PLAN YOUR HOME ORCHARD: SELECT THE RIGHT FRUIT !

The first step in planting fruit trees in your yard is to plan ahead. This can be fun and good planning may prevent disappointment if your fruit trees do not fair too well. In Washington, we have hundreds of tree fruits to choose from including apple, cherry, pear, peach, nectarine, plum and apricot varieties. Half the fun may be sampling the fruit varieties before selecting one to plant in your backyard.

The biggest limiting factor in your choice may be weather. Throughout Washington, we are blessed with adequate water, suitable soil, long and warm summer days, cool nights, adequate winter chilling, and a sufficiently long growing season. The length of the growing season (measured in average number of frost-free days) in Washington ranges from 90 days north of Spokane to 180 days along the Pacific Coast. As a general rule of thumb, peaches, nectarines, apricots require at least 150 frost-free days, but varieties exist that do better at either end of this range. Apple, pear and cherry varieties do well between 120 and 150 frost-free days, but they can grow apples as far North as Fairbanks, Alaska. Call your local Master Gardener program, WSU Extension office or a local nursery for advice on the best varieties for your area.

Average minimum temperature during the winter months will impact on what fruit and variety can be planted in your backyard. Apples, tart cherries and American plums are most hardy and can withstand winter temperatures as low as -30°F. Pears and European plums can usually tolerate winter temperatures down to -20°F. Sweet cherries, Japanese plums and apricots are hardy enough to survive -10° to -15°F. Peaches and nectarines are the most sensitive fruit trees and can be injured at temperatures of -8° to -12°F. Therefore, planting peaches and nectarines an area with an average minimal temperature of -15°F would be risky, may result in winter injury to that tree and yield no fruit.

Despite these limitations, homeowners can provide fruit trees with "microclimates" such as south facing exposures or heated enclosures that may allow them to grow a fruit tree where it would not grow otherwise. Right here next to the Yakima County Courthouse, we have grown a fig tree that normally would not flourish in Washington. This fig tree is planted on the south side of the building under an enclosure next to a parking lot. We don't get figs off of it every year, but that tree has survived for at least 10 years now.

Suggestion: If your climate allows it, we would recommend homeowners plant peaches, nectarines, plums or apricots not apples, cherries or pears that will require intensive labor or regular insecticide sprays to protect the fruit from codling moth and tephritid fruit flies.