Book Review: Grow A Little Fruit Tree
Grow food on a human scale. It's the way hobbits would do it.
Ann Ralph has the secret to successful fruit trees and she wants everyone to know: prune in the summer to keep trees short.
“Yearly summer pruning is the best way to control the size of the tree.
Summer pruning just after the solstice reduces vigor, which keeps fruit trees small.”
Ralph’s book is bright, cheerful, and makes the work seem easy. She outlines why it’s better to keep fruit trees short - only as tall as you can reach - and how to do it.
Why Keep Trees Small?
A short tree is easier to manage, and limits the harvest to a size that is useful but not overwhelming.
“Pruning a small tree takes about 15 minutes, compared to the huge daunting task of taking care of a 30 foot monster.
Most people vastly overestimate how much fruit they can deal with, and how much fruit a tree will make. A 12 foot apple tree can grow 2,000 apples. You then have to deal with it all at once.”
A good height is: as tall as you can reach while standing on the ground. These trees are easier to harvest, prune, and care for when you don’t need any ladders. Plus small trees require less space, giving you more room for variety. Instead of planting one giant tree that is difficult to deal with, you could plant several trees of different types and enjoy multiple fruits and flavours.
Why So Secret? No Marketing
So why doesn’t everyone do it this way? According to Ralph: just lack of awareness. “Orchards have been pruned this way for a hundred years. It just hasn’t made the jump to backyard orchard keeping.”
Control Size By Pruning, Not By Type
Ralph is adamant that yearly summer pruning is the best way to control the size, shape, and quality of a tree; not by selecting ‘dwarf’ varieties or strange rootstock.
“Don’t buy a ‘dwarf’ or ‘semi-dwarf’ variety tree. ‘Dwarf’ simply means ‘smaller than full-sized’. But if a regular sized tree grows to 30 feet, a ‘dwarf’ variety might still grow to 25 feet tall.
Most dwarf varieties have poor roots that aren’t as big or strong. The tree won’t last as long and dies early. You want a regular, full sized root stock so it can keep the tree upright, fed, and healthy. Pruning a regular, vigorous tree is the best way to create one. The resulting tree will be shapely, healthy, fruitful, and easy to care for.”
It Starts When Planting: Make A Big First Cut
The key to success is to make a very large cut right when you first put the tree into the ground.
“The final step of planting is to make an aggressive heading cut around knee height that will lop off half or two-thirds of your new tree.
In most cases you will remove more tree than you leave behind. Your beautiful sapling will now be a knee-high stick.
It’s the hardest pruning cut you'll ever have to make. It feels difficult. Many people can’t do it. But it almost guarantees fruit tree success. Do it anyway.”
Ralph describes how the initial hard prune triggers buds that will become sturdy, low-branching limbs. These are the major fruit-supporting branches - the scaffold. This sets up the tree for a strong, healthy, 'open' shape of growth - to create a good size and shape later.
“This cut establishes a pattern of low branching, to keep the tree within reach of the pruner. This gives the tree more strength and better fruiting.”
Great Method, Tough Look
So again - why isn't this method common knowledge? According to Ralph - some combination of emotional difficulty, tree ownership, and sales.
"It’s hard even for professionals to make that cut. It’s emotionally difficult. It’s a cut that no one wants to make unless you’re growing your own trees and you really understand the consequences.
Some people may want a large tree for shade. And stubby trees would look horrifying in the nursery. It might be hard for the nursery to sell a bunch of short sticks."
The Method: Prune in the summer to control growth
Summer pruning is the best way to control the size of the fruit tree. Ralph explains how a tree reacts differently to pruning depending on the time of year, or when the cut is made in the plant's seasonal cycle.
“The summer solstice in late June [northern hemisphere] marks the midpoint of the growth cycle. Tree resources have migrated from the roots and trunk, and are stored mainly in the foliage. Solstice pruning removes these resources, which means less vigorous growth. This slows the tree down, and keeps it small.”
We can take advantage of this to create a beautiful, useful, and healthy tree. According to Ralph - as they are meant to be cared for:
“People as caretakers are essential players in any fruit tree equation. Human-sized fruit trees are a better fit for both the garden and the gardener.”
In an average season you might prune off up to 75% of the fruit!
“Unthinned fruit may be abundant and seductive, but is hard on the tree. Better for both the tree and the grower to have fewer, higher quality, better distributed fruits.”
Ralph has details on the two types of cuts and where to make them. How to have a ‘conversation’ with the tree to grow it nicely into the shape and size that you want.
Prune With Blue Masking Tape
Ralph's neat pruning trick is to mark a tree with blue-coloured masking tape (for contrast) where you plan to make a cut. You can then step back and view the tree from a distance, to see what it would look like before you make the cut.
Then Maintenance And Routine
Once the tree is planted and initially cut, growing falls into a routine:
Prune.
Thin the fruit.
Watch the water.
Remove pests and disease.
The most important rule: keep pruning.
Make architectural decisions in the winter
Take height down around the Solstice
Do a follow-up prune around late summer if needed
By year four and up - pruning shifts to maintenance.
Ralph has other chapters on choosing varieties, choosing rootstock, and how much water a tree needs. She recommends not using any soil additives, so the tree can adapt to your local soil and thrive. She has advice for each specific fruit - how to grow it and when to harvest. For example pears do best if left to ripen at room temperature after harvest (I agree!).
Positive Encouragement For A Great Future
Ralph's book is encouraging, uplifting, and forgiving - "Pruners learn by pruning. It’s hard to make a mistake."
“Too much attention to words or pictures in a guide prevents you from hearing or realizing what your tree tells you. The tree will teach you about itself, and you will become acquainted with its seasonal routines.
Your skills and knowledge increase. You become more aware of the big picture. Growing good fruit is only one benefit of growing a fruit tree.
Home gardening is an opportunity to play a role in the protection and revival of good varieties. The preservation of botanical diversity.
Small property holders with modest farms hold a stake in society and propel it forward.
When we plant trees we dream of self-reliance, freeing ourselves from pesticides and chemicals. We want to control at least some of what we eat, to plant for flavour and quality.”
Growing At A Human Scale
Pruning a short fruit tree feels like the more human-scaled way to do it. You avoid needing special equipment and tall ladders. You don't need a big crew of people. You also reduce risk of injury or falls because you're never off the ground. Goes great with a dehydrator so you can extend and preserve the harvest with low effort.
Ralph doesn’t cover the tools you need in her book, but an arborist I learned from mentioned that only needing simple tools is another advantage of having a short fruit tree. He suggested you only need two simple hand tools for all care and maintenance - a pair of pruning shears, and a short hand saw (for large branches).
It’s the way that hobbits would do it. I can only hope WrathOfGnon would be proud.
But does it work in your climate?
All of that sounds fantastic. But Ralph is based in warm sunny California. Will this method work in colder climates?
None of the gardeners in my local circle had heard of this method or used it. What I really wanted was to find an experienced local gardener who had done it for years.
The next best thing - I found a local orchard. Who knew you could create a pocket of Zone 4 climate nearby, and that it would be warm enough to grow an orchard of fruit trees!
I visited the orchard and asked questions. I also attended a fruit tree growing and pruning workshop. I met several other gardeners who grew fruit trees and kept their trees intentionally short, so that they could get fruit without having to reach or get up off the ground. They weren't following Ralph's method specifically; they just like short trees.
Finally I consulted with two local arborists. Both of them agreed that the method should work fine in Zone 3, and that the principles were sound.
So I'm Going To Try
Seems good enough! The best way to find out is to try. I am currently scoping out the best, sunniest places to plant a fruit tree or two. Hopefully I will be able to report back in a few years.
Have you tried this ‘short fruit tree’ method? I'd love to hear what zone you garden in. Good luck with your fruits.
References
Book Website (seems to be down a lot - here is a copy on archive.org)
Backyard Orchard Culture - from the nursery where the “little fruit tree” method developed