Fruit Trees in Southern California
Question from Louise:
I have an apricot tree that hardly bears any fruit I feed it but only 6 maybe on the tree, the nectarine and peach next to it give fruit but that one hardly why? and when should I feed them all, February or wait till march? what do you suggest I feed them with I have been using stakes but I would prefer a spreading fertilizer? Thank you very much
Answer from Pat:
Most likely you live close to the coast and you have an apricot tree that is of a variety not adapted to your climate zone. Fruit trees are very regional and in mild zones we need to plant trees that are “low chill” varieties, such as ‘Autumn Royal’, ‘Newcastle’, or ‘Katy’. Most apricot varieties need a colder climate with more hours of winter chill than we have along the coast in Southern California. In addition to chilly winters they also need a climate in which they will have freedom from late frosts that can damage buds or blossoms and prevent fruiting. There is yet one more reason that might explain why your apricot does not bear well and that is that it could be a variety that needs a pollinizer, such as ‘Perfection’, ‘Rival’ (which can be pollinated by ‘Perfection’), or ‘Riland’, or you may have a variety that is difficult to pollinate, such as ‘King’. (‘Perfection’ would be the best pollinizer for ‘King’.)
If you do not know what variety you have I suggest you graft about three varieties onto the tree that are correctly adapted to your climate zone and winter chill requirements.
You do not ask me about pruning but apricot trees do not require heavy winter pruning. Moderate pruning is best to encourage production of new spurs and remove a few old ones.
Over pruning can result in removal of fruiting wood plus stimulation of too much green growth at the expense of flowers and fruit.
Fertilizing is traditionally done in fall in cold-winter climates, but in mild-winter climates it should be done in spring just as the buds swell and open. However, it is all right to cover the root zone with a mulch of manure in winter after leaves have fallen and it this system is used then no additional fertilizer is required. Keep fertilizer amounts modest. Over-fertilizing with nitrogen can stimulate too much growth with no flowers and fruit, so don’t over-feed. Most deciduous fruit trees don’t need much fertilizer but they appreciate deep, well-drained, fertile soil with a layer of mulch over their roots. I do not believe in fertilizer stakes that are driven into the ground. These are a gimmick in my opinion and also they are not organic. I believe in fertilizing fruit trees with organic fertilizers, such as a boxed or bagged commercial organic fertilizer recommended for fruit trees or you can make your own. (See my book for suggestions of homemade organic fertilizer formulas or read packages of commercial mixes and go from there, but the easiest way is to use manure, such as chicken manure in February, or horse manure in fall after leaves have fallen and let the rains wash the goodness into the ground.)
Follow up pruning with dormant spray at least twice in winter. Pests also can destroy buds, blooms, and fruit, but it’s not too likely that this is the reason for your problem.
This was helpful advice. I have a similar problem with a 3-4 year old Katy variety apricot near the coast in Southern California. The tree has excellent growth, but is not producing any flowers. I used a balanced fertilizer in the spring and did minimal pruning. I did not use a dormant spray, however. Is that necessary for flowering?
Sorry to hear that Katy apricot didn’t bloom since it’s a low-chill variety. It is young and may still bloom. If growing so well perhaps it’s getting too much nitrogen. If I were you I would apply Sul-Po-Mag for potassium and bone meal to provide phosphorus to the soil in early January or maybe I would decided to put these nutrients under the mulch in late fall so they can work their way into the soil during the winter rains. It is not good to dig under a fruit tree so I would hesitate to work them into the ground under the tree. Phosphorus and potassium are slow acting so that is the reason I would apply them early and then hope the weather would do a good job of making the bloom occur at the right time of year.
Dormant spray is not necessary for flowering but is the best way you can stop diseases and pests of deciduous fruit trees while still adhering to being an organic gardener. It is possible that insects could kill buds by eating them, so by dormant spraying you are protecting those flower buds.
Horticultural oils smother overwintering pests that hide in cracks and crevices in the bark of trees and come out again in spring. Fungicides used in winter stop the growth of spores. The best part of dormant spray is that there are no leaves, flowers or fruit on the tree so nothing harmful can get into the fruit from the tree. It’s best to use dormant spray more than once. Three times in winter, one month apart is the wisest practice.
We just moved to Fallbrook, Ca. and the property has many fruit tree’s. We are attemping to find out what kind each one is and learn the “how to’s” of each variety. All tree’s have been neglected. We have several Autumn Royal Apricot tree’s with heavy suckers all around the tree…some 4′-5′ out from tree. I have chopped & cut them all off. Some were so bad I had to cut the roots to get them out. Not so sure that was a good thing.
What advise can you give me to maintain, fertilize, prune, etc. so I will have a great tree with lots of fruit? FYI-I love your website…it has been the most helpful in finding information.
Thanks, Dianna
Hi Pat – Why did you suggest using horse manure in the fall but chicken manure in February? I thought all manure was to be applied in the fall so that the rains would leach it in to the soil well. Would you mind elaborating?
Also, I understand that chicken manure can burn very easily (more so than other manures). The instructions provided in the bag of chicken manure I recently purchased are meant for large plots and it has been a bit of a challenge to calculate how much I need for a single plant or two. Is there a rule of thumb for how much to apply?
Thank you so very much!
You ask interesting questions the answers to which would not normally occur to me to mention since I learned them without explanations or discussions but simply from seeing actions in nature. When you live on a farm as I did in my late childhood and early teens you learn many things by osmosis. This is one of them. The gut of birds, all birds not only chickens, contains a gizzard, which in the case of chickens is an immensely strong, hard-feeling muscle. Instead of a stomach containing acid to digest food, a gizzard is a mill that grinds up food. Inside it is grit that does the grinding and shell for calcium which gets ground up too so the birds eggs will have strong shells. Farmers must give chickens a supply of grit and sea shell so they can swallow some daily in order to digest. The reason for this kind of digestion is that the diet of birds is very concentrated with nitrogenous nutrition, such things as grains, insects, earthworms, or for sea birds—fish and shellfish. Chickens need the grit to grind up the grain so it can be digested. This gives them the energy they need in order to fly or in the case of chickens to produce large numbers of eggs. Ruminative animals, on the other hand, have a different kind of stomach that ferments foods and they take in a different and far less concentrated type of food—some grains, yes, but largely grass and hay which comes out the other hand looking quite a bit as it did when it went in, only brown instead of green. This means horses and cows and other ruminative animals must eat large quantities of food to get enough energy from it. Give your horse too many oats and he is likely to feel so darn frisky he might toss you right off his back. Great for race horses or carriage horses, but not what you want for a nice well-mannered riding horse. All this is shown in what comes out the other end. Chicken manure contains more nitrogen, therefore it is more like fertilizer than an organic soil amendment that builds up the humus in the soil and it can burn if not properly aged, therefore I think of it and use it like fertilizer. Horse manure is far more like an organic soil amendment than like a fertilizer. It doesn’t contain much nitrogen at all unless it’s from inside a stable where it also has some urine in it. Horse urine is the main source of nitrogen in whatever wastes come from horses. If stable covering is also shoveled up into it, then you get some nitrogen absorbed into that but not enough to make sawdust properly rot, since it is undigested. This is organic matter that will need aging on top of the ground before combining with soil. So laying it down in fall is a great way to age it before digging it in in spring. On a farm you learn these things by osmosis. Also cow manure is a lot sloppier and smellier than horse manure and has more urine in it. Therefore most home gardeners can’t get it. It must be aged and dried and bagged prior to selling it in garden centers. Much of it contains too many salts. Recently however, some purveyors have begun to realize this and one of my daughters told me she found a type of bagged cow manure that is aged in such a way that it contains fewer salts and says so on the bag. Most chicken manure arrives to a home gardener already aged and bagged. Horse manure is something you have to get from a horse owner and must age it either in a pile or by putting it on top of the ground in fall and letting it age in situ, something many organic gardeners do, but which is not easy for most.