Encourage a better fruit crop by feeding your edible and ornamental fruit trees. Fruit trees are heavy feeders and need extra food to crop well.

Nutrition Requirements

• Nitrogen promotes foliage and vigorous growth.
• Dessert apples need less than cooking apples and pears. Plums, gages and cherries appreciate more.
• Phosphorus promotes healthy growth and fruit.
• Potassium gives fruit good colour, flavour and bud development.
• Magnesium can stop bitter pit – apply Epsom salts

Feeding Quantities

• As a rule of thumb, feed apples and pear with Growmore 100g per square meter.
• If foliage is yellow increase feeding by half and double the quantity for plums and cherries.
• Organic gardeners can use blood fish and bone plus organic potassium material at 15gm p/sq./m
• Apples and Pear appreciate a low nutrient mulch like garden compost whilst plums like manure. If possible avoid growing fruit trees in grass.
• Mulching is very good for organic growing as it preserve natural nutrients and helps make them accessible.
• Soil can be tested for deficiencies but good husbandry will help create good fruit crops

Other Tips

• Quince will appreciate some tomato feed in spring.
• Treat crab apples like pears.
• Vigorous rootstocks are unlikely to need feeding once they are established.
• Water is a form of food and a shortage will reduce the number of fruit and stop them swelling.
• Feed the outer roots not particularly  those  close to the tree trunk.
• A good cooking apple is a variety where the fruit ‘falls’ when cooked.