4.2 Fruits and Tree Nuts
4.3 Stone Fruit
4.4 Fruit and Tree Nut Production Practices
4.5 Fruit Economics
Introduction to Fruit Crops
Fruit Crops
Overview
Title Image Berries Credit: Scott Bauer, United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Services; Public Domain
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Introduction
Lesson Objectives
- Identify examples of fruit crops.
- Select examples of common fruit crops from the list provided.
- Identify common uses of fruit crops.
- Select common uses of fruit crops from the list provided.
- Explain common production practices for fruit crops.
- Describe common fruit crop production practices.
- Evaluate the economic impact of fruit crops.
Key Terms
fruit crops - plants grown to produce sweet and fleshy, seed-bearing food
stone fruit - a fruit with flesh or pulp enclosing a stone (peach, plum, etc.)
Introduction
A bowl of berries is a treat for the eye, as well as a delight for the palate. But these tasty little morsels happen to be quite tricky to grow, harvest, and handle. These crops tend to have brief growing seasons and are vulnerable to insects, disease, and even birds. Fruits are considered delectable treats and bring higher cash value per acre than other crops.
Fruits and Tree Nuts
Fruit and tree nuts are defined by the United States Department of Agriculture as specialty crops. A nut is a fruit consisting of a hard or tough nutshell protecting a kernel that is usually edible. Included in the list of fruits and tree nuts are almond, apple, apricot, avocado, banana, blackberry, blueberry, breadfruit, cacao, cashew, cherimoya, cherry, chestnut (for nuts), chokeberry, citrus, coconut, coffee, cranberry, currant, date, feijoa fruit, fig, filbert (hazelnut), gooseberry, grape (including raisin), guava, kiwi, litchi, macadamia, mango, nectarine, olive, papaya, passion fruit, peach, pear, pecan, persimmon, pineapple, pistachio, plum (including prune), pomegranate, quince, raspberry, strawberry, Suriname cherry, and walnut. Many seeds from fruits are edible by humans and used in cooking, eaten raw, sprouted, or roasted as a snack food, ground to make nut butters, or pressed for oil that is used in cooking and cosmetics.
Stone Fruit
A stone fruit, also called a drupe, is a fruit with a large "stone" inside. The stone is sometimes called the seed, but that is a mistake, as the seed is inside the stone. The stones can also be called a pit. These fruits are edible and used frequently in cooking. Peaches, apricots, cherries, and plums are all considered stonefruits and are widely used in culinary dishes.
Fruit and Tree Nut Production Practices
Fruit and tree nut sites must be selected carefully to ensure they will thrive for many years. Proper site selection and preparation, as well as orchard establishment, lead to good yields for fruit and tree nuts. First, spacing is very important. Next, the amount sunlight available each day can influence plant growth. With less than 10 square feet, a small berry bush would be appropriate. With 10-to-20-square-foot area, a self-pollinating dwarf fruit tree, fig, or persimmon would be appropriate. With more than 20 square feet, a self-pollinating apple, pear, peach, or plum tree can be grown. Some species like pecan trees require as much as 70 square feet of space.
Most trees go through pollination to produce fruit so having multiple fruit trees may be necessary if self-pollination is not possible. Fruit trees that require cross-pollination need at least twice as much space to accommodate the two or more different varieties needed to get fruit set up.
Pruning for fruiting improves air circulation, increases produce quality, and develops a desirable tree shape. If a fruit or nut tree is planted in a space that’s too small, it must be pruned to contain size rather than to promote fruiting. That kind of pruning will stress the trees, making them more susceptible to insect and disease damage, and reducing the possibility of being productive.
Thinning is a process that removes a certain portion of a fruit crop to help the remaining fruit grow to an adequate size and better quality. Thinning can also increase subsequent crop yields for fruits like peaches, apples, pears, plums, and nectarines. Chemical treatments may be necessary for trees that are too large to manage.
Berries happen to be quite tricky to grow, harvest, and handle. These crops tend to have brief growing seasons and are vulnerable to insects, disease, and even birds, so Agricultural Research Service scientists have given them lots of attention.
Take strawberries. In the 1950's, ARS actually saved the strawberry industry in the Great Lakes region when they released the first varieties that could survive red stele, a root-rotting fungus. Strawberry breeding has a long history in America. ARS came up with such June-bearing favorites as Earliglow, a sweet and juicy berry with a wonderful flavor. There are berries that bear fruit from spring until well into the fall like Tribute and Tristar, which have brought new market opportunities to Northwest strawberry growers.
Fifteen years ago, blueberries were practically nonexistent in the Gulf States. But early-ripening varieties have extended highbush blueberry culture to the Deep South. Today, over 10,000 acres are grown in Dixie, with more than 4,000 acres thriving throughout Texas, Louisiana, and Alabama.
In the Pacific Northwest, where most of the United States’ red raspberries are grown, Willamette, a variety released in 1943, still accounts for 40 percent of the red raspberry acreage.
And, when USDA blackberry breeders introduced the first truly genetic thornless blackberries, Thornfree and Smoothstem, they caused a small roadside revolution. The new varieties were just what some growers needed to establish pick-your-own operations.
Fruit Economics
The U.S. fruit and tree nuts industry consists of a wide array of crops and products generating, on average, over $25 billion in farm cash receipts annually. Produced on less than 2 percent of U.S. agricultural cropland, farm cash receipts from this sector account for about 7 percent of the total receipts for all agricultural commodities and around 13 percent for all crops. Foreign markets serve as outlets for less than 20 percent of overall U.S. fruit and tree nuts supplies, while nearly half of the available supplies for domestic consumption come from imports.
Dig Deeper
https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/extension-gardener-handbook/15-tree-fruit-and-nuts
The 2020/2021 PennState Tree Fruit Production Guide is a free online resource available from PennState Extension
Mark Rieger’s Introduction to Fruit Crops is a free online resource that was developed as an online aid to the class 'Introduction to Fruit Crops' (HORT 3020) at the University of Georgia in Athens. The material is from the book that he wrote for HORT 3020 ('Introduction to Fruit Crops'), a book still used in the class today, and it is reliable as a reference for any internet-based or traditional college class.
Attributions
Title Image Berries Credit: Scott Bauer, United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Services; Public Domain
Defining "Specialty Crops": A Fact Sheet by the Congressional Research Service is in the Public Domain.
Fruit & Tree Nut Overview by the United States Department of Agriculture is in the Public Domain.
Image k7229-19 by the United States Department of Agriculture is in the Public Domain.
Nut (fruit) by Wikipedia is licensed CC BY-SA.
Stone Fruit by Wikipedia is licensed CC BY-SA.