considered" fertilizing my pear tree because trees all around my house have been there forever and nobody ever fertilized them. "
dale on Thursday 20 June 2019
"Theresa, your tree is showing trauma from its move, and about all you can do at this point is to make sure the root ball stays lightly moist. Use a surface mulch of wood chips to keep it from drying out. Fertilizer could do more harm than good, so for now you must be patient. I hope your tree pulls through. "
Barbara Pleasant on Friday 21 June 2019
"Dale, I don't think the death of your pear tree was due to neglect. More likely, it was impacted by extreme weather, contracted a root disease, has inner damage from lightning, or maybe all three! No need to feel guilty, regardless of what the squirrels say. "
Barbara Pleasant on Friday 21 June 2019
"Hi I have a Victoria Plum tree, the first 3 years I had a good crop, but last year they all got some white fungus on them and witherd/dryed out. what should I spray the tree with this year and when to stop this. ?"
Bobby on Monday 10 February 2020
"How should I fertilize my plum and apricot trees? They're approx 15yrs old. I'm in a California coastal community and we're getting more rain than I have seen in decades. Last year was the 1st time I'd fertilized them and my apricot tree produced no fruit and the plum tree had minimal. "
Jayne on Tuesday 7 April 2020
"My flowering cherry is losing its leaves badly would it help to have it pruned"
Pat on Monday 11 May 2020
"We have a small circle of five fruit trees that we wanted to keep dwarfed so have pruned The branches slightly shorter every year For the last eight years. The tags all said they Did not need cross pollination so we only got one of each - Cherry, pear, plum, nectarine, apple. They didn’t flower for 3 years then The fourth year only the plum and nectarine Flowered so we sprayed all five trees as directed all year and those two trees were loaded with fruit. The plum tree had a large harvest but the nectarines all fell off while they were still small. We sprayed the next year as well but The plum produced only half as much, and and got a few blossoms and fruit from the apple we have never sprayed or fertilized in the last three years so all we get now is a few apples. The cherry and pear tree will put out a few blossoms but no fruit. We also have not pruned them for three years Would our problem be not enough fertilizer spraying or On that fourth year that flowered The plums fruit came to maturity to harvest but the nectarine fruit all fell off while still small. The next year The cherry and apple And pearalso flowered but nothing but the Apple produced fruit. The cherry only had a handful of blossoms but no fruit. The last three years. I am ready to cut them down and just put one big apple tree there But I am thinking it may not do good. Is there anything else I can try or should I just go for a pretty dogwood?"
Linda feezor on Tuesday 23 June 2020
"Really good reading, I save the whole Articles on my computer. And to save reading it all again, I write down the Neading. Bit's while Gardening. This saves carrying the Book I Log every thing into . "
Barry Brown on Wednesday 12 May 2021

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