Tree Care Services

Got a fruit tree? Need help? We got you! Let us help you learn to care for your tree, grow healthier fruit, and share it with your neighbors! We offer a range of ways to learn including classes, resource guides, and paid services that can help you make the best of your local fruit tree.

Our Services

City Fruit offers fruit-specific tree care at $89/hr (below market rate) with a one-hour minimum, or $79/hr for 5+ hours of work. This cost covers the time and expenses of our Fruit Tree Specialist — any additional funds go back to supporting our mission of harvesting and sharing quality fruit with the community. Questions? Email Julian at [email protected]!

Tree Care Assessment and Action Plan

We provide tree owners with a thorough understanding of the health of one’s trees, as well as which local factors may be influencing the productivity of the tree through an on-site consultation.

A tree assessment will examine the tree from its roots to the top of the canopy, and everything in between. From there, City Fruit's Fruit Tree Specialist will develop a simple to follow, customized action plan for a tree owner to follow in order to improve the health of the tree. The summer months are best for assessing your fruit trees when both fruit and foliage are available for analysis, but assessments can be scheduled year-round.

Pruning

We prune and train your fruit tree in order to improve its health and productivity.

Summer pruning is great for shaping and reducing the size of a tree, identifying and removing deadwood, and thinning trees which are crowded and/or overproducing. Whereas winter pruning promotes growth in young trees, provides a clear picture of an established tree's branching framework, and causes less stress in the tree. Depending what you want from your tree, we can help to determine when is best to prune. Most fruit trees require between one and two hours of pruning per visit.

While we will thoroughly clean up after pruning, we are unable to take trimmings off-site. For an extra fee, we may be able to offer chipping services in the future.

Mulching

If you provide the mulch, we can help you prepare the mulch ring and lay the mulch for you. Please be sure you have enough mulch to cover a 3-6 foot radius around your tree, as well as some cardboard or burlap sacks to suppress weed growth most effectively. For more information, go to https://www.cityfruit.org/blog/springtime-mulching.

Netting & Bagging

We will cover your tree to protect the fruit from apple maggot and codling moth using a tree net (referred to as “bee” or “hail” netting).

This is done to prevent pests such as coddling moth and apple maggot, which often damage apples and pears. For best results the tree should be netted between May and early June. Further, it is important to thin the fruitlets beforehand, leaving about 6 inches in between each one. We can also thin the fruit for you if you are unable to. Netting must be provided by the tree owner, or can be purchased from City Fruit for about $2/ft depending on the net's size and condition. For more information, check out this research article on exclusion netting or our own guide on How To Net A Fruit Tree!

Additionally, we can show you how to bag your apple or pear trees to protect them from the aforementioned pests. Depending on the type of pest(s) that are damaging your fruit, we will help determine whether you should apply footies or baggies to each individual fruit. Keep in mind that this IPM method is more time intensive and requires some patience. We often recommend that tree owners try bagging 25-50 fruitlets in their first season's attempt.

Tree Planting

We can advise on site placement and plant both bare root and potted fruit trees/vines.

Bare root trees are not stored in soil; instead, their roots are kept in damp wood chips or sawdust. The benefit of bare root trees is that once planted, their root systems adapt to the native soil more quickly and they grow prolifically. We recommend tree planting saplings in the late winter or early spring (January-March), while the tree is still dormant. If your home soil is lacking organic matter and/or proper drainage, then we recommend mixing in a soil conditioner, which we can provide for a small fee. It is also recommended to create a mulch ring around your newly planted tree and stake it for extra support.

*Services are limited to trees under 25 feet. Beyond this height, our specialist will have to make an assessment of whether the tree can be safely accessed with City Fruit’s equipment.

Fruit Tree Care Gift Card

Give the gift of tree care to the fruit tree enthusiast in your life! We offer gift cards starting at $100, which covers 1-hour of tree care services (tax included). Valid for 1-year from purchase date.

Please email [email protected] for more information!

Meet Your Fruit Tree Specialist

Julian Garcia

Where are you from?

I’m originally from San Antonio, Texas, but I spent 4 years in upstate New York for college, and 3 years in Panama during my Peace Corps service.

What’s your favorite fruit?

For sure figs! I enjoy them straight off the tree, dried, or in a jelly. The first time that I tried figs as a kid out at my grandparents’ house, I must have eaten 15 or 20 of them. My stomach wasn’t too happy then, but I still love them to this day.

What excites you most about joining City Fruit?

I am thrilled to be a part of a team that is doing everything that we can to better distribute healthy and often underutilized food to local communities. Our food system is such a complex network of resources, producers, and consumers, which makes distribution extremely challenging. I’m excited to help find effective solutions that will connect all people to the amazing fruit that grows all over Seattle.

What’s been your favorite part of the Tree Care Specialist job so far?

I have been happy as can be that I’m able to work outside and be up in trees all day long. I also really enjoy sharing my knowledge and experience with tree owners during my visits. I have always been an avid learner, so when people are interested in learning about their fruit trees, it makes me love my job even more.

What Tree Care clients have to say!

"Julian was so knowledgeable and excellent at teaching his knowledge to us so that we can continue to properly care for our peach tree. I really appreciated his easy, friendly teaching style. We would definitely recommend him to anyone looking for guidance on caring for their fruit trees."

"Mr. Garcia had the perfect mix of professionalism and friendliness. We were amazed at how much work he got done in the amount of time that he was here. We are already scheduled in February for a winter prune."

"It's a pleasure to work with Julian and City Fruit. As a senior with some physical restrictions, I'm very happy that the work can be done by someone with skills at a reasonable price while also supporting an important community resource. Well done!"

"Julian did a great job explaining to me steps to take better care of my trees and was even kind enough to give me some hands on training about how to prune my trees and espalier. I've taken a tree pruning class but nothing ties it all together better than having a pro show you how to prune your own trees."