A healthy fruit tree is a magical thing. Besides providing a wealth of delicious food, a thriving tree creates shade and beauty and increases biodiversity in your yard. To keep fruit trees healthy and ...

Pruning at the wrong time can harm your tree and lead to less fruit, so timing really matters. Avoid pruning when trees are leafing out, during late summer, or in wet conditions to prevent stress and ...

Orcharding requires effort, but the resulting yields of fresh fruit make it all worthwhile. One of the most important aspects of growing fruit trees is pruning. This applies to large commercial and ...

Pruning fruit trees in August can feel counterintuitive. You might think you need to leave your apple and pear trees well alone while the fruit ripens. But, in my experience, a well-timed summer prune ...

If you’ve planted fruit trees such as apple, peach or persimmon in hopes of enjoying the crop, you’ll need to prune them. “Fruit tree pruning can have different goals than pruning typical landscape ...

Winter is when I do most of my fruit tree pruning. Why most and not all? In which part of winter? First, let’s answer this foundational question, “Why do we prune fruit trees?” Because it’s unwise to ...

This is the best time of the year to prune certain types of fruit trees. The trees are dormant now and the pruning wounds will begin to heal as soon as growth begins in the spring. By now many people ...

Garden columnist Dan Gill answers readers' questions each week. To send a question, email Gill at dgill@agcenter.lsu.edu. When is the best time to pick my oranges? I have about 60 this year on two ...

Growing your own peaches is easier than it seems.

Maybe you know your watering, pruning, and fertilizing well enough to get your fruit trees and bushes to produce something edible out of a pot. Maybe the bugs won’t infest, and the deer won’t eat ...