When spring arrives in less than two months, apple, pomegranate and lemon trees and other varieties from the Fort Bend County Master Gardeners Fruit Tree Sale will be ready to plant.
The sale is slated for 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Feb. 12, at the Fort Bend County Fairgrounds George Pavilion, located at 4310 Texas 36 South in Rosenberg. It will have around 1,000 fruit trees and the benefit of knowledge from the county’s master gardeners.
Master Gardeners originated in Washington in the 1970s. The first Texas class started in Montgomery County in 1979 with the objective of broadening the reach of Texas A&M University’s extension horticulturist who couldn’t be everywhere to answer community members’ questions.
Volunteer gardeners have been serving Fort Bend County since 1989. Today the group has has nearly 150 certified master gardeners who have completed classroom and hands-on training and 18 associates who are working toward the certification.
A nonprofit, FBCMG focuses on educating the public about gardening and supporting the county’s agricultural extension agents. The group and its programming are supported through the fruit tree sale, a spring vegetable-herb sale of plants and a fall vegetable-herb sale. Master gardener Barbara Brannon has been running the fruit tree sale for nearly 20 years and said the group works each year to have a good sale, but making money is not the prime objective.
“We are here to educate the community. That’s what we do,” she said. “That’s why we have to do our certification. That’s why we have to do our training with our volunteers and make sure that they are trained when we have our sales so that they know the products that we’re selling.”
As FBCMG only has one greenhouse and is using most of it to prepare for the vegetable sale in March, most of the trees at the fruit tree sale come from Brazos Citrus in West Columbia. Brannon said she is very selective about choosing the right grower.
Available trees will include peach, plum, fig, blackberry, blueberry, avocado, banana, satsuma and more. There will be tropical varieties and some dwarf citrus varieties. Brannon said the tree varieties are chosen based on what will grow best in the Fort Bend area. The trees will cost from $30 to $60. The dwarf trees are some of the more expensive ones because a lot of people want them for their smaller yards, which makes them more difficult to find.
Although the sale is in February, Brannon urges customers to keep their trees protected until the winter weather breaks, typically around early March. Planting a tree at that time allows it time to establish its roots before the next winter and helps it endure the summer, she said.
Brannon said the amount of time it takes to see fruit depends on the variety. A blackberry tree planted in early March should have fruit in 35 to 45 days whereas an apple or pear tree will take a couple of years. Lemon trees usually start to bear fruit the next year.
For FBCMG president Carol Gaas, it really circles back to the education component of helping people understand that their trees need time to develop a strong root system before they can produce a crop.
Nurturing a tree takes some time and work. Brannon said it will need to be planted in a good hole and watered every couple of days for the first few weeks. As it becomes more established, the tree will require less time, but it will need watering during droughts, as well as feeding one to three times a year.
Apart from the pandemic, FBCMG provides training at libraries, garden clubs and at the civic center in Rosenberg. Currently, classes are taught over Zoom. “Growing Fruit Trees in Fort Bend County” will be held ahead of the sale from 10 to 11 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 5, and is open to the public. Those interested can learn more and register at https://tinyurl.com/2fk8s9pm.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, customers for last year’s sale preordered their trees and picked them up at a drive-thru. This year’s sale will require people to wear masks and socially distance. Brannon said she is looking forward to the live event because it will allow both customers and master gardeners to learn.
Gaas explained that in buying a fruit tree from FBCMG, a customer learns about the tree and can have confidence that it is likely to bear fruit because it was selected for growing well in the area. In addition, Brannon said the information the master gardeners give out is accurate because if they don’t know something, they will find out the right answer.
For more information about Fort Bend County Master Gardeners, its programming or the fruit tree sale, visit www.fbmg.org.
tracy.maness@hcnonline.com
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