11 Common Fruit Tree Planting Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them)

Planting fruit trees is an investment in the future of your yard that potentially adds to your home’s curb appeal and value. However, there are some common planting pitfalls that make fruit trees more vulnerable to pests and disease, reduce harvest yields, and even cause fruit trees to fail before they yield any fruit at all.

Whether you’re planning to add apples, pears, or another fruit tree to your property, here are some of the most common fruit tree planting mistakes to avoid.

1. Picking the Wrong Location

Planting fruit trees in overly shady spots or poorly draining soil inhibits fruiting and makes your plants more susceptible to pests, diseases, and rot. Be choosy about where you plant your home orchard, ensuring the growing conditions meet the requirements of the types of fruit trees you want to grow. It's also a good idea to get your soil tested before adding fruit trees because it may lack certain nutrients or have the wrong soil pH. Test results will indicate key soil amendments to make before planting.

2. Choosing the Wrong Trees

Some fruit trees are more cold-hardy than others, and some types of fruit trees require a certain number of “chill hours” in fall and winter to produce fruit. Planting trees that aren't adapted to your climate will inevitably end in disappointment.

If you’re in doubt about the best fruit trees for your yard, get recommendations from your local plant nursery and make sure to select fruit tree varieties that are appropriate for your hardiness zone. If you know you have ongoing pest or disease problems in your yard or neighborhood, you may also want to look for fruit tree cultivars with resistance to particular pests or plant diseases.

3. Neglecting Pollination Needs

Some fruit trees are self-pollinating, so you only need one tree to produce fruit, while others require being grown in compatible pairs or groups for pollination. Usually, nurseries specify if a tree is self-pollinating and, if it's not, which pollinators are needed.

In addition to selecting self-pollinating or compatible fruit tree combinations to ensure that your trees fruit, it also improves pollination and fruiting to grow flowering herbs and other fruit tree companion plants nearby.

4. Overcrowding Trees

Different trees need different amounts of space to grow. If fruit trees are planted too closely together, they crowd each other out and don't get enough light or nutrients to fruit abundantly. Fruit trees also potentially cause damage if they grow into power lines or their roots are planted too close to foundations, sidewalks, and other structures.

Most standard-sized fruit trees should be spaced about 20 to 25 feet away from each other and homes, but dwarf varieties can be planted closer together. Another space-saving option is to espalier fruit trees.

5. Planting Too Late

The best time to plant fruit trees is in spring or fall, when the trees are dormant and the weather is still mild. If you missed spring planting, planting fruit trees during the summer heat stresses the trees. In the fall, planting too close to your first fall frost date does not give the tree enough time to establish itself before the ground freezes.

A good rule of thumb is to get potted fruit trees in the ground at least 4 to 6 weeks before your fall frost date. In a mild winter climate where the ground does not freeze, dormant bare-root trees can be planted anytime from fall to early spring.

6. Planting Too Deeply

Fruit trees are often buried too deeply in their nursery pots, and if you plant them at the same depth or even deeper in the soil, they may rot or develop other issues. To make sure you’re planting fruit trees at the correct depth, dig your planting hole just about as deep as your tree’s root ball and approximately twice as wide. Then, scrape away a bit of the soil around the base of the trunk to reveal the “root flare” (the area where the tree trunk begins to curve outwards towards the tree’s roots). For healthy rooting, the root flare area should be located about 1 to 2 inches above the soil line. Any graft unions on the tree’s trunk should also be well above the soil line.

7. Using Too Many Soil Amendments

Mixing some compost or aged manure into your planting hole when planting new fruit trees can give the trees the boost they need to grow and fruit. However, adding too many amendments to the soil can discourage roots from growing outwards like they should to anchor the tree. Excess nutrients also make fruit tree roots more likely to rot or attract digging animals.

8. Not Pest-Proofing

Young fruit trees are more vulnerable to deer, rabbit, and rodent damage than established ones. Without pest-proofing, they may not make it through the winter. Tree guards are the best way to avoid rodent damage, while installing tall fencing is the most reliable method for keeping deer away. Repellant sprays made from garlic, capsaicin, or humanely-sourced predator urine spray may help too, but should always be combined with mechanical barriers.

9. Not Watering Enough

Many gardeners water fruit trees for the first few weeks after planting, but then significantly reduce watering or stop watering entirely. This makes it harder for root trees to establish or even causes fruit trees to drop their leaves and die back.

No matter what type of fruit tree you’re growing, newly planted trees should be watered every 2 to 3 days for a few weeks after planting, and then watered regularly during their first year or two whenever the top few inches of soil feels dry and the ground isn’t frozen.

10. Adding Too Much Mulch

Adding mulch over the soil line after planting fruit trees insulates the roots from the cold and keeps the soil moist longer. But if you pile mulch too deeply in a volcano-like mound around your tree or place the mulch directly against the trunk, your trees can rot or develop other problems.

A mulch layer of 2 to 4 inches around newly planted trees is sufficient. Leave 3 to 5 inches of space between the mulch and the trunk of young fruit trees to reduce the risk of rot and pest issues.

11. Pruning Too Much or Too Little

Pruning mature fruit trees at the right time improves their shape and potentially makes them fruit more. However, it's best to avoid pruning newly planted trees as this can cause stress and leave trees more susceptible to problems. If a young tree has damaged, diseased, or broken branches, it’s perfectly safe to prune those immediately after planting. The same applies to suckers that a young tree may develop; they can be removed at any time.