Has your backyard apple tree or pear tree been producing less fruit lately? Fruit trees are wonderful ornamental plants even without fruit, but let’s face it – harvesting your own fruit from your own tree is more than half the fun of having a fruit tree!
If your trees are putting out only a few apples and pears each season, or even no fruit at all, there are ways to get them producing again. Healthy trees provide the most abundant fruit, but even healthy trees need attention to keep them thriving.
5 Expert Tips for Getting More Fruit from Your Apple and Pear Trees
Whether you want to properly care for a newly planted fruit tree so it provides lots of fruit, need help with planning what kind of fruit to get and where to plant it so it produces, or want to help existing fruit trees that have fallen off in fruit production, these tips can help you:
- Start with the right tree in the right location. Not all apple trees and pear trees are created equal. Before planting, you should do some research to ensure that you’re getting the right tree or trees for your garden. Where you live, what your climate is like, and what sorts of pests and plant diseases inhabit your area can all have a bearing on the variety of fruit trees that are best for your yard or garden. For new trees, you also need to pick the perfect place to plant – preferably one with lots of sunshine and well-draining soil. For assistance with how to grow fruit trees on your property, reach out to our friendly and helpful Customer Care Team, who are more than happy to get you started.
- Plant a pollinating partner. To get more apples or pears from your tree, there needs to be other apple or pear trees around. Unlike citrus trees, most apple and pear tree varieties can’t be pollinated without help from another tree. That means you’ll need to plant at least two trees (unless your neighbor has a fruit tree of the same genus that blooms at the same time as your tree). While pear and apple trees can cross-pollinate with one another, it’s best to pollinate fruit trees of the same genus with each other (e.g. apples with apples, pears with pears). The good news is that they don’t have to be the same variety of fruit trees as long as they bloom around the same time, so you can plant two different types of apple trees or pear trees.
- Make sure your trees get enough water. Even in a climate congenial to your fruit trees, Mother Nature may not provide enough precipitation. Watering your fruit trees is an easy way to help increase the amount of fruit they produce. When spring arrives, water the entire area beneath your fruit trees anytime it goes a week without rain. (Avoid getting your tree’s trunk or branches wet – that should be left to the rain.)
- Provide nutrients with fertilizer. If you notice an existing pear tree or apple tree’s fruit production falling off, it may be that the soil around the tree has become depleted. Applying fertilizer just as the tree is beginning to bud in early spring can help your tree to thrive again. Applying the fertilizer out to the width of the tree’s canopy ensures the roots get the nourishment it needs. You can repeat the process when fruit starts showing up on the branches – just make sure you use a fertilizer recommended for fruit trees (our Yarden Customer Care Team can help).
- Trim your trees regularly. Trimming your apple or pear tree regularly not only keeps it looking beautiful, but also encourages fruit production because you enable sunlight to reach the branches. It’s actually more pruning than trimming – you’re removing dead or unhealthy branches and thinning extra branches to get more fruit from the branches that remain. This should be done in the late fall or early spring when the tree is either going into or coming out of its dormant mode. You can prune your trees yourself or hire a tree care company to come and do it for you.
With the four tips above, your apple tree’s fruit production should increase. Be patient — some trees may take a year or two to improve their production after you change things around.
