But actually, trees are pretty resilient.”įirst, you have to understand the goals of pruning. “They think they’ll cause irreversible damage. “People have a fear of pruning,” Chernoh said. February is a good time to accomplish these tasks. If you’ve already got a tree or two planted, winter dormancy is the time for some pruning and spraying, two chores that intimidate the uninitiated. And never ignore the hard-earned knowledge of experienced friends.Ĭhernoh recommends ‘Honey Crisp’ and ‘Liberty’ for resistance to apple scab, and ‘Pristine and ‘Enterprise’ for resistance to powdery mildew and apple scab. You can also check catalogs, books, magazines and fruit societies like the Home Orchard Society.
Reputable nurseries should be able to give advice on varieties that are resistant to scab or powdery mildew. Apples are susceptible to a whole bucket of diseases like powdery mildew, apple scab and anthracnose. If you fail to consider the first two characteristics, don’t neglect to find out how well your potential tree can fight off diseases. And they fit well in the small lots many of us live on.”
“You don’t have to climb a ladder to harvest or prune.
“Dwarfs are so much easier to manage,” Chernoh said. Only you can decide on taste, although some garden centers have fall tastings or you can buy up a bunch of different varieties and have yourself a blind taste test.įor homeowners, she recommends dwarf trees, which range from 8 to 10 feet tall, and are particularly popular and easy to find in nurseries. When choosing which variety to grow, think about flavor (sweet or tart or somewhere in between), height and disease resistance, Chernoh said. So, before heading to a nursery, loading a tree onto a cart and wheeling it up to the cash register, ask some questions. “They require regular maintenance and care.” “While apples grow well in this climate, they are not necessarily easy to grow,” said Erica Chernoh, a horticulturist with Oregon State University Extension Service. That leads to people impulsively and ill-advisedly purchasing trees without putting in the proper amount of research. Other fruits – pears, cherries, figs, plums – are desirable, too, but there’s something about apples that call to us the loudest. – From newly minted gardeners to avid urban farmers, everyone with a patch of land wants to grow an apple tree.
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