How Close Can Fruit Trees Be Planted Together?

How close can fruit trees be planted together? It depends on how big you want your fruit trees to grow. With regular pruning you can control the height and width of your trees. Many gardeners are surprised to learn that semi-dwarf trees will grow over 20 ft tall if they are allowed to do so. If you have a small space, full dwarf fruit trees are available and will top out at about 10 feet.

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When fruit trees are planted next to each other, we recommend that they are allowed to "kiss but not hug." What this means is that the canopies should barely touch, but not grow into each other. This will maximize the amount of solar energy that each tree can collect without interfering with each other.

Fruit Trees Should Be Allowed to "Kiss, Not Hug"

So what happens when you have two trees that have been planted too close and the canopies are completely intertwined? In these situations it is important to treat the two canopies as one. Imagine the two trees only having one trunk. How would you prune that tree? Make sure you are thinning and tipping water sprouts, removing broken, dead and diseased branches, and eliminating crossing and parallel branches. If every branch on your trees are receiving sunlight and have plenty of space between each branch you will have a healthy, productive canopy.

Capture as Much Solar Energy as Possible

Thanks for Reading! If you would like to learn more about the care and pruning of fruit trees, please browse our 100+ fruit tree articles here, join our Backyard Fruit Growers Facebook Group, and take our free Fruit Tree Pruning Course. Also, please subscribe to our Fruit Pruning YouTube Channel.