August Fruit Tree Jobs

Here’s a summary of August fruit tree jobs

This time of year is very satisfying for fruit growers, as all that hard work pays off with some wonderful fresh fruit to pick and enjoy.

There are still a couple of August fruit tree jobs you should be aware of in order to care for your fruit trees in the summer.

Ready to pick

Some early fruiting varieties of apples will be ready to pick in August.  Beauty of Bath, and Kent’s own Discovery and Tydeman’s Early Worcester are amongst those that are generally ready now.

If you are not sure whether they are ready or not, simply cup your hand around the apple and give it a gentle twist, if ripe it will come away easily.  If not, it needs a little longer so just keep checking!

Apricots, peaches and nectarines will also begin to crop now.  Handle the fruit just before picking, you should feel a little “give” in the flesh if they are ready to pick.

Some varieties of damsons, gage and plums will also be ready to harvest now but do bear in mind that the colder weather earlier on in the year and then the hot, dry weather, can alter picking times, holding them back in the cold or bringing them forward with the heat.  So always give stone fruits a gentle squeeze to check they are ripe before picking.

Summer pruning

One fruit important August fruit tree job is a bit of pruning. Trained trees (Cordons, Espaliers and step-overs) should be summer pruned now.  Cut back the shoots that emerge from the laterals to three or four leaves above the basal cluster.  Shoots that emerge later on where an established spur exists can be pruned back hard to one or two leaves to avoid congestion.  Remove and extra shoots on the vertical stem of the tree.

Continue weeding and watering!

Keep an area around the base of your fruit trees free from grass, weeds and other competition from plants.

Most importantly, enjoy all that wonderful, fresh and delicious fruit.

For more help and advice from Grow at Brogdale, click here.