Planting a fruit tree with the big picture in mind

    CAMBRIDGE — As a continuation of the Dexter Dover Area Towns in Transition (DDATT) efforts to increase perennial local food production and energy independence, Heron Breen recently showed a half dozen fruit-tree enthusiasts how to properly plant and care for the objects of their desire at Sam Brown’s young orchard.

Photo courtesy of Sam Brown

PROPER PLANTING — Bob Lodato, left, and Roger Lewis help Heron Breen prepare a proper site for fruit tree saplings on May 15. The planting was done as part of a Dexter Dover Area Towns in Transition session.

    The basics of installing a plant are simple, yet what distinguishes Breen’s instruction from others is his emphasis on considering the bigger picture: not just the hole where the young fruit tree is going but the entire farm/field/forest environment. A planter needs to know how the roots of a new tree interact with its new home in order to be able to help it survive the first critical years.
    “The three biggest killers of young apple trees are mice, deer, and humans,” says Breen. Mice, which can kill a tree by eating the bark entirely around its base, must be controlled by reducing their grassland habitat near to the orchard. Close mowing in August and September will create unfavorable conditions for mice and voles, who don’t like to be exposed to aerial predators. If the rodent population is high enough, some forms of trapping should be considered.
    Deer are notorious nibblers and must be kept away from young trees. Physical fencing and repellents that work on the deer’s sense of smell are effective, and a regularly patrolling dog in the orchard area keeps all sorts of animals away.
    Humans, however, frequently cause the most damage, and mostly out of ignorance. According to Breen, many people put trees on poor sites, either too wet or too dry. The size of the hole for a new tree is usually too small and too shallow. All the nutrient-competing sod in a five-foot by five-foot square should be removed before digging deep enough so that the young tree’s roots can be easily spread out with no distortion. 
    Soil fertility is important, but not just in the tree’s hole:  fruit tree roots grow horizontally about three times as long as the tree grows vertically in search of nutrients, so Breen encourages the spread of fertility across the whole orchard. “You don’t want to pamper your tree with perfect conditions in a small bathtub, otherwise it’ll never have incentive to spread out and really take hold,” he said. 
    Don’t stomp on the roots when planting:  gently watering the new plant will cause any air pockets in the soil around the fine roots to fill in. Regular watering in the first few seasons is critical (at least ten gallons a week unless it’s really been raining hard), but don’t dump it on all at once. “Think: how does nature do it?,” Breen often repeated during the workshop.
    Along with the actual planting advice, Breen helped the group consider a myriad of choices involved with successful fruit growing: deciding between dwarf, semi-dwarf, and standard rootstocks; what varieties to pick and where to find them; how to care for the trees once they’re in the ground (you can’t just plant and leave…).