We get a decent amount of fruit tree questions around the office. And like most extension agents, we have to know enough about planted fruit to at least answer a few basic questions about them. Things like when to fertilize or prune. What is a good variety for our area? Can we grow apples in our area? And lots of questions about why something is not producing.
I am lucky to have Susie in the office to field some of these questions since she lives on a peach farm and did her master research on fruit trees.
I normally try not telling people to look up a publication. I’d rather find the answer for them as quickly as possible except when it comes to fruit trees. UGA Home (insert fruit here) publications are fantastic. If anyone wants to know best way to grow a home fruit, you should check out these publications.
It is really pretty easy to find these publications. Go to your computer and ask Google to find “Home Pecan UGA” and you’ll find a link to a PDF with four pages of great information from UGA’s Extension Publication website. You can do this with plums, persimmon, peaches, pears, pomegranate, pecans, apples, grapes, muscadines, blueberries and the list goes on. The information is so bountiful that I feel it might put me out of the fruit tree question and answer business.
It is really cool how these publications are put together. With UGA College of Agriculture along with UGA Extension, which includes Fort Valley State University, we have specialist for just about anything of monetary value that grows in the Peach State.
Our specialist will collaborate with entomologists, pathologists, knowledgeable extension agents and other known specialist from other state land grant universities to put together these publications that focus on homeowner-based fruits. The reason it would be homeowner and not commercial focused is that most people that grow fruit trees in their backyard are not going to be set up to boom spray a 60-foot pecan tree four times a year during the growing season.
These publications are easy to follow with enough detailed information that almost anyone can use. They discuss issues like choosing a site to plant and when; how and when to fertilize and at what age; and, what are the chill hour requirements needed to produce.
The publications are also continually updated with the best varieties for disease resistance and hardiness zones. They share when is the ideal time and best methods for pruning. And always in them are ways to troubleshoot diseases and insects while including best practices for preventive and restorative treatments.
If you are considering adding fruit to your landscape by starting a pomegranate orchard for example, check with the UGA Extension publications and you will be well on your way to having successful harvest.
Vaughn: UGA publications offer great tips for planting fruit trees – The Augusta Chronicle
