Planting frost-sensitive fruit trees

An apple a day is known to keep the doctor away. And if you fancy bringing a little more variety into your garden vitamin store, there's no need to limit yourself to the usual fruit trees such as pear, cherry and plum. For example the sweet and juicy fruits of the peach and apricot trees can also thrive in these latitudes, far from the Mediterranean, if the right location is chosen.

 

Plant apricots (Prunus armeniaca) and peaches (Prunus persica) in a protected place in your garden. This reduces the risk of the relatively early flowering of these fruit trees being damaged by late frosts. You can also do the following to protect the fruit blossom:

• Wrap the tree/bush in a fleece during flowering.
• Select a location for the fruit trees that enjoys a lot of shade through the winter and spring. As the soil here will warm up more slowly over the months, flowering tends to be delayed.

 

 

• The young fruit trees in particular do not tolerate strong temperature fluctuations during winter/spring very well. Whitening the trunks or wrapping them in a reed mat protects the bark from frost cracks.

 

With the popularity of fruit trees in private gardens, the choice of varieties is also increasing. There are certain peach and apricot trees that are ideal for our weather conditions, due to their tendency to flower late, or just by being especially resistant. We recommend, among others:  the peach varieties: 'Benedicte' and 'Revita', as well as the apricot varieties: 'Nancy' and 'Hargrand'.

 

In addition to winter protection, the following must be observed for peach and apricot trees:

• Besides the proper crown trim after planting, apricots should be pruned only little; if pruning is too extreme this can result in Gummosis. In the summer months of July/August (after the harvest) is the best time to reduce a too strong growth with slight cuts, while also promoting the fruit formation for the next year.

• Peaches should be cut once a year in spring. Water sprouts and intersecting shoots should be removed.

 

We wish you every success in planting and a tasty harvest!