[I enjoyed Jeff's Valentine story so much that I thought I'd stick to the theme of togetherness…for better or worse.]

A week or so ago a reader asked about the practice of planting three or four fruit trees in the same hole.  Having not heard of this before, I checked on the web and found many "how to" pages geared to home gardeners who either want a longer harvest of a particular fruit (early to late) or a mixture of different species.  Doesn't it sound just great, especially for smaller urban yards?

One of these sites has these written instructions: "Plant each grouping of 3 or 4 trees in one hole at least 12 to 15 inches apart."

Now, I'm sorry, but this is just asking for trouble down the road.  Readers of this blog know that root systems extend far past the drip line, and that roots from different trees are going to compete with one another.  You'll end up with three unhappy trees, all jostling for space and resources, just like kids in the back seat during those long car rides.

But wait! you might say.  There's research on high density tree planting, and it's been shown to increase fruit yield on a per acre basis!

Yes, in fact there is a lot of planting density research on many different species of fruit trees.  What's considered by researchers to be "high density" varies, but it rarely exceeds 2698 trees/acre (6666/ha for our international readers).  Optimal and sustainable levels of high density planting are also variable, as they depend on not only species but rootstock and the crown architecture; 1214/acre (3000/ha) might be a mid-range number.  This can be converted to a per-tree requirement of 36 sq. ft. or a 6'x6' planting area.

How does this compare to the 12-15" recommendation given earlier?  If we're generous and use the 15" recommendation, this translates to 6.25 sq. ft. per tree or 6970 trees/acre.  The 12" recommendation would lead to a whopping equivalent of 10,890 trees/acre.  (And no, it doesn't matter if you're using dwarfing rootstock or not; most of the higher densities in the literature are for dwarfing rootstocks.)

You don't have to be a math whiz to see that these densities are totally out of line with reality.  Sure, you can probably keep overcrowded trees alive with lots of water and fertilizer, but they'll be under enough chronic stress so that pests and disease might take hold, and fruit production will likely be poor.  And it's about as far from a sustainable practice as you can get.

Linda Chalker-Scott

Dr. Linda Chalker-Scott has a Ph.D. in Horticulture from Oregon State University and is an ISA certified arborist and an ASCA consulting arborist. She is WSU's Extension Urban Horticulturist and a Professor in the Department of Horticulture, and holds two affiliate associate professor positions at University of Washington. She conducts research in applied plant and soil sciences, publishing the results in scientific articles and university Extension fact sheets. Linda also is the award-winning author of five books: the horticultural myth-busting The Informed Gardener (2008) and The Informed Gardener Blooms Again (2010) from the University of Washington Press and Sustainable Landscapes and Gardens: Good Science – Practical Application (2009) from GFG Publishing, Inc., and How Plants Work: The Science Behind the Amazing Things Plants Do from Timber Press (2015). Her latest effort is an update of Art Kruckeberg's Gardening with Native Plants of the Pacific Northwest from UW Press (2019). In 2018 Linda was featured in a video series – The Science of Gardening – produced by The Great Courses. She also is one of the Garden Professors – a group of academic colleagues who educate and entertain through their blog and Facebook pages. Linda's contribution to gardeners was recognized in 2017 by the Association for Garden Communicators as the first recipient of their Cynthia Westcott Scientific Writing Award. "The Garden Professors" Facebook page - www.facebook.com/TheGardenProfessors "The Garden Professors" Facebook group - www.facebook.com/groups/GardenProfessors Books: http://www.sustainablelandscapesandgardens.com View all posts by Linda Chalker-Scott