Fruit thinning classes set at orchard

We are thinning peaches and apricots right now at the University of Nevada Cooperative Extension Master Gardener Orchard in North Las Vegas. Peaches are thinned so the remaining fruit is 4 to 6 inches apart while apricots are thinned 2 inches apart. These fruit must have room to grow and develop or they will push each other off of the branches. Thinning fruit will mean the remaining fruit will be larger and higher in quality. Come out to the orchard Saturdays for the next two weeks and learn how to thin these fruit.

Thinning classes start at 9 a.m. Call the master gardener help line for directions to the orchard. These classes are free and no registration is involved .

You should mark your calendar for April 16 at the orchard. This will be Egg Day featuring a cooking event with recipes developed by a well-known local chef using locally grown eggs. The egg producer and chef will be present to talk about how local eggs are different from those in the store and how these recipes can be done at home. This event will be limited to 30 people; there is a $20 registration fee. For more information, contact the help line at 257-5555.

Q: I planted a Bonanza miniature peach tree in January and it has grown very little and produced no peaches. I sent you the picture. Is this normal?

A: The genetic dwarf peaches at the orchard, such as Bonanza and others, would normally grow rapidly the first season if planted correctly. I am assuming this was purchased in a container.

Your tree looks healthy. With the exception of some shriveled leaves, the leaves look large, dark green and healthy. The shriveled leaves might be wind damage.

It looks like you have the soil covered with wood mulch, which is good. Make sure the wood mulch is pulled away from the trunk of the tree, about 6 to 10 inches, and not touching it for the first couple of years. If the mulch is wet and touches the trunk, you can get collar rot and kill the tree. I know. I have killed a few by accidentally .

I do not notice a stake on the tree. Some inexpensive insurance that the roots will take into the surrounding soil is the use of a tree stake to immobilize the root system. The stake does not have to be very tall when trees are this small but should be driven through the rootball, next to the trunk, into solid soil at the bottom of the planting hole.

I have used three-eighths-inch rebar with good success and immobilized the lower part of the tree by tying the tree to it. I usually use green, plastic nursery tape to secure the trunk tightly to the planting stake. It would normally be removed after the first season of growth, like around November.

If the tree was purchased in a container and the roots were established thoroughly in the container soil, then the tree stake might be less important and the weight of the rootball would keep the roots from moving around in a wind. But I still recommend staking the tree even if it is containerized.

In the bottom left hand corner of the picture I can see a drip line. Even though fruit trees are put on a drip system, I still hand water these trees deeply for the first month after they are planted. On a tree this size I would water with a hose for about 10 seconds a few inches from the trunk, or until the water reaches a depth of 18 inches.

Sometimes there is an interface between the rootball and the soil used as a backfill. If the soil surrounding the rootball is watered, this interface can prevent the water from entering the rootball area. This would slow the growth of a newly planted tree.

With the drip irrigation system running, watering with a hose deeply once a week would be enough. Without a drip system, you would probably need to hand water with a hose three times a week right now.

It would be important to have at least two drip emitters to that tree. Eventually, as the tree gets larger, it should have four drip emitters. The emitters should be within 6 inches of the trunk at this early stage in its life, and closer than this would be better during its first season of growth.

During the next couple of years the emitters would be placed 1 to 2 feet from the trunk. If you have two emitters and they are 2 gallons per hour emitters (this would total 4 gallons per hour), then you would need to run the irrigation to this tree for 2½ hours to give it 10 gallons of water.

At the size of your tree, I would be giving it somewhere between 5 to 10 gallons each time I watered. When it is young, the soil must be wetted throughout the rootball and at least a foot beyond the rootball into the surrounding soil .

Q: I think my peach tree needs pruning. The ends of the branches are drooping and one main branch was broken off by the wind earlier in the year so I think I need to balance it out. Is it OK to prune it now? Grass keeps growing around my trees and I am afraid it might be using their water and affecting their growth. I am not sure if I should dig the grass out and mulch over because I don't want to tear the roots. What should I do?

A: There will be lots of people telling you not to do it but you could still do some pruning now. Generally speaking, you can prune any time if you are pruning the current season growth. If you are pruning deeper and into older wood, then it is best to wait until the tree is dormant in the winter.

Don't be afraid of damaging the roots if you are careful in removing the grass. A little bit of damage is not going to be a problem. It is when you are removing large roots, such as those over half-inch in diameter, that you have to be careful.

I do know of some commercial growers who disc cultivate or even rototill lightly in the spring beneath their fruit trees while incorporating compost. They bring their fruit to the market here. Although I don't recommend it, it is done with very few apparent problems.

Q: I have a Santa Rosa plum tree that has never provided fruit. It's about 7 or 8 years old with lots of leaves and very green. I even thinned it out by pruning last year hoping that would help, but I got nothing! What do I need to do to get some fruit?

A: I hope you didn't thin out all the little short shoots on the branches. These are fruiting spurs and if you did that, it will take quite a while for it to regenerate these spurs again. The fruit and flowers come from short shoots on the main branches. These can live for 10 years or more and will be necessary for fruit to be produced your after year .

Bob Morris is an associate professor with the University of Nevada Cooperative Extension. Direct gardening questions to the master gardener hot line at 257-5555 or contact Morris by email at morrisr@unce.unr.edu.