We hope you enjoy this webinar with Maxwell Norton, retired UC Cooperative Extension Advisor for Merced County. Maxwell talks about the history of citrus, how varieties came to be, and how the citrus industry in Southern California became so successful. He also answers questions about pruning, fertilizing, and pests. Citrus Video 

Here are the resources mentioned during the talk.

Citrus varieties
https://citrusvariety.ucr.edu/citrus-varieties

UC IPM website https://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/menu.homegarden.html

Ants
https://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7411.html

Selected Citrus Varieties for the Home Gardener https://anrcatalog.ucanr.edu/pdf/8472.pdf

Grafting and Budding Citrus and Avocados in the Home Garden
https://anrcatalog.ucanr.edu/pdf/8001.pdf

Forestierre Underground Gardens in Fresno, CA
https://undergroundgardens.com/

In December, UC Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners in Stanislaus County offered library classes on planting and pruning deciduous fruit trees. If you missed them, you can find past recordings about this topic on our YouTube Channel, as well as links to helpful publications from UC Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR).

What is a Deciduous Fruit tree?

Deciduous fruit trees lose their leaves in fall, and include apple, pear, fig, pomegranate, nectarine, cherry, apricot, peach, and plum. 

Planting New Trees & Understanding Where Fruit Originates

Sometimes a fruit tree mysteriously dies, and the gardener isn't sure what happened. A common cause is a tree that was planted too deeply. Root and crown rot slowly affect the tree, causing it to die years later. Watch the detailed instructions on how to plant correctly.

It's important to understand how new fruit develops and grows on the tree. Not all deciduous fruit trees produce fruit in the same place. It's important to know this so you don't accidentally cut off fruit spurs and damage your tree's ability to produce fruit. See this video for guidance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4fgVrf8XHE&t=250s

Publication - Fruit Trees: Planting and Care of Young Trees  https://anrcatalog.ucanr.edu/Details.aspx?itemNo=8048

Fruit Trees: Training and Pruning Deciduous Trees  https://anrcatalog.ucanr.edu/Details.aspx?itemNo=8057

Keeping New Trees Small – the Fruit Bush Method 

Tired of out-of-control fruit trees? If you are planting a new tree, watch this video! It details the Fruit Bush Method, a specific way of keeping fruit trees small. See photos of 5-6' tall fruit trees planted over 30 years ago that continue to produce an ample amount of fruit. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ry4YAp6NzdI&t=1s

Pruning Established Trees

If your fruit tree is already out-of-control, read Fruit Trees: Pruning Overgrown Deciduous Trees https://anrcatalog.ucanr.edu/Details.aspx?itemNo=8058 for help. It can take several years of pruning to bring trees down to a manageable height.

Other Helpful Publications

Fruit Trees: Thinning Young Fruit https://anrcatalog.ucanr.edu/Details.aspx?itemNo=8047

What about Citrus Trees?

Citrus trees such as oranges, lemons, grapefruits, lime, and kumquats are evergreen trees and need different care than deciduous trees. It's not recommended to prune citrus trees at the same time as deciduous fruit trees. Wait until spring to prune your tree for size and shape.

We are offering an online class on citrus on January 31, so watch for our registration advertisement in about a week. Locally, we will be teaching at 8 library locations about citrus during March.

Signs of autumn are all around us. . .we've had some rain, trees are showing off their fall colors and losing their leaves, fewer plants are blooming, the days have gotten shorter with the nights getting chillier. While nature has its own way of coping with the colder winter months, there are plants in our gardens that can be sensitive to freezing temperatures. Citrus, succulents, perennials, young plants that recently went into the ground, and many tropical and subtropical plants can be vulnerable. But there are a few things you can do to help protect your garden during potential freezing spells.

Mulching Perennials

Perennials return year after year. Hardy ones will need little, if any, assistance to get through the cold months, but some may need protection. Mulching helps even the soil temperature, preventing the ground from freezing when the temperatures drop below 32°F/0°C. A layer of 2-3 inches is best. A deciduous plant's own dead leaves can help protect its crown and roots from the cold, so leave the leaves until next spring, adding more mulch as needed. Other sources of mulch include bark, straw, shredded branches, and compost.  

Trees and Shrubs

Trees and shrubs usually have an easier time getting through the winter if they are in good shape. However, if a freeze is forecasted, one of the most important things to do is to ensure they have been watered 2-3 days prior, especially if autumn has been dry. As with perennials, mulching with fallen leaves or other mulch will help protect the roots, but do not have mulch up against the tree trunk or plant stem, which could cause rot to occur.  

Wrapping trunks of young trees with blankets, towels or piping insulation will provide added protection.

Bulbs

Fall is the time to plant hardy spring-blooming bulbs, but some bulbs such as gladiolus, cannas and dahlias are sensitive to winter cold, and may not survive. You may wish to dig these up and store them over the winter.

Wait until after the first frost, then gently dig up the bulbs or tubers. Cut away any leaves and brush off as much soil as possible. Let them dry out in a cool spot for about a week. Label them so you'll remember what they are!  Pack them in a breathable box, such as a cardboard box, storing the bulbs so they don't touch each other, and cover them in sawdust or shredded newspapers. Keep them in a cool, dark location that is below 45°F, but doesn't freeze.

Citrus

Different types of citruses have different cold hardiness. The leaves, green wood and fruit are more frost sensitive than hard wood. Mandarins and kumquats are the most tolerant of cold, with oranges, lemons and limes being less tolerant. However, if a cold snap has colder than usual temperatures and/or lasts more than a short period, even mandarins and kumquats can suffer. Any ripe fruit should be removed prior to freezing temperatures.

Citrus plants can be protected by frost cloths which allow some light and air to penetrate and can stay on plants for a few days at a time. They can also lay directly on plant foliage. If you use other type of cloth such as burlap or cotton sheets, use stakes to hold the cloth away from the plant greenery. Remove it during daytime when temperatures are above freezing and sunny, and replace it each night prior to sunset. Whatever cloth you use, make sure the cloth goes all the way to the ground to capture radiant heat from the ground. If there is mulch around the plant, rake away during the day, if above freezing and sunny, to allow the soil to warm up. 

Roses

Some roses are more sensitive to cold than others. As a group, hybrid tea roses are the most vulnerable. Make sure they are watered prior to predicted freezing temperatures, protect the root zone with mulch on the soil mound. You may also wish to cover your sensitive roses with frost cloths.

Container Plants

As always, water the plant a few days prior to an expected freeze. Ideally, if you are able to pull plants in pots into the garage, shed, or other enclosed area, do so.  While not as effective as an enclosed area, moving container plants onto a patio, or up against the side of the house or garage, preferably beneath an overhang will provide some protection. If unable to move the container, you can cover them up with frost cloth as discussed in the citrus section.

What do do if frost damages your plants? Wait!

Frost damage occurs when the water inside the cells of a plant freeze, causing damage to the cellular walls, which harms the overall health of the plant. Frost damaged vegetation will wilt, turning brown or black, as if they have been scorched. The bark may crack, or split. In severe or prolonged periods of frost the plant can die.

If you see what appears to be frost damage, wait until late spring until all chance of frost has passed. Plants are resilient and can often recover on its own, producing new growth.  Pruning what seems to be damaged branches too soon can cause significantly more trauma, even death, to a vulnerable plant that might otherwise have recovered in the spring. 

Resources

• https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=22929
• https://sacmg.ucanr.edu/Frost_Protection/
• https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=45517
• http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/GARDEN/ENVIRON/frostdamage.html

Denise Godbout-Avant has been a UC Cooperative Extension Master Gardener in Stanislaus County since 2020.

When discussing fruit tree planting and growing, I always stress the importance of developing trees for the long run. While you may plant and harvest vegetable crops in a single season, fruit trees and grapevines remain in your garden for many years. You need to keep this in mind while you are pruning and caring for your young trees.

During the first two to four years after planting a new fruit tree, fruit production is either light or absent. However, this is the time when major root growth takes place and the basic framework of the tree is being developed. Actually, the first year that the tree is in the ground is the most important for root development. Stress caused by diseases, nematodes, weed competition or insufficient water can slow or stop root development, and hence top development. If your tree's growth is stunted from the beginning, there is little chance that it will grow satisfactorily in later years. After the first years, young trees become more tolerant to many of these stresses.

The second and third growing seasons are critical ones for developing your tree's framework for fruit production.  Deciduous fruit and nut trees must be properly trained for structural strength while developing maximum fruiting area.  The system most used is the open center or vase system. Citrus and avocado trees, on the other hand, do not require extensive pruning. Pests such as twig boring insects that cause distortion of early limb growth are most serious during these early years, because their damage affects the ultimate shape of the tree.

Young trees are often most susceptible to certain diseases such as bacterial canker or verticillium wilt. If your trees reach eight or nine years of age without being badly injured by these diseases, chances are good that they will survive future attacks.

Stunting of growth due to weed competition can be very serious during the first two or three years of fruit tree development. Vertebrate pests such as gophers or mice can also do serious damage to newly planted trees because the trunks and roots of young trees are more susceptible to their feeding.  You need to take quick action to control weeds and rodents around young trees.

Of course the most common and serious cause of poor tree development is improper watering practices. Too much or too little water will prevent the vigorous growth of young fruit trees, and make them more susceptible to pest, disease and sunburn problems as well. More than any other cultural practice, irrigation will affect the growth, development, and long term health and productivity of your fruit trees.

Ed Perry is the emeritus Environmental Horticultural Advisor for University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) in Stanislaus County where he worked for over 30 years.

Learn more about planting and pruning bare root fruit trees by watching the recording of our past class on our YouTube Channel.