Why aren't my trees growing?

[organicPete]

sheeshe

I could almost guarantee that you are not watering those trees enough.
I had the same problem. I dug a small crater - about 1 foot deep and 1 foot wide - at the base of my trees. I fill that hole with water and let it soak. the frequency of watering depends on the type of tree. but if your are in full sun, I'd try a good soak every 2nd day, and light watering daily. if they respond well, increase the frequency of watering. my nectarine is a thirsty devil and I enlarged the watering hole for that tree. it is looking MUCH better now

organicPete

[ReptileAddiction]

I disagree with organicpete. Fruit trees if watered correctly are very drought tolerant. The commercial orchards here in California water about once a month for 24-48 hours. That is a drip system of course but you should not be watering fruit trees every day. A good deep soaking will do the trees much better.

[JONA878]

Watering of fruit trees can be a little tricky. There are several things that must be taken into account.
Trees on dwarfing stocks....9..27...111 etc..are very shallow rooted and will need water very quickly if a long dry spell comes along.
A long wet winter or very wet spring can cause damage to shallow rooted trees and then these will come under water stress very quickly and these will need regular watering to let them recover.
Too heavy watering though can make the trees lazy in searching for moisture deeper down and so bring stress on quickly when the weather turns dryer.
Heavy watering around the June/July drop period can induce a greater drop. So we avoid irrigation at this period unless the crop is very heavy.

If you have the facility to measure soil deficit, it pays to keep the soil at around a two inch deficit to get the best results from your trees.

[rainbowgardener]

soil moisture deficit was a term I wasn't familiar with, so I looked it up:

Soil Water Deficit
Soil water deficit is the amount of available water removed from the soil within the crop's active rooting depth. Likewise it is the amount of water required to refill the root zone to bring the current soil moisture conditions to field capacity. Soil water decreases as the crop uses water (evapotranspiration) and increases as precipitation (rainfall or irrigation) is added. Expressed in soil water deficit, evapotranspiration increases the deficit and precipitation decreases it. It is usually expressed in inches of water and can be estimated by several methods described later.
https://www.extension.umn.edu/distributi ... 3875c.html

Thanks, JONA for helping us keep learning all the time! Your posts are always very informative.

[sheeshshe]

I highly doubt that water is the issue here. We've had so much rain this year, it has rained a good rain at least 3 times a week here all summer. with the exception of 1 or 2 weeks. we've had a lot of rain.


Here are the trees.

[sheeshshe]

Here are my other two trees.

[JONA878]

I would make a couple of suggestions Sheeshee on your trees.
First I would get a stake for each of them. This would allow you to tie them up so that you can get them to grow straighter. It will make training much easier in the years to come.
Secondly I would clear the ground of weed around each tree and apply a good mulch. If you use fym ( farm yard manure) keep it away from touching the trunks.
The apples are not too bad for young trees and I think give them a couple of years and you will see a good response if you keep them well watered and fed.
The plums leader will have to be watched.
The second branch down is threatening to become the dominant branch on the tree. If you stake the tree you can pull this down to a lower angle with string and a nail in the post. This will slow the sap run to that branch as well as encouraging it to produce good flower bud and fruit.
The peach has a branch there that is naturally trying to reach for the sky and would tie into a stake to help it become a good leader for your tree.

The more effort you put into giving them a helping hand ...the quicker the reward.
Good luck
John

[sheeshshe]

I've tied them down before, but the kids keep undoing my limb tieing!!! grrr. you can see I have yarn on the peach one from when I had the limbs tied down before, but the kids keep screwing it up.grrr

I see what you mean about the plum and that limb. is that why it isn't growing any longer? it actually flowered last year, but then it didn't flower this year. I heard that plum trees grow fast, but this one has had no new growth in 2 years

[sheeshshe]

also, the plum I think I trained it 4 years ago to be an open centered tree? I think that is what it is called. no central leader or whatever. so how does it grow to be taller if the center doesn't ever grow?

[DoubleDogFarm]

The three most common fruit tree training.
https://www.google.com/imgres?q=fruit+tr ... ,s:0,I:227

Eric

[ReptileAddiction]

On the first apple it looks like the upper leaves are eaten/burned. Can you give us a picture of that.

[sheeshshe]

it is from the japanese beetles.

[JONA878]

also, the plum I think I trained it 4 years ago to be an open centered tree? I think that is what it is called. no central leader or whatever. so how does it grow to be taller if the center doesn't ever grow?

Open centred trees grow their branches just from a central point with no centre leader allowed. The tree grows up with the extension of the trunk. Your tree will grow to a big eventually.
However, you will have to make sure that all the branches that grow from the centre are roughly balanced as if one should grow away more vigorously than the others ...that branch will become the dominant one. Only careful pruning can help on this score.

I would add just one thing more.. With all those large trees around your fruit trees, which appear to rather dominate them, you are going to always have a pest problem.
Large trees or woodland play host to a large amount of pests that will enjoy the young growth and fruit. So you will have to keep an eye out for unwanted guests throughout the year.

[applestar]

I bought some inexpensive wind chimes and hung them on fruit tree branches as weights. They weigh down the branches and help to scare away.

I also found bird feeding suet baskets work great during the summer since I can add or subtract stones in the baskets for just the right amount of weight.

[sheeshshe]

I bought some inexpensive wind chimes and hung them on fruit tree branches as weights. They weigh down the branches and help to scare away.

I also found bird feeding suet baskets work great during the summer since I can add or subtract stones in the baskets for just the right amount of weight.

Brilliant!

[sheeshshe]

also, the plum I think I trained it 4 years ago to be an open centered tree? I think that is what it is called. no central leader or whatever. so how does it grow to be taller if the center doesn't ever grow?

Open centred trees grow their branches just from a central point with no centre leader allowed. The tree grows up with the extension of the trunk. Your tree will grow to a big eventually.
However, you will have to make sure that all the branches that grow from the centre are roughly balanced as if one should grow away more vigorously than the others ...that branch will become the dominant one. Only careful pruning can help on this score.

I would add just one thing more.. With all those large trees around your fruit trees, which appear to rather dominate them, you are going to always have a pest problem.
Large trees or woodland play host to a large amount of pests that will enjoy the young growth and fruit. So you will have to keep an eye out for unwanted guests throughout the year.

so the trunk itself will grow taller? I thought that in order for it to grow taller, that there would have to be new ground in the center. Ok, I will weigh down that branch that is trying to become dominant.

UGH. well, living in maine, I don't think there is much choice in avoiding the woodland stuff LOL. our state is majority woods. We go out two times a day and pest pick. I usually only see the japanese beetles, but the other day there was some weird caterpillar on the plum tree. it looked just like the "very hungry caterpillar" from the book was pretty funny... and I was not impressed all at the same time