Tree Fruit and Small Fruit

1. Tree Fruit and Small Fruit Jon Traunfeld, Extension Specialist jont@umd.edu

2. College of Agriculture and Natural Resources

3. Reasons to grow fruit • Flavor and quality, high store price, versatility, health benefits • It’s a challenge • lots to learn (science, art, and mystery) • long lived plants that require timely care and attention each season • Start small; start with small fruit

4. Fruit plants grown in Maryland Tree fruit Major- apple, European pear, peach, plum (Asian and European), sweet and tart cherry, fig Minor- Asian persimmon, Asian pear, lemon, lime, orange, banana, pawpaw* Small fruit (take less space, more forgiving, can be grown organically, less expensive to maintain and easier to dig up) Major- strawberry, blackberry*, raspberry,* blueberry*, grape* Minor- currant, gooseberry, jostaberry, hardy kiwi, elderberry*, beach plum*, chokeberry*, medlar, citron *Native to mid-Atlantic

5. Will I have to spray a lot? Pest problems (commercial growers spray): Peach (many pests) Apple (many pests) Sweet cherry Japanese plum Grape Can grow these organically: Fig Raspberry/blackberry Currant Strawberry Blueberry Asian pear Asian persimmon European plum (maybe) Sour cherry (maybe)

6. Plan ahead • Do I have enough room? Enough time? What’s practical for me? • Start planning one year before planting • Select a full-sun, well-drained site • Amend soil to achieve correct pH and increase organic matter content

7. Picking cultivars • Select well-adapted, recommended cultivars with good disease resistance. Buy high quality plants- “certified”, “registered” • Bareroot plants will catch up to container plants • Do I need a special rootstock? • Do I need more than one cultivar for pollination?

8. Pollination • Most fruit plants in MD require bees to pollinate flowers and produce a crop • Native bees (pollen bees)- bumble bees and solitary bees; responsible for more than ½ of pollination • European honey bees AND native bees need our help! • Avoid or reduce pesticide use and don’t spray when flowers are open

9. What if my plants arrive too early? • Keep roots moist and keep plants cool • “Heel in” plants outdoors OR • Keep plants in garage or refrigerator

10. Hydrating an apple whip in a bucket of water for 12 hours prior to planting 3-year old bare-root apple whip has just arrived from the nursery. Notice graft union where the scion is joined to the rootstock.

11. Water and fertilizer • Regular watering throughout the year is essential • Shallow-root small fruit plants are especially vulnerable to drought stress • Fertilize with 1 inch of compost each spring • Use fertilizers according to recommendations • Be careful not to over-fertilize

12. Weeds and mulch Grass and weeds compete with fruit plants for water and nutrients. • Use an organic mulch to • conserve soil moisture • prevent weeds and soil temperature extremes • Keep mulch away from plant crowns • Avoid herbicides

13. Wildlife “issues” Vole feeding Deer scat

14. Common problem… snake trapped in bird netting Solution: Keep netting >4-inches above the ground

15. Pruning • Control size and shape • Invigorate- stimulate new fruiting wood • Improve air circulation and increase sunlight interception

16. Strawberry Two main types for Maryland gardeners: “June-bearing” and “everbearing” (a.k.a day-neutral)

17. Blackberry • Perennial crown; biennial canes • Very well adapted to all parts of Maryland • Four types: • Thorny erect (excellent flavor) • Thornless trailing (rampant canes; large fruit) • Thornless erect • Primocane-bearing, thorny erect • Primocane-bearing, thornless erect (newest!)

19. ‘Prime-Jim’ thorny erect blackberry that bears on first-year canes in late summer through frost.

20. Raspberry • Perennial crown; biennial canes • Less heat-tolerant than blackberry, but ok for all parts of MD • Types: • Red, purple, black; June bearing • Red, yellow; primo-cane or “fall-bearing.” Cut them back to the ground in late winter or early spring.

21. Black raspberry- new shoots (primocanes) are thinned to 6 inches apart. Red raspberry plant tied to a single wire between posts.

22. Tip rooting New raspberry plant from tip rooting Landscape fabric laid down to suppress weeds and raspberry suckers

23. Bramble problems Orange rust Botrytis (gray mold)

24. Cane borer White drupelet disorder

26. Spotted wing drosophila

27. Grapes • Vitis vinifera- European wine grapes (less cold-hardy than native grape and more prone to diseases) • Vitis labrusca- native fox grapes (seeded and seedless). The source of table grape cultivars like ‘Concord’

28. Seedless table grape cultivars ‘Himrod’ ‘Mars’ ‘Canadice’

29. Black rot- #1 problem in backyard grapes

30. Blueberry Plant a mixture of Northern Highbush and Southern Highbush cultivars Use elemental sulfur and iron sulfate to reduce soil pH to 4.5 Mix large amounts of compost and sphagnum peat moss into planting area Space plants 5 ft. apart

31. Fertilize with ammonium sulfate (21-0-0) at flowering and 2 weeks later. Blueberry plants produce flushes of growth periodically during the growing season.

32. Sensitive to environmental stress

33. Potted blueberry plants showing leaf scorch due to small container size, lack of water, and “hot site” Grow bags require regular watering and winter protection

34. Underused small fruits Elderberry- Sambucus Ribes spp.- • Currant- red, black and white • Gooseberry- American, European and crosses • Jostaberry

35. Black chokeberry- Aronia melanocarpa

36. Beach plum- Prunusmaritima • Native to U.S. Atlantic Coast • Named cultivars produce larger fruit

38. Wineberry- very invasive! • Rubus phoenicolasius- China native that displaces native plants • Spreads by seed, suckers and tip rooting • Delicious fruit- but Do Not dig up and transplant into your landscape

39. Some keys to apple success: • Dwarfing rootstock- BUD 9, EMLA 9, EMLA 26 • Disease-resistant cultivars (scions); e.g. ‘Liberty’, ‘Goldrush’, ‘Enterprise’ • Support with stakes and wire (vertical and oblique cordons work well) • Close attention to pruning, pest monitoring • Don’t over-fertilize

40. Apple Pruning Suggested Pruning Cuts A. Suckers.B. Stubs or broken branches.C. Downward-growing branchesD. Rubbing or criss-crossing branchesE. Shaded interior branchesF. Competing leadersG. Narrow crotch H. Whorls From Clemson Univ. Extension fact sheet

41. Apple problems and growth stages Codling moth larva; eggs are laid on young fruits by adult females at petal fall stage. Silver tip stage Pink stage

42. Plum curculio Photo credit: U. of KY Extension Photo credit: U. of MN Extension Photo credit: Oklahoma State U. Photo credit: NHFruitGrowers.org

43. Commercial maggot barriers (nylon) Commercial apple bags (paper)

44. Bagging the fruit to protect it from codling moth. Illustration by Valerie Winemiller University of CA/Statewide IPM Program http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pni7412-2.html

45. Cedar apple rust- a common fungal disease that is difficult to control. Requires Eastern red cedar as the alternate host. Fireblight- a bacterial disease that can move through the vascular system of apple and pear, killing branches and trees.

46. What’s wrong with my apples? Can I eat this apple?

47. Surround is a pulverized kaolin clay product that suppresses and repels some fruit insect pests such as codling moth, plum curculio, and apple maggot. Photo credit: nmfruitgrowers.wordpress.com (7/2/12)

48. Above: ‘Olympic’ Asian pear- good alternative to apple and European pear but can have insect pest and disease problems. Quince rust fruiting bodies on ‘Bradford’ pear fruit.

49. Pearleaf blister mite Environmental injury

50. Brown marmorated stink bug injury