How to Prepare Fruit Trees for Winter: Water, Mulch and Protection for Kansas Gardeners

With winter temperatures (presumably) on the horizon, many homeowners may soon be looking to their yards, wondering how exactly they should care for their prized fruit trees, ensuring ample production next year. Like ornamental plants, the care that should be done now rests in three areas: disease prevention, water assurance, and cold protection. Luckily, these steps are simple and can pay dividends in the long run.

Give Fruit Trees a Strong Start to Spring: Watering for Winter Survival

First, looking toward the basics, providing perennial plants with extra water at this point in the season will help to prevent them from drying out or desiccating in winter winds. In the fall, the roots of plants are actively storing water in preparation for winter. Thus, where gardeners traditionally try to supply their trees with 1 inch of water per week in the growing season, now is the time to aim for 2 inches to support adequate water storage for winter use. Of course, the caveat with this is that trees should be mature enough to store this much water, and the soil the trees are planted in should be of high enough quality to absorb it. Otherwise, providing as much as is reasonable in your particular conditions is recommended.

Mulch to Protect Roots and Retain Moisture

Considering mulch, providing perennial plants, including fruit trees, with a 3”-6” layer of wood mulch at this time of year offers several benefits. In addition to suppressing winter weeds and retaining moisture, the temperature of the soil will remain warm longer under mulch insulation, prolonging the summer heat retained within it. Gardeners protect plant roots from rapid freezing, making the process gradual and less shocking. As a result, the plant will be much less likely to succumb to any onset of winter stress.

Clean up Debris to Reduce Pests and Disease

Before mulching, however, fruit tree gardeners should take the opportunity presented in the fall to remove all plant debris from the tree or orchard area. Since fruit trees are particularly prone to pests and fungal disease, a thorough removal of fallen leaves, fallen fruit, and twigs can play a vital role in lowering populations of overwintering insect pests, insect eggs, and fungal spores. As a result, their populations will be reduced in the coming growing season, lessening the impact of the infestations on the plants.

Prevent Sunscald on Young or Smooth-Barked Trees

Gardeners should also take this time to consider action against sunscald. Sunscald is a condition that typically happens in winter and often appears on the southwest side of smooth-barked trees. It is visible on plants as long and narrow lesions of peeling bark, caused by the tree rapidly thawing and refreezing, rupturing its cells. In fruit trees, this will often happen near the grafts of the specimens, ultimately equating to graft failure that can occur later on. Various tree wraps are marketed to prevent this, all to the same relative effect. So long as the insulation they provide to a trunk can prevent rapid thawing from direct sunlight, the issue should be prevented.

Guard Against Wildlife Damage

With wraps installed, the final matter of protection may be accounting for wildlife that like to gnaw at the bases of young trees. Once more, many guards exist precisely for this purpose, and gardeners should be sure to watch product reviews when selecting one and follow proper installation instructions. Trees protected, insulated, and watered; they’ll be off to a great start in the growing season.

by Anthony Reardon, Horticulture Small Farms Agent, 2025