Spring 2016 in the Demo Orchard

Tom shows you a quick method for thinning fruit and gives you a tour of our demo orchard.

[@Blaculo]

Whenever I'm unsure about pruning, I look for these videos. Thanks!

[@harishchandel727]

Presentation on your part is amazingly great, keep it up Sir.

[@johnlafleur3593]

I have learned much from you Tom. I just started my small orchard in my yard a few years ago, and just ordered from TOA, but your teaching blows everyone else away. Now I know how to prune my Redhaven peach, without leaving everything on it. I'm surprised it didn't break. Keep up the great teaching. I also learned much from a book titled (Grow a Little Fruit Tree).

[@plantabundance]

Excellent! You are a great teacher!

[@PermacultureHomestead]

+Plant Abundance i am more confident pruning, thinning, and planting densely because of this guy.

[@Bearworf1]

Tom, I have gained so much knowledge and confidence over the years from watching your videos. I completed a late summer prune on my Peach trees and had to prune again this January. They do grow like weeds. My apple and Pear trees were cut in half and what a flush of growth afterwards. Keep on teaching us how to keep our trees healthy. Love your videos! Thanks, Steve

[@Shuvah2Him]

ILOVE your videos! I learn SO much from them!

[@johnlord8337]

10* Always have excellent training vids. Have learned much and constantly teaching others (and sending them to your YT vids) about this way of all season pruning and thinning techniques.

[@violethyena6895]

Wow, these videos are really amazing. I really appreciate your knowledge and how you explain why you prune so much. I'm not a farmer so I probably don't even know the basics, but these videos have explained why I've seen nearly flat trees in long island. :) thank you for your wisdom. Also it's really amazing to watch the progression of the grafted peach tree in the span of minutes rather than years to help me understand it better.

[@WilliamJBroussard]

Great video quality. I've purchased a few fruit trees this year and I'm looking forward to applying the planting, pruning and thinning practices you've shown in your videos. I've also made sure I purchased Dave Wilson trees. Thanks again and keep up the good work.

[@vangiefich]

We just found your channel. It's awesome! You share such great information! Now I need to do some serious KZbin watching, to learn more from you. Thank you!

[@1manasseh]

Wish I found this channel 5 years ago. Great info ! NowI have to prune my 5 year old fruits trees down to a manageable size. Any suggestions will be most appreciated.Tom is the Jedi Knight of pruning and fruit tree care. V inspiring.

[@Bearworf1]

Hi Tom! Happy to see another video from the orchard. I have been following you for years and have used all your techniques in pruning and my trees are healthy and beautiful. Initially, I was intimidated by the aggressive pruning and thinning, but you should see my trees now. Did you take photos of the orchard in full bloom? Would love to have seen that. Love your videos and keep em coming. Thanks! Steve

[@bobboyd9855]

Next video, I'd suggest taking a walk around the orchard, going from plant to plant. It's been awhile since we've seen the grapes and some of the less seen parts of the orchard (like the European plum espalier). Thanks and keep the videos coming!

[@1956vern]

I really appreciate your vids, thank you!

[@AnoushBotanical]

Nice to see and a great reminder to complete our first round thinning... mouth watering just thinking of our own California Pit Fruits.

[@johngotti297]

you are our inspiration Tom Spellman! We did our orchard by following your videos. It's working out fantastic so far! Listening to your advice about knowing your home soil, your home's micro climates, we ended up putting all our trees in raised beds. North Texas has alot of black clay soil, and we are no exception. The proof of Tom's advice being accurate is on my page. I have documented putting in our backyard orchard and following Toms advice on KZbin. click my name and see for yourself if a common gardener such as yourself can do as Tom does! thanks!

[@davidbravo4427]

Thanks for the answer I love you guys videos

[@bigpapi3636]

Thank you for the excellent videos. I recently found the channel and can't learn enough. It also looks like the subscribers are pretty knowledgable as well. I recently (late Feb.) put in a Santa Rosa plum here in inland LA county (zone 10a). It was purchased at a nursery that caters to homeowners and pruning is going to be a challenge. As purchased it's about 10' tall and very wispy. Trunk is about 1" diameter. I don't know if I should let it get established or prune the height back now to about 5' or so. Every time I drive up I-5 or 99 I look to see how various trees are pruned. Now I have a place to watch any time I want and will be able to concentrate on the road next trip.

[@DaveWilsonTrees]

+Robert Plewnarz Prune it now. That way all new spring and summer growth will re establish structure where you want it. Don't waste time, energy or growth on unwanted height.

[@jeremygragston1466]

+Robert Plewnarz I planted Santa Rosa too a couple years ago, it grew from 6' to 15' in one season. I knew what I should have done, but couldn't pull the trigger. It is so much harder to try to reduce a trees size than to prune it regularly. My recent trees are all shaped beautifully due to watching and applying techniques from these videos, but i still have work to do on that Santa Rosa.

[@bigpapi3636]

+Jeremy Gragston I know exactly what you're talking about. It's difficult to start hacking on a perfectly beautiful tree that has a lot of vertical growth. I'm impressed with the growth you had in one season. I'm looking forward to the same. I lost five beautiful, mature white birch trees to the drought and am replacing with fruit trees. I'm situated on a ridge top and have planted 20+ citrus and avocado trees in the canyon. Unfortunately we're infested with gophers and ground squirrels that have killed fig, mango and stone fruit trees. For some reason they leave the citrus alone. Lots of leaf miners here but no green skin disease, at least not yet. The growers like Wilson in the San Joachin are awesome. Seems like every variety of fruit tree is pruned differently though. Thanks for the response and good luck with the plum tree.

[@caseG80]

Big Papi hope you have your gophers under control. I suggest with great knowledge the best trap for gophers is a blackhole trap you can find them often in big box stores or amazon or even there website they are easy safe and once you get the technique you will never fear another gopher I quit counting around 400 my property and neighboring property had them very bad once you get them in control there not so bad I left some of them alone they serve there purpose but not when out of control. Cheers

[@ladyeclectic]

I’ve been meaning to ask, do you pick up all the limbs and fruit you trim, or do you just chop-and-drop, adding to the mulch?

[@nesone6520]

Great video, keep them coming! Does your thinning/pruning tips in this video also apply to a Double-Delight Nectarine? I have some fruit that grow like conjoined twins, should I cut off the smaller fruit, or just remove the pair?

[@DaveWilsonTrees]

Double flowering varieties set a lot of double fruit. I'd remove most of them. Sometimes you can remove one of the doubles. You can leave some if you must. They will ripen into a conjoined twin fruits.

[@codetwoAJ]

Excellent video!! Keep em coming

[@bluegrassdiggers9030]

Your the man.

[@richfiryn]

Tom is up in the Hen House and showing a lot of patience while sharing his knowledge.

[@HaibTshajHaib]

wow, so many fruits.

[@arkenjade]

wow I didn't realize that fruit would already be on the (peach) trees this early in the year - can I ask, when did blossoms come out and how long ago would you say they were pollinated, from the time of filming this video (for peach trees)? Thanks for the great videos!

[@DaveWilsonTrees]

They bloomed in early February, and were pollinated shortly thereafter.

[@arkenjade]

Thanks!

[@SkylinersYeti]

@@DaveWilsonTrees every region is different, I still have snow on the ground then. I have thinned fruit in the past but never pruned limbs to thin tree. I do like the concept and will try this next spring. Love your no nonsense videos. Too many people try to make it overly complex.

[@GregsMowing]

Very interesting. We have an apple (non cooking) seems to fruit every other year. Hasn't been pruned in years. Should it be thinned and remove crossing branches?

[@DaveWilsonTrees]

Pruning is advisable for several reasons. Control tree size, keep tree free of bacterial and fungal issues, keep structure thinned to control fruit quality, fruit matures better on controlled structures with sunlight exposure and air movement. We highly recommend annual pruning or even twice per year.

[@dagobaker]

just thinning an orchard that size is a full time job im really hoping to keep my trees 6 foot tall max did the knee high initial prune but its only 2nd year so too early to tell

[@tentam1982]

Whish I knew you 3 years ago. My 4 apple just same in first 1 year with few roots just inches.

[@toddpittman2467]

Hello! Thanks for your videos! A local Nurseryman here in Encinitas recommended your videos to me. I want to start a backyard orchard in an area of my property that I’ve renovated. I want to plant 4 citrus. How should I amend the soil (a lot of clay)? I also want to plant a fig, nectarine, peach, and pomegranate. Do these need any other plants to pollinate? Thanks again

[@DaveWilsonTrees]

Fig, peach/nect and pomegranate are all self fruitful.

[@deliciouspieceoffruit4132]

Hi Tom, my son and I really enjoy your videos a lot. He's only 2 years and 8 months old and loves to say "hi Tom Spellman... delicious piece of fruit" everytime when I turn on one of your videos. I live in Orange County and bought quite a few DWN trees this year including bareroot Minnie Lee and Royal Lee from Armstrong Nursery. Planted them 2 feet apart, full sun, in well drain soil. Pruned them back to about waist high, gave them a good soaking, and mulched with Lowes/HD... Earthgro or Vigoro colored mulch. Both trees broke dormancy and had a few leaves, but not much vigor. Up to now, the trees has remain the same without any real branching developed, longest branch is about 6 inches. The leaves that came out still look healthy and one of the tree just had a flower this week, but I removed the flower. Please advise on what is it that I am doing wrong? How come my trees don't have the vigor like the ones you planted? What can I do to promote more branch development? I watered them 2x a week, about 2 gallons per tree each time eversince they broke bud. I have not fertilize because I used Kellogg's garden soil when Inplanted them. Please help and looking forward to your next video. Thank you... want2bfruitreexample.

[@DaveWilsonTrees]

Are they planted in the full sun? Are you checking soil for moisture prior to irrigation?

[@thesweat389]

Yes, they are in full sun and I do check the soil about 2-4 inches deep before watering. The soil has good drainage, but even if I do over water a little bit, aren't Mazzard rootstock suppose to tolerate wet soil and vigorous? My Royal Lee tree had a bloom last week which I removed, but now it looks like it's trying to set fruit. I have not fertilize at all since planting in March. Should I fertilize and which fertilizer do you recommend? I know in the videos, Tom always mention low nitrogen, what do DWN use for BYOC demo? I am trying to post some pictures of my Royal Lee cherry tree, but I don't know how. Thank you.

[@flowergrowersmith449]

This is an EXCELLENT video. I had an apricot tree (3 yrs old) killed by a frost once. It was in full bloom with young tender buds and the whole tree was killed. Would it be worth trying again with intense frost cloth protection? Or should I just forget stone fruit??? Thanks for your great and generous videos.

[@DaveWilsonTrees]

Were are you located? You may just need the right variety for your spot.

[@flowergrowersmith449]

I'm down under in Australia! I'm seriously thinking of babying stone fruit trees (kept down to about 5-6 feet) through those critical first weeks of Spring by having frost cloth tents and lights throwing a little heat overnight and then taking off the covers for pollination through the day. It'll be a great challenge but one I'm up for! All I can do is try, I guess. Do you think this concept has any merit? I'm so keen to have apricot and peach trees! Thanks again.

[@DaveWilsonTrees]

We would need to know your City, and the summer and winter highs and lows.

[@joaocoelho62]

i love this channel, keep with the good work and can you make more videos. congrate

[@gordycummings]

It appears that you need to use bare root to plant the trees like a double trunk tree. (The Royal Lee and Mini Royal planting.) Am I correct?

[@DaveWilsonTrees]

Bare root may work better since you can get them closer together, but you could manage well enough with smaller container trees.

[@dh4923]

Update!

[@SkylinersYeti]

Silly question, do you fertile after thinning to encourage growth? If so what fertilizer blend do you recommend?

[@DaveWilsonTrees]

3-12-12 end of January, mid April and end of June in California. I’m not using high nitrogen or tying to push vigorous growth on trees where I’m promoting fruit and having to thin. For pushing growth and creating structure on young trees for the first one to three years in ground you can use more Nitrogen.

[@SkylinersYeti]

@@DaveWilsonTrees Thank you. I live at high elevation in Central Oregon Cascades and we get extreme daily temperature swings , 30 to 40 degrees F. so I am always concerned about not having to lush of growth.

[@markcukrojiujitsu2322]

What about figs in NC right now

[@Bearworf1]

Is it too late to cut fruit trees in half to set a lower height of the tree? I purchased fruit trees (Apples, Peaches and Pear)from the County this Spring and planted them as they were (5 ft and 1.5" caliper trunk) I already pruned them once about a foot off the top, but now they are seven feet tall. How much can I cut so the trees come back healthy next Spring? Thanks, Steve - Michigan

[@DaveWilsonTrees]

Bearworf1 wait until they are dormant and winter prune them, sometime around January. Then again in the spring at the same time you thin the fruit. Prune them again after you harvest. Then just get into that pattern of pruning once or twice in the summer to control height, and one winter pruning for detail work.

[@joemonroe9456]

your videos are very helpful and appreciated. Upgrade your toaster for better video quality please. Thank you.

[@HaibTshajHaib]

does a mango tree need thinning?

[@davidbravo4427]

I plant a red delicious apple tree and a pink lady both are semi dwarf about 5 feet apart do you think is going to be a problem in the future?

[@DaveWilsonTrees]

5 feet is a good spacing.

[@KIDTAKO]

I cringe watching you thin and prune... but I totally get it.

[@carmenmcginnis9022]

I would just die if I had to do that!!!

[@truongnguyen-ee7kw]

what you did is for family trees. Right? If I have a plum farm and I prune like that, how many pounds do I have each hectare??

[@DaveWilsonTrees]

trường nguyễn that would depend on variety and tree and row spacing, but you would have a third less fruit at least. You could do high destiny hedgerow type planting if you can mechanically prune. otherwise pruning costs would be high.

[@truongnguyen-ee7kw]

thank you so much. Can you shoot a video about high density hedgerow type planting?? I come from Vietnam and I really really like what you did, so I wanna use modern technology coming from USA to produce products in my country.

[@Jakearrian]

LOL what the heck. My trees just started putting on leaves and you have fruit already LOL!

[@PermacultureHomestead]

+Dankuu O_____0 cali

[@mosesboyajian4452]

San Joaquin Valley especially

[@skyfairy1959]

CRINGING! you are a bigger man than my wife! even she will not prune this drastic! good on you! excellent vids as always! the BEST!

[@debbiesmith2707]

Do fruit trees go dormant after you plant them?

[@debbiesmith2707]

Ayers Pear, Bartlett Pear and Montmorency cherry in particular.

[@DaveWilsonTrees]

+Debbie Smith No, not until winter.

[@debbiesmith2707]

aw crap! Then mine most likely are dead gosh darn it! Planted them the end of April... followed your trimming... we've had crazy weather here in MA... the 3 apples are growing away... the pears & cherry... NOTHING! :-(

[@jandoolin6215]

+Dave Wilson Nursery where can I get your trees? I am in Lakeland Florida...thanks Jan

[@RogerKeulen]

Still have to wait 8 weeks .... :-(

[@mattweber1842]

What is the proper spacing for apricot fruit?

[@DaveWilsonTrees]

Depends on what you want to achieve, but apricots do have a spreading growth habit. I'd go 5 feet at least.

[@DaveWilsonTrees]

We do have 3 cots in one hole spaced 2 feet that does well. Just requires a lot of pruning.

[@mattweber1842]

+Dave Wilson Nursery for the fruit on the tree what would be a good spacing on the branches?

[@henrykarrowkamara9958]

Can I have your email