Proper Spacing of Fruit Trees

[johnb51]

If I intend to plant the smallest varieties available and/or prune heavily to keep all of my fruit trees at about 10 to 12 feet, what do you think should be the minimum distance between trees?  I'm not necessarily looking to create a solid fruit hedge, nor am I going to plant mutiple trees in one hole, as far as I can tell.  I realize how important full sunlight is to most fruits.

[Patrick]

Picture full grown trees when planting.. Also I starting planning on how much maintenance I would want to create 15years from now.. My age then, and whether or not you have good waste removal in your community.. That you dont have to really process the debris (size requirements, bundling, limits to amount per week).  I guess the standard high density planting would be no less than about ten feet on center between trees??

[murahilin]

Do you know what types of fruit trees you will be planting?

[Patrick]

Im thinking about planting some more Mango trees and some other species in the Mango family, then three Garcinia too..  Oh you mean him not me! Ha Ha!

[johnb51]

Do you know what types of fruit trees you will be planting?

I want to include about 4 mangoes, 2 lychees, and possibly 3 avocados, and then assorted other trees (1 of each): persimmon, guava, atemoya, sugar apple, sapodilla, carambola, tangerine, jackfruit?, mamey sapote?

[jcaldeira]

Some of those trees grow to be huge, such as the jackfruit and mango, unless on dwarfing rootstock.  I don't know if you could keep a jackfruit tree at 12 feet and get any fruit.  It certainly would be an ugly tree as it matures.

Other trees naturally stay small, such as the guava.  You might consider focusing on growing the smaller trees.

To answer your question with a simplistic answer: About 3 meters (10 feet), which would mean the height and girth would be roughly the same.

John

[Patrick]

Awesome photo! Looks like a tropical paradise!! Post more pics.....

[zands]

jcaldeira
Yes please post more Fiji photos. Mangoes and lychees are grown there? Citrus?

[jcaldeira]

jcaldeira
Yes please post more Fiji photos. Mangoes and lychees are grown there? Citrus?

I will post some Fiji fruit photos in a separate thread within a week or so.  I don't want to highjack this thread.

John

[Cookie Monster]

My rule of thumb is at least 15 feet for medium sized trees (eg, mangos) and at least 10 feet for smaller trees (eg, sugar apple).

Jeff

[FlyingFoxFruits]

why not a jackfruit hedge? just plant every 5 feet, next to walk ways, and septic tank drain fields (figs are great near septic drain field to)

Intercrop with coconut if space permits, always near walk ways of course.
Be mindful of what you are planting, how it's growth habits, and where you are planting.

[Tropicdude]

With some savvy planning you could probably fit a lot of trees together, place trees, in a way that smaller varieties are in front ( facing the sun ) then progressively larger trees to the back,  you want to minimize shading for most trees,  Most Garcinias really need shade for the first few years.

In Mango plantations that use high density technique, mangoes are spaced just 6-8ft apart, and kept under 13ft high.

Another option, I was just thinking about, you could just grow everything in containers, this will allow you to move them around. and adjust the spacing, as some tree will grow faster others slower. plus container growing will dwarf most trees naturally.