There are quite a few products on the market designed to make it simpler or more convenient to tend fruit trees, says show host Kim Haworth. Here are a few examples: - Use fruit tree stakes, which are concentrated spikes of fertilizer, to conveniently fertilize your orchard. Before inserting the stakes in the soil, water the tree well. Then drive the spikes in along the drip line -- the soil below the outside perimeter of the leaves -- using five stakes per three inches of the tree trunk diameter.
- Most labels deteriorate in time, or the ink washes off, but copper labels last indefinitely. That's because you etch the words into the copper, and then stick the metal holder into the base of the tree as a permanent marker (figure A).
- To make a tree trunk more decorative, use an apple ring. It comes with cups, which you fill with plants after placing the ring around the base of the tree (figure B). But don't leave the ring on long enough to girdle the tree!
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