Anthony Mwangi tends to a healthy pawpaw plant at his home in Mwea. One or two such trees in the compound is enough for family use. Photo/File
Very few homes can accommodate a true orchard, nor would they want to. Large-scale fruit production can be pretty labor-intensive. One or two trees, however can be a great addition to the home landscape.
First, make sure that your landscape has room for a fruit tree. The planting area should have adequate sunlight and air circulation. Both are critical to maximum fruit production and reduced risk of pests and disease.
Fruit trees also prefer well-drained soil. Trees come in various sizes, based on geographic zones. Some varieties require more than one tree be planted in order to ensure pollination.
If you’ve got the space, decide what you want to grow before you start. When choosing what to plant, visit your local tree nursery and get help from the workers there.
Some nurseries specialize in selling fruit trees. You should visit these as they have a good variety of trees and the workers will help you choose the best trees for your region.
Variety
If in Nairobi, A good place to start would be the nursery opposite the Baptist church on Ngong Road near the City mortuary. They have an impressive variety of grafted fruit trees some of which bear fruit in as short a time as two and a half years.
The good thing is that the sellers know which varieties perform best in which kind of geographical zone. The seedlings go for between Sh100- 250 depending on the size.
JKUAT also have a good fruit tree nursery that is open to the public apart from several nurseries in the Limuru and Thika areas.
If you have the space for it, then go for a full-fledged orchard where you can plant a variety of fruit trees on maybe an eighth or a quarter of an acre.
For your backyard however, try not to squeeze too many trees as they need space. Just make sure that your trees are not too close to the boundary fence as they will attract unwanted intruders as the fruits mature and ripen.
Some things to consider:
- Fruit trees tend to attract bees and may drop their unpicked fruit. Neither of those are necessarily bad features, but you may want to think twice before planting fruit trees in the front yard as the fruits that drop may end up looking untidy and attract bees and flies and other pests.
- Most traditional fruit trees take several years to produce their first crop. After that you should expect fruit each season.
- Your home-grown fruit may not be as attractive as the market’s. Most people who grow fruit at home are quite happy to accept fresh-picked flavour over appearance.
- For maximum yields of quality fruit, some maintenance is involved. Pruning is especially important to fruit trees.
- Crop yield and the health of the tree itself are greatly affected by pruning, but it must be done the right way at the right time.
- Timing and techniques vary by the type of fruit you’re growing. Pick up a good book on fruit tree pruning to get the best results from your trees.
Selecting a fruit tree
There are three basic types of fruit trees to choose from:
Dwarf produces regular-sized fruit on trees 5 - 8’ tall. Dwarf trees yield a more manageable amount of fruit for home gardeners. The fruit is easy to pick and the trees are simple to care for.
Most of these are grafted and start producing fruit from the second year. They are low enough for even small kids to pick the fruits.
Semi-dwarf grows to about 15’ if not pruned or trained. The fruit yield is comparable to a standard fruit tree and you probably need a ladder to pick it.
Standard are full-sized trees like the one you climbed on when you were a kid. Because of their size and extensive root system, they can grow quite large and produce a lot of fruit.
Yield
Many fruit trees grow well because of pollination. Without pollination, there would be no fruit. Find out whether the tree you bought is cross-pollinating or self-pollinating. Many paw paws need pollination so you need male and female varieties
Cross-pollinating means another variety of the same fruit tree needs to be planted as well. Plant them within 100’ of each other to ensure pollination. The bloom periods also need to overlap to be effective.
A self-pollinating or self-fruitful tree is able to pollinate and bear fruit alone, although pollination by another variety will usually increase the fruit yield and quality.
Plant fruit trees as you would any tree or shrub. Keep adequate spacing between them to allow air to circulate - prevent pests and disease. Some out-of-the-mainstream fruits such as avocado, paw-paw, mango and banana can make interesting specimens as well as provide food.
A note on growing new plants from seed you collect from your own fruit: It’s fun (a great project for children), but don’t expect the resulting plant and fruit to be the same as the one you got the seed from.
Like any grafted or hybridised plant, when a seed is planted the resulting plant will likely show traits of both the “parent” plants.
- Achieng Odede and the Internet
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