Did you know that a tree's "maximum height" isn't set in stone? YOU can control the height of trees with these tips for growing fruit trees in a small backyard space. Resources: Grocery Row Gardening: amzn.to/34kTM98 Grow a Little Fruit Tree: amzn.to/3My3ma7 Pruning and Training: amzn.to/3hOu4gy Subscribe to the newsletter - I try to send out about one a week with gardening inspiration and news: thesurvivalgardener.us3.list-manage.com/subscribe/post?u=d1c57e318ab24156698c41249&id=1f74a21dc8 Thank you all for watching!
Great intro to this subject. The best thing you have ever done for me (both through books and video) is to make me a brave gorilla gardener. My favorite David the Good sayings: Just throw it on the ground. When in doubt, chop it off. It's just seeds, they're cheap. I don't like it, you're outta here. What is it? I don't know, compost it. Is it dead? Bury it. Is it weak? Cull it. I don't coddle wimpy plants. Eat what's in season, you won't die. Child labor is a good thing. Thank God for the harvest, even if it looks weird. 🤣
Thank you, I needed this! We bought a property with an overgrown orchard that's got all manner of funk going on in it. Did some maniacal pruning last week before the buds open. I've been so scared of making mistakes, but between you and Ann Ralph my inner psychopathic arborist has been awakened. Thank you!
I wish more people in the gardening community would think this way. Truly grateful for all your wonderful knowledge. Backyard orchard culture. Keep trees small.
I just remembered -- I've seen trees that were deliberately bent long ago by Indians for various purposes (some were trail markers, others may have been bent to make handles or parts for various tools they used). That could be a fun project. Like, bend a tree to make the rockers for a rocking chair. My great-grandfather built a rocking chair that way -- with naturally-bent wood -- for my great-grandmother, and all the babies in the family got rocked in that chair at least once, down to my oldest daughter (I had to sneak a sit-down with her at the museum where it's now part of a local history exhibit). Great-grandad found a section of wood with the bend he wanted, and split it to get identical rockers. Not fruit, but something that could be interesting to play with.
Several years ago, a beam broke at Buckingham Palace. At the time the palace was built, a tree was planted and trained to be the replacement for that exact bent beam. Once upon a time, tree bending was a common and valuable art that created beams much stronger than can be made with straight grained wood.
@@looksirdroids9134 I'm not sure where you got the idea that "Indians" is a derogatory term - maybe from TV? I have a half-Indian sister-in-law, and a full Indian foster-cousin, and I assure you, they don't consider it derogatory at all. That's a left-wing woke idea, trying to create division and strife.
I watched a documentary that said in China they would bend branches to make chariot parts that were stronger and lighter than if they were made from two straight pieces of wood.
Brilliant information. I was listening to every word. Yes, trees do want to grow for us. It's not a coincidence that they breathe what we exhale, and we breathe what they exhale. Bravo 👏 Thank you, Sir. 😊
This is great video. We're on the Canadian prairies, and here we basically need to use full sized rootstocks for fruit trees like apples just to have the vigor and cold hardiness, also the growing season in short. Yes I do have an old apple tree that's 35 feet tall, but only because it wasn't pruned - sure they can get that large. All of the standard "full sized" trees I've planted in years since have been really easy to keep small with pruning and training, selecting some main scaffolds and keeping them low and spreading, and the trees can be close together. My orchard was planted in a forest, the natural vegetation before I started was all aspen (tall but they don't produce much shade), choke cherry, saskatoon, and small oaks. Instead of clear cutting the trees to make room, I just made paths around them, and used small existing clearings to plant my fruit trees. Instead of removing small oaks I decided to make them into Niwaki, or garden trees. Yes the oaks can be 50' tall, but I'm going to keep them at 5-6' with pruning, and give them cool artistic shapes. Same with pines, I've added them around the orchard and train the with cool bends, Niwaki is like an in ground larger bansai. The few tall aspens that might eventually block some light will be reduced like "syntropic agroforestry" style, I can keep the tree and just remove branches, pollard it down to size and add their biomass to the ground - ok we don't have bamboo or bananas here to chop and drop but it's the same idea. Most of the light in the summer is at a high angle, so dense spacing is fine and the trees can still get full sun even though they've been integrated into a forest garden. I enjoy all of your ideas about keeping the trees the shape and size you want. One day I can imagine step over espaliers around my garden paths. There's another style of training we're trying here in zone 3 called Russian artic stanza, where you train an apple tree along the ground so it can be covered up by snow for the winter and zone push.
I bought Grow a Little Fruit tree and it really gave me a great eduation on how to keep your trees small and full of fruit. Now I try to spread the word. Exciting stuff!
This naturally happened to my peach tree accidentally grown from compost. I decided to pot it up, then plant in permanently once it was a year old. The thing set heavy fruit 3rd year. It bent all the branches down and the thing is absolutely beautiful.
You are awesome. You remind me of my now-passed gardening friend who I could talk about gardening for hours. Others would not understand this passion. You are like that. Unlike you, I love ornamentals. My passion is in design and how the plant material and hardscape create a picture that is ever-changing. I'm glad I found you. Your passion is a food-source.
I NEEDED this video. I have tufts of plum trees cropping up every where in my yard. Which already has a grove of 3 huge clusters. I didn't want to but I was about to rip up all of them that were outside the "box" that I want them to grow in. You don't know how many trees you just saved! 15 in the conservative side. You also saved me from some regret because they are all between 3 and 5 years old. Now I'm looking forward to trimming them and keeping them along side my veggies. Thank you!
Been watching and loving your vids for a while now and finally bought your Grocery Row Gardening book just now :D Love your work bro, greetings from Aotearoa, New Zealand.
Oh man this gives me some wild ideas.. I love walking around in heavily wooded areas around my house and ever since I was a little kid I've seen trees while walking or hunting that grow in the wildest ways and I try to imagine how that wild growth came to be maybe it was trampled as a sapling, or rubbing caused an odd bend, or perhaps it would bend to get the best light.. After watching this video it totally confirmed for me that essentially any tree can be manipulated like the bonsai trees that became so popular when Karate Kid came out. So many ideas!
Perfect timing, for me growing in Zone 5/6 anyway!!! :) Can't thank you enough, I am super excited for this year's growing season! From trying the grocery row farming to pruning my new fruit trees, I am just so motivated and have renewed confidence, thank you so much!!!
We just got our first successful propagation of our mulberries. Also experimenting with airlayering at loquat at my wife work in the back there's a giant tree with delicious fruits
I have been trying to grow plums in my area for nearly 3 years. They kept dying and someone told me to plant them in mounds of dirt bc my water table is so high that the roots were rotting. Plus I have alot of red clay. So far they are doing good. I planted 3 like this last summer.
One more thing, which doesn't have a lot to do with pruning fruit trees, but recently you mentioned in passing that you wanted to experiment with keeping nut trees small. I don't know about other nuts (hazelnuts should work), but was just reminded that chestnuts are commonly used in coppiced woodlands in Europe. So pruning them to keep them small would probably work quite well. (I was looking up coppicing information because I have a patch of young black locusts that I'm going to coppice for tool handles, garden stakes, and a little bit of firewood.)
wow. I have mulberry trees that are in my back yard courtesy of birds and I think I might try cutting one down and growing the branches along the fence. I would be able to harvest them easier! Best idea ever!
Nice video. Coppicing works because you use the already extensively developed roots. The tree has tremendous power when coming out of dormancy, completely focussed to new growth. It can absorb tremendous amount of nutrients.
Extremely inspiring! Thanks for sharing some knowledge from your vast experience! Love this kind of video. Thanks for the book recommendations as well. Super funny outtakes🤣🤣
I just ordered 5 Dwarf Everbearing Mulberry trees from Florida and 4 Celeste Fig. The Mulberry trees are tiny but arrived in February with leaves. I put them under a 12w panel light on a tabletop garden with a failed pump timer in a strawberry planter in fresh potting soil until planting time. I planted a Brown Turkey Fig before the nightmare drought and 100+ heatwave in Louisiana last year. I have 4 cuttings from it to plant too and I`m trying 2 Pineapple Guava. On line of 8b/9a but we get single digit temps every year now sadly. By next winter I`ll have coverings and warming lights to keep my fig trees from freezing. I saved my fig tree this year by covering it in leaves and pine straw and a plastic barrel wrapped in a thermal blanket. We had such a cold spring last year that nothing normal grew...then we had decent weather for a few weeks before the heatwave.
I'm getting brave . We have two pear trees that only have two or three pears WAY up in the top that I can't reach. I'm going to cut them . They are no good the way they are so if they die I will not have lost anything. Thank you for the information. Love your book and videos.
Somewhat related; I came across how the Russians began growing citrus between 1920 and 1940. They grew their citrus in trenches 2-6ft deep and of course the entire tree would have to fit into that because once winter hit they would have to cover the trenches with wood to protect the trees from cold and snow. Keep the trees small and create a nice micro-climate for them to thrive.
A little besides the point, but we had to prune our Sour Orange tree, that thing was getting so tall, thick & bushy, plus it was nearby the neighbors, so we wouldn't want it growing over their fence. Pulled out some large stalks from the inside and made a cool walking stick with it. The wood was even soft enough to cut designs into it, made for a fun little project. Now our Sour Orange is more manageable, and even has a few flower buds on it. Hopefully gonna fruit a lot better this year.
Excellent information, David. I have five bare root fruit trees that I plan to keep small within a 10x10 mini-orchard. The trees are currently in pots until I see if they are all still alive. I plan to get them into the ground next fall and will be lopping them off as soon as I plant them. The idea makes me nervous, I'll admit, but I'm hopeful that they will all survive my tender loving care.
Excellent video sir! Thanks for the info. Can't get enough of this kind of experimenting. Also, great use of old garden hose, love it! Outtakes are hilarious.
13:55 I’ve inherited a small permaculture Forrest with my property, I swear I’ve learned more about it from your videos than I ever expected! We have lots of trees cut head high, I suspected it was for fire wood, because we have a fireplace, but we also have a lot that are simple tall dead stumps maybe 12 ft high , I figured they were left for birds or owls 🦉 to forge or nest in?
I live in zone 5 Quebec, my greenhouse have 6 foots high I put a peach tree in it I cut the tall branches and let the other branches grow and tie it on each side I love it
How far should I space my trees even if I want them small? I have a mango, fig, avocado, and lime tree that I would like to plant in the ground soon and I was thinking of doing a spacing of six feet per tree. Thank you for the tips!
Thank you for the informative video. I was wondering if you can you use full sized fruit trees for this, or should you have dwarfing root stock for this? Or are both possible?
@@davidthegood thank you! Do you know if this method can be used in cold climates too? I have been trying to find examples but not much luck so far. Not sure if it is just culture/not many people trying or if the growing season is too short for this method.
Do you suggest I cut 2 of my Asian pear trees down now? I’m waiting for their roots to be more established in their pot and will plant them in the fall. The branches are coming off the leader branch at around 6 feet right now. Do you think it’s ok to cut them at knee high? It would only be one leader branch left. Thanks in advance.
Not a day goes by that I come here and ALWAYS learn something from ya David! I wonder if this would help an avocado seedling I planted in a pot,covered it with a cut-off bottom part of a pet bottle(to protect the seed being gnawed at by roaches)and being busy in other things I wasn't aware the day it sprouted and being contained by the plastic, it grew in a loop,....after listening to ya intently, I'm thinking there is still hope for this seedling? If I'd a done this research sooner, it wouldn't be a problem to reach the higher grapefruits on our grapefruit tree.LOL🤣DTG committing bloopers at the end....and then hearing Miss Rachel laugh at the end, I lost it!🤣Thanks for sharing, and greetings👋for The Good Family from central Mexico! Btw, loved seeing ya in CJ's custom made rowboat, sturdy and water resistant and also loved Baby # 10 Cameo, squirming in her Pa's arms(itchin'to getting started herself at gardening? 😁
Last year I poorly transplanted 3 different avocados that grew from seed in my compost. In my excitement, I cut the long roots while moving these 8 inch plants, leaving barely anything for it to grow. Each time I was disappointed, and feared the worst, knowing how fickle avocados are with their roots. Yet, I gave them soil, water, and sunlight. Within two weeks I lost the leaves for each one. One of them died back, turn black. I kept them hydrated for two full months, thinking they were dead, but still holding out hope. By the third month, I began getting leaves again on two of them. The third lost that shoot, but new shoots began to spring out from the soil. Each plant survived my butchering. I couldn’t believe it! So I’m not sure if it will work for you, but at that age, I think it is possible to cut and train it as long as you give it the attention it needs.
@@anthonybc Interesting, thank you for sharing your experience, glad to hear your Avocado seedlings recuperated, hoping for the best for this Avocado seedling, its of a variety that I bought(the fruit)in the grocery store, it is called "Booth", the fruit is bigger than the common Hass variety, its skin is a shiny green color and the fruit more similar to the "criollo"(these avocados have large pits, but the flavor is good),thinking the original name here is 'Mantequilla'(Butter)that we call them.
Is it too late to cut my trees??? I planted one apple 4 years ago and it's doing terrible anyway only 1-1\2 branches have survived the winter freeze and last year I planted an apricot and crabapple...
Hi. Just caught your fruit tree pruning video. Amazing! I have just planted 2,apples, 2 pears and 1 plum. They have buds. Can I do the pruning you suggest now? Also, I planted a peach tree last fall, also full of buds. Can I prune it now?
That little boat is adorable.. did you build it? Are there plans somewhere? I'm in approximately the same grow zone as you and would LOVE to have an avocado grove. So far, two showed up and died within a week and 9 seeds have not sprouted over the whole winter. If -not giving up- is an option, and the south facing wall is more south-east and next to a 16'span of wooden barn, what would you try?.. since we're keeping them small...
@@davidthegood/videos That's what I ordered last fall.. the day they got here (2 of em) I put them in pots, in soil that said it was for avocado trees.. one had a green leaf or two that day - the other was all droopy and brownish.. neither survived the winter. *sad face*
Super thanks David. This is awesome information and learning for me, but still... loppers + tree + my arid area = fear... Also, at 16:00, did I see someone walk past with medieval weaponry?
Stupid question. I just managed to get a couple of fruit trees to add to my garden rows, but they've already broken dormancy. It's too late to prune them like a psychopath, isn't it? I have to wait till next winter? (Just getting confirmation from the expert.)
I feel so empowered I’m going to so do this with my mulberry trees and my citrus trees thank you really and my bear trees of course yes I’m going to do this thank you David the good
Who offers the "Rachael" Mulberry trees for sale? Will it grow in zone 4 or 5 ??? I'm so tired of late frosts taking out all my apples and pears. Need something better than raspberry and blackberry bushes. Need more FRUIT ! THX
New farmers get confused in thinking that fruit buds high up have more frost protection, but what is really happening is that all those branches up high are shading lower branches and fruit bud development thus it looks then like the frost hit below but that is not what is happening, thus new farmers leave the crop up higher and higher as lower branches die off. and also lack of sun to the lower tree brings in many forms of infections to the tree. in reality pruning the tree down to a easier manageable size actually will give you a better crop, I actually grow non invasive herbs like lemon balm, thyme, oregano and anis around the trunk of my trees. I do not like using herbicides , nor cloth netting or plastic as that produces a place for mice. cold crops like lettuce, or cabbage grows well between fruit tree rows, as the fruit tree shade helps with bolting. but the herbs around the stem-trunk of the trees is also a circle dirt area with the herbs as also a buffer to remind people not to get too close with grass cutting equipment. the herbs also act as a repellent as well to certain insects and moths.
There's a guy who did exactly what you are talking about. He had a whole yard full of trees he'd shaped into chairs, ladders, a car, whatever. Do you know the place I'm talking about? I think he'd opened it to the public and was charging admission.
How do you keep the squirrels from stealing your whole crop? I am SO frustrated with my peaches. The tree is 5 years old and I've NEVER gotten one peach. The squirrels took them all...small, hard, and green.
Yashua - you know Him as Jesus - was born to a virgin, turned water to wine, taught, healed the sick, raised the dead, casted out demons, walked on water, and calmed the storm, among many other things. He was killed, and three days later He rose from the dead. Forty days later He ascended into heaven where He sits at the right hand of the Father. He is returning very soon, but before He does, Satan, the devil, is coming to pretend to be Jesus. Satan is an angel, and he will have certain supernatural powers with which to try to fool everyone. He will, for example, be able to make fire come down from heaven in the sight of men. He will only be on earth a short time before the real King of Kings, Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, returns. When the real Jesus comes we will all be transformed into our spiritual bodies at the same moment. Jesus came to offer forgiveness of sins and eternal life to anyone who believes and calls on His precious name! ...the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God - Romans 3:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. - Romans 6:23 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. - John 3:16-18 Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat. But when his disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, To what purpose is this waste? For this ointment might have been sold for much, and given to the poor. When Jesus understood it, he said unto them, Why trouble ye the woman? for she hath wrought a good work upon me. For ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always. For in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial. Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her. - Matthew 26:6-13 The great day of the LORD is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly. - Zephaniah 1:14 For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. - Luke 9:56 the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. - Galatians 5:22-23 Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
I don't know if they are still doing anything with it, but at one time the Alaska Ag Extension Experiment stations were trying out various fruit trees and found that they could bend them to grow horizontally very low, which made it easier to protect them in the winter. I think they may have gotten the idea from some work being done in Siberia. It would work not only for winter protection, but also to make it easier to protect trees from pests, and from high winds.
My husband was watching this over my shoulder and asked who’s that? I said “That’s David the Good and he prunes like a psychopath” And next winter I will be too! I’m sick of trying to harvest fruit from a 20 foot tall mulberry and the figs are insane. I have paw paws, persimmons and plums from Stark Bros on the way. They need some some apical dominance action for sure hehe!
Luna moth... BEAUTIFUL. I got lucky enough to have one visit me here in a zone 4 north of Ottawa, Canada. about 3 years ago. For the tree training technique, the native Americans would use a similar method to make trail trees as markers for travelling Thanks for sharing
