Horticulturalist Duncan Cocking, who runs Kyneton-based Leaf, Root & Fruit, explains two important tasks to do in the next few weeks.
November is a critical time for deciduous fruit trees such as apples, pears and stone fruit.
Did you know that the trees are currently determining the outcomes of buds for next year? Right now, the amount of water you give to a tree, and its state of health, will determine which buds will turn into flowers (and therefore fruit) and which buds will turn into leaves when the tree wakes from its dormancy in spring 2025.
Soil moisture is incredibly dry for this time of the year, and for the next six weeks, you should give your established fruit trees a good, deep soaking fortnightly (weekly for newly planted trees). Don’t bother with light, regular watering. That doesn’t encourage a good root system or help as much as a deep watering.
Thinning of fruit is another important task in November. This ensures good size and quality of remaining fruit (and helps to prevent biennial cropping). You are aiming to thin the fruit so that when it reaches full size it is not going to be in contact with another piece of fruit. I do this in stages because the trees may naturally abort some fruit themselves.
Clusters of ripening fruit create habitat for pests such as earwigs. I’ve found that it is better to have less fruit on the tree, of better quality, than to have masses of fruit all damaged by pests and disease.
Happy gardening!
Duncan
🍎 For more gardening tips see my latest planting guide and garden update.