Why this is the ideal time to plant deciduous fruit trees
“I don’t think people who don’t grow fruit at home realise quite how much you can harvest off a single tree.”
Nine to Noon
19 July 2026
3 min read
Nine to Noon
19 July 2026
3 min read
Caption:Planted in the right place, a fruit tree pretty much looks after itself and will keep yielding good harvests, Jo McCarroll says.Photo credit:Unsplash
Now is the perfect time to move, or plant, deciduous fruit trees, says Jo McCarroll, editor of New Zealand Gardener
Pit fruit and stone fruit trees are in sleepy mode at this time of year – and the soil is easier to dig, she says
“Fruit trees are dormant until they burst into growth in spring, and you want to be planting them before they start to bud up, because that’s when they’re starting to grow again, the growth season has started, and that’s when it is more stressful to the tree to be moving it or transplanting it.”
Is this the ideal time to plant deciduous fruit trees?
Nine To Noon
A fruit tree, in the right place in your garden, is a good investment, McCarrol told RNZ’s Nine to Noon
“I don’t think people who don’t grow fruit at home realise quite how much you can harvest off a single tree
“I have a feijoa in my garden, my garden’s in Auckland, and I would harvest from that, I never weigh the harvest, but it would be in the hundreds of kilos easily. I’m often harvesting with a laundry basket.”
A gardener she featured in the latest New Zealand Gardener
issue had a sanguine peach in her Christchurch garden that gave her 250 peaches, she says
“And that’s not counting what she just threw to the chickens or put on the compost.”
At this time of year, bare root trees are available, a cheaper option that those potted up, she says
“Just while they’re dormant, they’re field-grown and lifted and you just take them home
“They don’t look like much when you buy them. They tend to look like a bit of a stick.”
But it won’t be long until they start giving you fruit, she says
“It is quicker than you think. Within a few years, you’ll be harvesting a good crop of apples. With things like berries, you can be harvesting really in the first or second year.”
Some basic research is however necessary, she says
“Whether or not the fruit tree you want to grow is going to need a pollination partner, because not all fruit trees are self-pollinating.”
Apples, pears, plums blueberries and most apricots need a pollinating partner, she says. Self-pollinating fruit includes grapes, peaches, citrus, persimmon and currants
“So just do your research before you plant, because fruit trees are expensive to buy $50 to $60 easily. I’m looking at a persimmon for my garden and they’re well over $100.”
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19 July 2026
