Ways To Grow Fruit Bearing Plants

Growing fruit plants is not just about settling them down the ground, watering them, and anticipating for harvests. Much has to be done. It is true that plants grow on their own and bear fruits without your control, but you have to set them into the proper condition and circumstance to complete their natural processes. There are ways to do that. Whether you are keeping a big orchard or maintaining a small backyard garden, here are two ways to grow fruit bearing plants.

1. Pollination
This is a process where pollens from one plant are transferred to another plant to allow fruit production. Pollination is completed by pollinating insects such as bees. Some plants are self-fruitful, meaning they can produce fruits with pollens from their own type of cultivated variety (cultivar). Most plants, however, need to be cross-pollinated, in which case, they need to have pollens from other cultivars. Compatibility of the cultivars should be established, since some cultivars will not benefit from another set of cultivars. If you need to find information on pairing possibilities, you can ask your local nurseryman or do your own research.

It is generally effective to grow your plants with at least two cultivars. Plant them with a considerable distance from one another. You can also grow your fruit plants around your pollinating plants.

Pollination happens when the flowers are in bloom, so make sure you attract bees during this period. It would help if you use insecticide that doesn’t kill bees or grow certain plants that are naturally attractive to pollinating insects such as dandelions.

However, certain conditions that are out of your control may hamper the process of pollination. For instance, cold temperature may seriously injure flower buds and may directly affect the plant’s ability to produce fruits. If the flowers prematurely drop, the plant may not able to produce as many fruits as it normally does. Fruits may also fall off the plant prematurely.

2. Grafting
Grafting is recommended if you want to grow a cross-bred plant. It involves fusing a cut twig (scion) from one plant with another plant (stock) to produce fruits of a different variety.

You can begin grafting by cutting a scion around six to eight inches long from a compatible plant. Make sure to cut the surface in a wedge to make grafting more successful. It is ideal to get a scion during the dormant or winter season. Until you are ready for grafting, the scion should be stored in a refrigerator under a temperature of about 34 to 36 F, with its cut surfaces painted with grafting wax to prevent it from drying out.

Then, prepare the stock by cutting the part where you intend to connect the scion. Cut it in a 45 degree angle and create notches to accommodate the scion. After which, place the scion into the stock notches and fuse them together with a wound dressing. Make sure that all cut surfaces are unexposed. In other instances, you can use grafting tape to put the scion and stock together. In grafting, it is necessary that cambiums (cell layer under the bark) of the stock and the scion are blending securely. If grafting is successful, you can see new growth of sprouts in the grafting site after some time.

At the start, it is not necessary to be a garden expert. What you only need is to learn the basic ways to grow fruit bearing plants. And the rest of the gardening tasks, although will not be instantly easy, will be manageable.