Xtremehorticulture

Xtremehorticulture of the Desert

Espalier or Trellising Fruit Trees or Grapes Can Reduce House Cooling Costs

Leave a Comment / energy conservation, espalier, fertilizer fruit trees, hot walls, reduce cooling costs, trellising /

Q. I just saw this video on the internet on espaliering fruit trees. It is located at  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MP7voRKFUoE Is that something that would work well in Las Vegas or just cause more stress to the tree? I have a small area on the south side of my house where the A/C unit is and would love to get a green wall of sorts on there to keep our bedrooms from roasting in the summer. I had thought about grapes, but the espaliered fruit trees might be an option. A. Great video! Yes, John. It will work here. Just keep your water emitters to the outside of the fruit trees and not near the foundation. We have high salts and don’t want to undermine the foundation or walls used for trellising. This will help direct roots away from the structures.             Make sure you whitewash the limbs as they can sunburn in hot, very exposed locations.             I can see you are thinking now in terms of microclimates and growing spaces in the yard. Plants are flexible. Make sure they have enough sunlight to be productive, match the plant to the microclimate and manage the plant to make it fit and make sure you commit the time to doing it. It is that simple.

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Planting Fruit Trees from Containers Gives Few Advantages

Leave a Comment / bareroot, container advantages, fertilizer fruit trees, vs bare root /

Fruit tree in container to avoid purchasing when roots are exposed like this Q. I would like to plant a peach and pluot in my backyard. I know you always recommend planting bare root, but I am too excited and don’t really want to wait 3-5 years for fruit. There is a drastic price difference between 5 gallon and 15 gallon trees.  How soon would I get fruit with each of these options? I have one spot that is cooler and another a bit warmer. Which would be best in these spots? A. The 5 gallon tree will catch up to the size of the 15 gallon tree in about two years. This is because the larger tree transplants more poorly compared with the smaller tree. A bare root tree will catch up to the 15 gallon tree in 2 to 3 years.             There is very little difference between all of them in how soon they will produce due to transplant shock. Transplant shock is less in bare root trees than container trees and they establish better in soil than container trees.             The peach tree should be into full production in its fourth year. You will get a trickle of fruit prior to this. The pluot will enter into full production in about the sixth year but you should get a trickle of fruit in the fourth year.             I would put the pluot in the cooler winter location to try to delay its bloom later in the spring to avoid fruit loss due to late freezes.

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Fruit Trees to Provide Shade for the House

Leave a Comment / energy conservation, evergreen trees, fertilizer fruit trees, shade, solar gain /

Q. I want to replace my acacia-like tree because it does not lose its leaves during winter and thus persists in shading our house from the sun at a time we actually need the solar heat. I want a deciduous peach, apricot, plum or apple tree which would be a fast-grower, provide shade during summer, give little shade during winter, and bear some flowers and some good fruits on the side. A. If you want some shade on your home to help reduce cooling costs in the summer you should focus on shading the South and West facing walls of your home. Since the walls typically have less insulation in them, they are the worst offenders for heat gain in the summer.             It is not as important to shade the roof as it is to shade the west and south walls. If you do focus on the walls, then some of the smaller fruit trees such as peach, apricot and plum and semi-dwarf apple will work just fine. All of these fruit trees are deciduous so they will not create shade from December through February or March.             I would recommend planting them about 5 to 7 feet from the wall and that far apart so that you can work all sides of the trees. Another possibility is to trellis them along the wall to create shade. The trellis should be a stand-alone trellis, not attached to the wall. You can also achieve the same thing by putting an arbor on that side of the house and using grapes to shade the walls from the overhead sun.             My recommended varieties can be found on my blog which is called Xtremehorticulture of the Desert and can be found at http://xtremehorticulture.blogspot.com

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Can’t Find a 1-2-2 Fertilizer for Fruit Trees

Leave a Comment / fertilizer fruit trees, mixing your own fertilizer, muriate of potash, potassium, sources of phosphorus /

Q. I was looking for the 1-2-2 ratio fertilizer that you recommended for fruit trees.  Both nurseries I looked at do not have fertilizers with that ratio.  The fruit tree fertilizer that they carry has a ratio of 4-2-1.  Any suggestions where I can get the 1-2-2 ratio fertilizer? A. What I have been telling people is to make their own. You just need sources of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. If you are not concerned about organic sources of fertilizer, then pick up some straight nitrogen, straight phosphorus and straight potassium and mix your own. You can vary the amount of nitrogen or phosphorus simply by adding more or less of each product to a mixture you create. You can blend them together if you want but if they are different sized particles they will tend to segregate and not remain mixed very well over time. I prefer to add them separately.  You can do the same thing with organic fertilizers. An organic source of nitrogen would be blood meal, phosphorus would be from bone meal and potassium you could use muriate of potash. I found all of these locally in at least one nursery. Purely organic sources of potassium are hard to find.

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