| Although the process of growing and caring for a | | | | them at least once a year they can grow as |
| tree is generally challenging and even difficult at | | | | large as thirty feet. If you are just looking for a |
| times, sometimes one of the hardest parts is | | | | good tree to provide you with plenty of delicious |
| choosing which kind you want. You have to | | | | fruit from and to keep your yard shady, a |
| choose between the many sizes, fruit, and other | | | | standard sized tree would be the perfect tree for |
| attributes. The different sizes include: dwarf, | | | | you. Standard sized fruit trees take a very long |
| semi-dwarf, and standard. Your choice can affect | | | | time to reach their full height, but they usually |
| everything about your growing experience, | | | | begin to bear fruit after only three to five years. |
| including the amount of work you have to put in | | | | The best variety of fruit tree to buy would be |
| and the amount of rewards (fruit) you will obtain. | | | | one that carries fruit and does well in your area, |
| Dwarf trees are ideal if you only have a limited | | | | because a local fruit tree takes less work and |
| amount of open space in your yard. They take | | | | grows the best. Although fruit trees bearing other, |
| up as little as only as eight-foot diameter plot of | | | | more exotic kinds of fruit may seem more |
| land. Although the dwarf fruit trees are smaller | | | | exciting, they usually won't grow as well in your |
| than the others, their fruit is just the same size | | | | area. That's not to say it's impossible. You can |
| and the shortness makes them easier to prune | | | | definitely try to grow a more exotic tree, but it |
| and harvest. Dwarf fruit trees aren't known for | | | | will take much more commitment and time. |
| living quite as long as larger fruit trees. They begin | | | | Another factor involved in deciding on a type of |
| to bear fruit after three to five years, so if you | | | | tree is what kind of soil you have, because some |
| are going to buy a dwarf fruit tree from a | | | | trees do better in damp soil while others are |
| nursery you should always check and see how old | | | | better suited for drier soil. If it rains often in your |
| it is. | | | | area you would do well to plant a plum tree. But if |
| Semi-dwarf trees are medium sized, and when | | | | you do not get very much rain you would do |
| they are full grown they take up a fifteen-foot | | | | better to plant a pear tree or an apple tree. |
| diameter. Semi-dwarf fruit tree's height can range | | | | Before choosing which type of fruit tree you |
| from as low as ten feet to as high as sixteen | | | | would like, consult your local nursery or gardening |
| feet. To keep them from getting to large you | | | | guru to find out which trees would do well in your |
| should prune them at least once a year. | | | | area. |
| Occasionally semi-dwarf fruit trees take a season | | | | Other things that you should look for while looking |
| off and produce little or no fruit, but mostly they | | | | for a fruit tree at the nursery are things like how |
| produce hundreds of fruit every year. Many | | | | sturdy it is, if all of the branches are evened out, |
| people enjoy having semi dwarf fruit trees | | | | how straight the tree stands, the condition of the |
| because they produce more fruit than a dwarf | | | | roots that support the tree, the length of the |
| tree, and they are generally easier to harvest and | | | | stem, and the height of the fruit from the ground. |
| maintain than a standard fruit tree. | | | | Making a careful and deliberate decision can mean |
| Standard sized fruit trees take up much more | | | | the difference between having the stunted fruit |
| area the then any of the smaller tree varieties, | | | | from your lopsided tree being eaten by animals all |
| and they are also harder to keep manageable and | | | | day long. |
| to harvest all of the fruit. If you do not prune | | | | |