Tips for Caring for Your Fruit Trees in Winter

Fruit trees provide a gardener with both fruit and visual pleasure, but protecting them through the winter months can be a difficult task. Very young fruit trees are very susceptible to disease and the harsh elements for the first few years, so they require extra attention. With a little know how and care though, it is possible to cultivate a mini orchard in your backyard and enjoy fresh fruit season after season. Here are a few tips to help you care for your fruit trees in winter.

Remove Dead Leaves
Before winter sets in and the ground is covered with snow, it is important that you remove all the dead leaves that have fallen and surround the ground around your trees. This easy task serves two purposes. First it reduces the risk of recurring diseases that may be leaf born, and secondly, it eliminates the chance of small rodents and pests taking up residence near your trees.

Resist Pruning
Most people tend to prune everything at the end of the growing season, but it is not the best time to prune your fruit trees. Wait until the beginning of spring to perform any pruning jobs to your trees.

Resist Fertilizing
Like pruning, fertilizing should not be done right before winter sets in. Instead wait until early spring to get the job done, the moisture from melting snow will help the nutrients reach the roots of the tree as the ground begins to thaw.

Resist Mulching
Adding mulch around your fruit trees is not recommended right before winter either, because of the risk of rodents and pests that it presents. While mulch is normally used as a protective layer, in the case of fruit trees, it just provides a layer of protection for small animals and insects that want to eat your tree.

Deep Water Trees
Trees still require water before winter begins, which it will store to help it survive the winter months. It is important to deep water all your fruit trees before the first thaw sets in, but after all the leaves have already died and fallen of the branches.

Protect From Winter Freeze
One of the best ways to protect young fruit trees from winter freeze is to deflect the sunlight that will warm up the trunk of the tree as much as possible. Wrap the trunk of the tree in material or paint the trunk in a light colored, preferably white, coat of paint.

Protect From Rodents
Small animals enjoy chewing on the bark of young trees during the long winter months when they are low on food. Adding a tree guard to your trees also serves the purpose of protecting the bark from this type of damage.

Provide Staking
When you have very young fruit trees it is important to provide some extra support with staking to ensure that they will not endure wind damage. Drive stakes into the ground on either side of a tree and secure a tie to the tree.