I have appreciated all of the information on this site about pruning my dormant fruit trees - thank you for all of the help. My question concerns the best time to prune the evergreen types - citrus mainly, macadamia, avocado (hateful thing!), carob. All of these are evergreen here in zone 23/24 and outside of avocado (does its own thing anyway), are in need of pruning. The macadamia is now in the process of blooming and does so about 3 times a year - a wonderful, non-troublesome tree, but in need of pruning now. The citrus also, have lemons that appear to be having lots of lemons, but leaves scarce. Perhaps in need of cutting back as the oranges do - lots of fruit and drop also. The satsuma mandarin sets fruit in winter - so now is out of fruit - would this be a good time to prune back. It is about 30 years old now. In summary, when would be best time/technique for pruning these non-dormant trees? Bejay

In general, most fruit trees are sold at wholesale as bare root, which means there is a 2-3 week sales window in the spring, and the traditional way of doing things was to sell them that way at retail. However, many nurseries instead pot them up and sell them throughout the summer. This is convenient for all concerned but adds expense and doesn't usually improve the performance of the tree over waiting until the upcoming spring and getting a bare root one then. For some varieties there are some places that don't follow the bare root model and sell container-grown trees year around. Things may be different in really warm climates like yours.

Congrats on the new house. You're first step should be to get your soil tested to see what's already in it. You can contact your local county extension office listed in the govt pages of your phone book for instructions on how and what to send for testing. It's generally best to plant trees when they are dormant (mid to late fall or early spring) since you'll have to spread out the roots when you plant it. Doing this when the tree is dormant minimizes shock to the tree and speeds up the process of settling in and establishing a good root system. There's a lot of debate between bare root, B&B (ball & burlap) and bucket. Generally bucket is considered the least favorite since roots often get wound around inside the bucket. Unless your soil test comes back with major problems most feel that it's best to use your soil with very few additions or ammendments. Instead work your soil about an extra 12-18 inches larger than you need so it's not too compacted and doesn't form a "trap" for water around your new planting. For even more indepth information I recommend you post your questions in the fruit forum. It's a lot more active and has a lot more "experts". There's one forum particularly for grapes that can offer suggestions on the best grapes for home cultivation. Jellyman is one of the consistant posters in the fruit forums and has lots of experience growing fruit. happy growing!

Blueberry and raspberry bushes are very different from the others. This is a good time to plant them. They're like roses. I just transplanted my blueberry a couple of weeks ago. Cool weather and rain is actually nice for them and as they wake up they get right to growing. I would think that strawberries and tomatoes can be planted as well although you may run the risk of frost damage since this winter seems to be hanging on. I suspect that most people would wait, but I'd take the risk just to ensure that I got things going. In fact, I'm planting this weekend. Good luck.