Fruit Trees


Growing Peaches and Nectarines in Alameda

by Marla Koss The best peach I ever tasted actually came from my own backyard. In Alameda. On a tree I had planted myself, not some consecrated tree grown by a wise old soul before we lived here. It was a Bonita peach, a yellow-fleshed freestone, one of the few […]

Growing peaches

Edible Schoolyard Berkeley

Helping Our Friends

by Marla Koss January 31, 2024 The Edible Schoolyard in North Berkeley is a magical place. Twenty-five years ago Alice Waters and friends broke ground next to Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School, intent on giving students hands-on experience in the wonders of growing food and being nourished by it. […]


Pruning Fruit Trees in the Winter

by Margie Siegal People have grown fruit trees for thousands of years. In that time, careful farmers have developed techniques to help each tree be the best tree it can be. That means appropriate watering, control of bad bugs and plant diseases, adding fertilizer as appropriate, and – pruning. Pruning […]

Winter Pruning

Apple pest Orange Tortrix larva

Apple Quiz

Can You Identify These Apple Pests, Diseases or Conditions? by Marla Koss, October 26, 2023 Let’s take a quiz! (Answers are listed at the bottom of this quiz.) 1. A tell-tale sign of this serious disease afflicting many rose family trees and plants – including pome fruits – is the […]


Notes on Pruning Fruit Trees

On August 5, 2023, Marla Koss, one of ABG’s fruit tree pruning experts, demonstrated winter dormant and citrus pruning which also helped Farm2Market in Alameda at the same time. She discussed the best methods for keeping your stone fruit trees in good shape via summer pruning and other tree care […]

pruning stone summer fruit trees

Peach leaf curl

Late Spring Early Summer Resource Roundup

by Linda Carloni, Master Gardener and ABG Board Member The winter rains brought us much needed water, leading to increased water availability for agriculture and cities, a bounteous wildflower bloom, and a start to recharging our depleted groundwater. It also brought us a very severe peach leaf curl season. Peach […]


No One in Alameda Should Have to Buy Lemons in the Winter

By Jillian Saxty, ABG Project Pick Coordinator I have been running ABG’s Project Pick, with the help of many wonderful volunteers and ABG members, for over a decade and it still amazes me just how many fruit trees we have in Alameda, especially lemon trees. During the winter months, January […]

Project Pick citrus tsunami

Fruit tree pruning at Farm2Market

Why Pruning Fruit Trees is Essential and Some Tips on How to Do It

Alameda Sun, Friday, September 16, 2022 by Holly Johnson Alameda Backyard Growers (ABG) held their August educational program on site at Farm2Market, the social enterprise farm division of Alameda Point Collaborative (APC). The session, part of the group’s monthly education series, gave three dozen attendees a hands-on learning experience as […]


Help Wipe Out Citrus Disease

Alameda Sun, Wednesday, February 8, 2023 by Linda Carloni, Alameda Backyard Growers Alameda’s front and back yards contain many citrus trees. Selected lemon and mandarin orange varieties are particularly common here. Citrus trees are easy to care for, but they can be prone to insect damage on the leaves from […]

Citrus disease

Dormant Pruning

Winter Dormant Pruning – The Time is Now!

by Marla Koss By the time this newsletter reaches your inbox, Alameda will have accumulated over 600 chill hours* since November 1. This means all the following deciduous fruit trees should have their dormant (winter) pruning done by the next week or two (or ideally, already have had it), depending […]


Oak Root Fungus

by Margie Siegal I came back from a short trip and did a tour around the back yard. The Gala apple tree was drooping. I knew what it was – oak root fungus. I started soaking the tree with fungicide and clearing out the ground around the roots, but it […]

Oak Root Fungus

ABG Project Tree

Early Winter Resource Roundup

by Linda Carloni, Master Gardener and ABG Board Member The calendar is turned, and we’ve started turning the pages in our seed catalogs (or clicking online). January can be a busy month for the gardener. Two major tasks for food gardens are planning the spring and summer garden and selecting […]


Planting Bare Root Fruit Trees — January is the Time!

Alameda Sun – Thursday, January 13 2022 by Linda Carloni, Board member of Alameda Backyard Growers and Master Gardener Fruit trees can be planted in fall, winter, or spring, but only in winter are bare root trees available. Back in the day, bare root fruit trees were the only way […]

Sonoma County Master Gardeners Bare Root Tree.

Suggested fruit tree books

7 Go To Books About Fruit Trees

by Marla Koss, ABG Board member If the best part about having a fruit tree in your yard is enjoying the fruit itself, then the satisfaction of watching it thrive year after year has got to be a close second. Whether you have just one — or a half-dozen — […]


Saving Your Trees in a Time of Drought

by Birgitt Evans, Master Gardener and ABG Board Member Trees are the largest living organisms in the landscape and the most important. Trees take carbon out of the atmosphere and store it in their roots and tissues, they cool the ground and reduce the heat island effect, they slow, sink […]

watering trees in drought

Planting Bare Root Fruit Trees

by Linda Carloni, ABG Board member and Master Gardener Fruit trees are a valuable part of the food garden, and many fruit trees grow well in Alameda. Fruit trees can be planted in fall, winter or spring (summer is tricky because new trees need to be kept well-watered the first […]


Basic Tree Pruning Tips

by Alison Limoges, ABG Board member and Master Gardener Your beloved tree is too tall, too dense, too wide, or too misshapen so you want/need to prune it. Here are some basic dos, don’ts and rules to follow when pruning your tree or shrub. First and foremost, wait until the […]

winter fruit tree pruning

thinning excess fruit

Thin Excess Fruit Now to Improve This Year’s Crop

Alameda Sun, Thursday, May 14, 2020 by Marla Koss In a time of food insecurity, what could be more inviting than a tree covered in fruit? The again, sometimes the gods can be too kind. Overly generous fruit loads have a way of breaking branches and yielding small, poor-quality fruit […]


Summer Garden Wrap Up

Pulling Together a 2019 Summer Garden Wrap-Up When we went hunting for input from local gardeners for this article (September 12, 2019, Alameda Sun – see below), not only did our respondents give us good feedback on this year’s successes and disappointments in their yards, they also talked about ingenious […]

Growing tomatoes

Tips for Planting a Tree

Taken from http://cagardenweb.ucanr.edu/Landscape_Trees/ Choose a good location Consider soil quality, water quality and availability, drainage, and other conditions before selecting a planting location and the species to grow there. Determine proximity to structures, pavement, overhead lines, and underground utilities that may be damaged by growing roots. Determine how much light […]


Fruit Trees That Do Well in Alameda

While this list is certainly not meant to be all-inclusive, it does offer suggestions by your fellow Alamedans for fruit tree varieties they have found to do well and provide good quality fruit in our island soil and climate. Keep in mind that there are always special factors to consider, […]


Plants Resistant or Susceptible to Oak Root Fungus

by Robert D. Raabe Department of Environmental Science and Management University of California, Berkeley Armillaria mellea is a common disease producing fungus found in much of California . It commonly occurs naturally in roots of oaks but does not damage them unless they are weakened by other factors. When oaks […]


Selecting a Fruit Tree for Alameda

Tuesday, October 16, 2018, 7:00 – 8:30 pm Rhythmix Cultural Works, 2513 Blanding, Alameda Many fruit trees grow well in Alameda, and winter is a great time to plant a new fruit tree. Join us as Marla Koss and Birgitt Evans share their extensive knowledge and experience in raising fruit […]

Selecting a Fruit Tree

Fruit Tree Pruning

Fruit Tree Pruning Workshop

Farm2Market, Alameda Point 2600 Barbers Point Rd, Alameda, CA 10 am Birgitt Evans and Marla Koss will discuss how to prune deciduous fruit trees, and participants will have a chance to practice those skills.  Please wear garden gloves and bring pruners if you have them. The handout on summer fruit tree […]


Fruit Tree Care

with Birgitt Evans and Marla Koss of Alameda Backyard Growers May 15, 2018, 7 to 8:30 pm Rhythmix Cultural Works, 2513 Blanding Avenue, Alameda Please see their handout on fruit tree care here. Spring is here and now is the time to get ready to reward yourself with fruit tree […]

ABG Project Tree

Spring Fruit Tree Prunning

Fruit Trees 101, Part Three: Spring Tasks

by Marla Koss, Alameda Backyard Growers Board Member Alameda Sun, Thursday, April 12, 2018 As Alameda’s deciduous fruit trees have come out of dormancy, passers-by might be forgiven for having simply enjoyed the beauty of their blossoms, unaware of the dynamic little miracle advancing the tree’s true mission. In super-slow-motion […]


Fruit Trees 101: Part 2, Midwinter Chores

by Marla Koss, Alameda Backyard Growers Published in the Alameda Sun – Thursday, February 8, 2018 Here comes Valentine’s Day, that 24-hour celebration of hearts, flowers and chocolate overkill. But more than a frolic, Valentine’s Day is a handy marker on the Bay Area gardener’s calendar for midwinter chores. For […]


How to Prune Citrus Trees

When we are our picking fruit in Alameda, we notice that many backyard trees are in need of a good pruning. The ‘rule of thumb’ is that a bird should easily be able to fly through the tree. Citrus trees are, for the most part, quite resilient. You should never […]


Fruit Trees 101, Part 1: Which Tree to Plant and Where

by Marla Koss of Alameda Backyard Growers Thursday, January 11, 2018 It’s bareroot fruit tree season! Many fruit trees can be successful in Alameda if planted now, but there are pitfalls when choosing both a suitable tree and the best spot to plant it. In the spirit of Alameda Backyard […]


Asian Citris Phyllids – Inspect Your Citrus Trees Now!

The Asian citrus psyllid and huanglongbing (HLB) disease are new and frightening citrus pests. The psyllid is a tiny mottled brown insect, about the size of an aphid.  It damages citrus directly by feeding on new leaf growth. More seriously, the insect spreads the bacterium associated with HLB.  HLB can […]


Fig Propagation and Garden Tour – Jun 20

Please join ABG for a very special event, the first of our “off site” summer season.  Jasmine Tokuda, a very successful Alameda grower of fruit trees and vines, both common and rare, is opening her garden for the evening. Jasmine will describe and demonstrate her technique for propagating fig trees through […]

Jasmine Fig Propagation Demo

Fruit Tree Maintenance Alert

ABG’s April 2016 Education Meeting will focus on Spring Fruit Tree Care, but you may want to do some preventive maintenance before that meeting. Co-presenter Jasmine Tokuda recommends that fruit tree owners take some time this weekend or early in the next week to remove overwintering mulch or leaf detritus […]


Spring Fruit Tree Care

with Jasmine Tokuda and Marla Koss April 11, 2016, 6:30 – 7:30 pm Rhythmix Cultural Works, 2512 Blanding Ave., Alameda Having had a nice drink of water, are those fruit trees in your yard now blossoming?  Are you wondering what you need to do so they’ll produce for you this […]

sensory gardening

An Apple a Day, for 47 Years

Apple Picking Season Is Here. Don’t You Want More Than a McIntosh? DECORAH, Iowa — In the early spring of 1983, Dan Bussey started a file on his computer. The event would prove to be momentous in the annals of American pomology, though no one realized it at the time, […]


Selecting and Planting Fruit Trees on the Island of Alameda

with Eve Holguin, Irene Rakochy and Linda Carloni Monday, November 10, 2014 (6:30 – 7:30 PM) Rhythmix Cultural Works, 2513 Blanding Ave, Alameda, Join us for a lively discussion about selecting and planting fruit trees in our Island City. The fruit trees planted throughout our city are a tremendous legacy […]


Apple Tree Pruning

Sunday, October 20, 2013 from 1 to 3PM Many years ago in our city, forward looking residents planted fruit trees and we are enjoying the fruits of their labors today. We can give the gift of maintaining those healthy trees for current and future residents by ensuring that we are […]


Citrus Tree Pruning

Presentation by Jocelyn Bentley-Prestwich July 28, 2013 Many years ago in our city, forward looking residents planted fruit trees and we are enjoying the fruits of their labors today. We can give the gift of maintaining those healthy trees for current and future residents by ensuring that we are engaging in […]