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Fruit & Orchards

How low are the branches on your fruit trees in your yard?

15 years ago

Do you keep low branches to make fruit easy to pick or do you limb them up to make it easier to mow and just use a ladder to reach the fruit?

For my newly planted Balaton Cherry, it recommends leaving the lowest branches at three to four feet from the ground. The tree is a semi-dwarf and will mature around 15 - 18 feet tall and wide. Is it best to just keep making a bigger and bigger circle of mulch around it as it grows so we don't have to mow under it at all? I'm trying to picture a 15 foot circle of mulch. lol

Of course I know I need to mulch around it now while it's little. I'm mostly wondering if I really need to leave the branches that low.

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Comments (5)

fruithack
15 years ago
Christie- my branches are 2-9' high. Makes netting and picking doable. I no longer mulch as it provides habitat and cover for insects.
ericwi
15 years ago
Our blueberry shrubs have all the branches, and all the fruit, within three feet of the ground. This makes it very convenient for the local rabbits who visit to nibble during the winter, when there is apparently little else for them to nibble on....
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alan haigh
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Mulch makes a habitat for insects? That's a new one on me. Rodents, yes but insects? Turf provides a nice home for Jap beetles and it's usual broadleef weeds can harbor and produce tarnished plant bug, 2 very destructive pests- but I'm east coast.
someguyinmaine
15 years ago
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christie_sw_mo
Original Author
15 years ago
I keep my branches as low as possible without touching the ground.
That makes sense to me. If I can't mow under it anyway, why not just have a shrub rather than a tree. I might have to bend over more to pick fruit but that can't be any worse than moving a ladder around. Does anyone else keep the branches low like that?

Fruithack - What IS under your trees if you don't mulch?

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