Trees, rootlets, pavers

Problem:  Small orchard - about 30+ trees - consisting of mostly apple, some peach, pear, apricot, plum, (mulberry, pecan, elderberry that are not yet mature).  Trees always start to leave out in Feb, and buds appear shortly after.  Then we always get a late frost just after all the trees bloom.  Most of the apples still produce, but only one year (in four that we've been here) have we had peaches; a handful of plums, nothing else.

My thought was to build tree wells with retaining blocks and pave much of the area between under the more tender trees in hopes that the amount of clay brick and blocks would retain enough heat to prevent the late frost loss.  I thought this would 'kill two birds' and also eliminate the need to mow and give us more patio area.  I was also going to build some planters between some of the trees.  However, I've just been reading through some other posts that mentioned the small rootlets on the trees that grow a couple times throughout the year.  My plan was to do some minimal tilling to level out some of the rough spots and put down lots of wet cardboard as a base for the pavers.  Now, I'm wondering if the pavers covering the soil would harm the small rootlets.

Below is a pic of some of the area with a couple of trees that I've already laid a block wall beneath.  (Please excuse all the mess in the photo.  This was taken when I was hardening off some of the garden plants.)

Bonnie

Unfortunately that will not help. I recommend getting cultivars that require even more chill hours, that leaf out even later. You can also get different types of fruits that leaf out later, such as grapes, hardy and fuzzy kiwi, jujube, Asian persimmons, figs, goumi, pawpaw, elderberry. There is also the usual berries (currants, gooseberry, jostaberry, seaberry, raspberry, blackberry, blueberry, etc).

I am not a big fan of the prunus sub-family, esp here on the humid east coast.

S Bengi wrote:Unfortunately that will not help. I recommend getting cultivars that require even more chill hours, that leaf out even later. You can also get different types of fruits that leaf out later, such as grapes, hardy and fuzzy kiwi, jujube, Asian persimmons, figs, goumi, pawpaw, elderberry. There is also the usual berries (currants, gooseberry, jostaberry, seaberry, raspberry, blackberry, blueberry, etc).

I am not a big fan of the prunus sub-family, esp here on the humid east coast.

Thank you for your reply.  Maybe I should clarify.  I was hoping the blocks and pavers would hold in some heat, but also need to know if they will be harmful to the rootlets that grow very near the surface.  I'm not about to take out these trees.  There are a few that I will remove and will look to replace them with better suited cultivars, but these are mature trees.  The peaches did produce a bounty crop last year, but it's common in this area that stone fruits only produce every 2 - 6 years.  The apples and pears are a different issue - coddling moths, for which I already have a plan.

Also, I'm in the arid high desert, so humidity is not an issue.  

Bonnie

While not answering the questions you have asked.... 😁

Rather than pulling a tree out that consistently blooms too soon, you may want to consider grafting a better suited variety on your existing trees. This is called topworking a tree.



With one caviate, instead of sealing the cut branches with the black stuff, I would use beeswax. The result of this method is a tree that fruits much sooner than starting over with a young tree.

Joylynn, I'm going to look into this.  It might be fun to try at any rate.  I'm not sure of the varieties I have even, they were here when we bought the property.  But, it does seem to be a challenge in this area that everyone faces, so I'm not so sure it could be the variety but simply the challenges we face here.  Thanks for sharing this video.  Very informative.

Bonnie