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Growing stone fruits in the home garden

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Quick facts

  • Stone fruit trees need full sun to produce the most fruit.
  • Space trees 12 to 20 feet apart.
  • Plant two different, compatible varieties to ensure fruit.
  • Prune annually to maintain tree shape and a healthy, open canopy.
  • Expect to get fruit 2 to 5 years after planting if you plant a 1 or 2-year-old tree.
  • All stone fruits bloom very early in the spring. If flowers are damaged by freezing temperatures, you'll get no fruit that year, but you'll probably get fruit the following year.
Two small trees with pink blossoms in green grass.
'Newport' cherry

Apricots, cherries, peaches and plums are called stone fruits because they have large pits or stones at their centers. Stone fruit trees are easy to grow, provided you accept a few limitations in northern climates.

In Minnesota, it is important to select varieties that are hardy to Zone 4 or Zone 3. Most stone fruit varieties are very much at home in Zone 5 and higher, but there are more varieties that are proving to be hardy in colder climates.

Growing stone fruits is tricky because they bloom early in the spring. Spring is notorious for temperature fluctuations in Minnesota. A few warm days might be followed by a cold night with frost—the biggest enemy of stone fruits. The delicate flowers are easily frozen, and a whole season's worth of fruit might be lost in a single cold night.

Stone fruits pose a bit of a challenge in Minnesota, but don't worry. The trees are relatively easy to grow and manage. They may not produce fruit every year, and they may not live as long as a cold-hardy apple tree, but if you enjoy eating these fruits the weather gamble is worth it. In the years you do get fruit, you will get a lot of it.

Caring for stone fruit trees through the seasons

March: For existing trees, prune before growth begins, after the coldest weather has passed.

April, May: If last year's growth was less than 12 inches, apply compost around the base of trees. Plant bare root trees as soon as the soil can be worked. Remove tree guards.

May, June: Plant potted trees after the threat of frost has passed.

May through October: Water trees as you would any other tree in your yard, particularly during dry spells.

June, July: Cut to the ground any root suckers near the tree; they look like stout seedlings and have similar leaves to the tree.

June through August: Place netting over trees as fruit ripens to prevent bird damage. Harvest ripe fruit.

October, November: Rake and compost fallen leaves and fruit. Apply tree guards in late fall to prevent winter injury. Fence plants to protect from winter animal browsing.

November through March: Watch for animal damage. Check fencing and adjust or extend if needed. 

Choosing and buying plants

Variety tables provide hardiness, size and compatibility information for stone fruit varieties that have proven to do well in northern climates.

Remember, for most stone fruits, you will need to plant at least two trees that are compatible with each other to get fruit.

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Planting and caring for young trees

Learn how to choose a location, prepare for planting and space trees.

When planting multiple stone fruit trees, assume that the spread will be at least as great as the height. In other words, two trees with a mature height of 15-20 feet will need to be spaced at least 20 feet apart at planting.

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How to keep your stone fruit trees healthy and productive

Fertilizer, mulch and weeding

Once established, a stone fruit tree planted on a favorable site in properly prepared soil should thrive with minimal fertilization.

Nitrogen is normally the only mineral nutrient that needs to be added on an annual basis and can be added using compost.

  • After the first year, use the previous season's growth as a guide, and add compost in early spring if necessary.
  • If the shoots of a young, non-bearing stone fruit tree grew 15 inches or more in length, you do not need to fertilize.
  • For mature, bearing trees, the minimum shoot growth is 8 inches.
  • If the previous year's growth falls below these amounts, then add compost.

Never fertilize a tree exhibiting normal or vigorous growth. Too much fertilizer is more harmful than too little.

If you fertilize the lawn surrounding a stone fruit tree, take this into account when calculating the amount to be applied to the tree.

Weeding

  • For the first three to five years, grass and weeds should be removed from about a three-foot radius around the tree.
  • Grasses can deplete soil moisture rapidly and will reduce tree growth.
  • Apply a few inches of mulch around the base of a tree to help prevent weeds.
  • Keep the mulch a few inches away from the trunk to prevent rodent damage and fungal growth.

Harvesting and storing fruit

Is it ripe?

As stone fruits ripen, the flesh softens and the skin changes from green to purple, red, orange, or a combination of these colors. You may test for ripeness by giving the fruit a light squeeze. The flesh should yield to gentle thumb pressure.

The best way to determine ripeness is to taste the fruit.

Picking fruit

To harvest without harming the fruit buds for next year's crop, twist the fruit slightly while pulling. Ripe fruit usually will detach from the stem with little effort. Handle fruit gently and avoid piling fruit too deeply to prevent bruising.

Storing fruit

Refrigerate stone fruits right after harvesting in perforated plastic bags or loosely covered containers. Keep the refrigerator at a temperature of 32-40°F.

Cherries will keep 3-5 days, while plums will keep 3-5 weeks when promptly refrigerated.

Protecting trees in winter

Stone fruit trees are susceptible to trunk cracking in winter, especially when the trees are young. Often this is caused by fluctuating temperatures as the winter sun warms the bark on very cold days.

To prevent cracking:

  • Wrap the trunk with a paper or plastic trunk protector in late fall.
  • The wrap should extend from the ground to just beyond the first scaffold branch base.
  • The wrap can be removed when temperatures warm in spring.

Managing insects, wildlife and diseases

Insects

Significant insect pest damage is rare on stone fruits in home gardens, but these trees are occasionally subject to pests. Keep an eye on your trees so you notice any problems early on. If you see anything unusual (holes or scarring on fruit, deteriorating or dropped fruit, distorted or damaged leaves), there might be insect damage occurring.

  • Plum curculio is a weevil that lays its eggs in flowers shortly after petals fall, and the resulting larvae tunnel into the fruit.
  • Spotted wing drosophila is an invasive fruit fly that can be a major pest of stone fruit like cherries and plums. SWD damage can lead to brown rot disease on stone fruit.
  • Eastern and black cherry fruit fly
    • These fruit flies are only an issue in cherries.
    • Adult flies for both species are about the size of a house fly and have black banding on their wings.
    • Larvae are maggots, which are a quarter inch in size at their largest, that feed on fruit, causing it to be brown, mushy and inedible.
    • To reduce future populations, remove dropped fruit to prevent flies from completing their life cycle and returning next year.
    • The timing of insecticide treatments are challenging. Using a residual product, apply the first spray in the spring as cherry fruit flies are laying eggs and again 10 days later.

Wildlife

Birds are the main pests of stone fruits in Minnesota. They feed on maturing stone fruits, pecking holes or eating entire fruits. This is especially true for cherries.

The best protection is to net the entire plant, taking care to secure the netting both above and below the protected area.

Rodents can be a threat to stone fruit trees in winter, chewing the bark and the living tissue beneath it. Using tree guards on the trunk, enclosing the trunk in a wire-mesh cylinder and keeping mulch a few inches from the trunk will protect the tree from rodent damage.

Diseases

Disease pressure is relatively low on stone fruits in Minnesota, however occasional problems do arise.

  • Brown rot is the most serious disease of apricots, plums and tart cherries in Minnesota. It damages shoots and twigs and causes fruit to have brown bumps and shrivel.
  • Black knot causes black, rough growths to form on the branches of some apricot, cherry and plum varieties.
  • Only affecting plums, plum pocket causes unripe plums to grow up to ten times their normal size.
  • In southern Minnesota, cherry leaf spot can defoliate entire trees.
  • Trunk canker diseases can form in the trunks of tender stone fruit trees after winter injury or other injuries caused by wounds in the trunk. These diseases enter the trunks through the wounds and gradually kill the trees over several years, by cutting off water and nutrient movement through the tree. Prevent this by planting cold hardy varieties, which are more resistant to winter damage.

Pruning

The goals of pruning and training are to maximize light penetration into the tree and to maintain healthy fruiting wood.

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Authors: Emily E. Hoover, Emily S. Tepe and Doug Foulk

Reviewed in 2024

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© 2025 Regents of the University of Minnesota. All rights reserved. The University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity educator and employer. This work is supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture.