Caring for fruit trees

We bought a property that has some small fruit trees on it: one each of cherry, plum and peach. I've weeded around them, have put composted manure around two (and plan to for the third) and have done a good job of watering the peach (will do better next year with watering all of them).

The previous owner said the plum tree was extremely prolific.

This year, no plums, a few cherries (which birds got despite net) and reasonable number of peaches (still small and green after a long cool wet spring and early summer).

Anything else I should be doing to care for them and hopefully get more fruit?

Thanks!

Hi amac,
Here's a site with general advice on tree care:

http://www.hometips.com/diy-how-to/trees-fruit-citrus-care.html

As far as getting the trees to produce more fruit, healthy trees should put on a good crop on their own. Keep an eye on your trees and, if they put on an exceptionally heavy crop, thin it back to a reasonable amount--too much fruit can break limbs and the fruit would likely turn out smaller than normal anyway. Also, a very heavy crop one year can cause your trees to go into alternate bearing; i.e., put on a good crop one year and little or nothing the next.
I use 9-12-12 (Pennington's tomato fertilizer sold at Wal Mart) on my plum trees. This fertilizer helps the trees produce more and bigger fruit. Like you, I also use lot's of compost.
Be sure to keep the area around the base of all your fruit trees clear of leaves and debris as this will encourage over-wintering insects and disease. Down here I always clean up mulch in the fall but you may need to leave yours to protect the roots--I'm not sure since I'm so far south of you. If you do need to leave them mulched, I'd probably at least clean up any old mulch and put down fresh before winter sets in.
About those birds--some people disagree but I've had good luck using a plastic owl. Hubby put up a tee post right in the edge of the leaves of a couple of my fig trees and I perch an owl on each. I still have some brazen birds sneak in for a fig here and there but I get most of them. I do the same for my plum trees and will use them for my blueberries when they begin producing. As I said, some of the brave birds will still steal some but you will get many more plums than if you don't have an owl on duty. Hope this helps.

Thanks NatureLover1950; great tips.

You're very welcome. Hope you get lots of fruit off your trees.
Nature

hi
we should do proper care and maintenance of fruit trees.It is an easy process and will increase the quality and quantity of your harvests.

Cornell University offers this free guide to growing fruit, I highly recommend it! http://www.gardening.cornell.edu/fruit/homefruit.html I hope this helps.
Best,

John F.
My new blog on heritage fruit trees and how to RENT them!
http://heritagefruits.blogspot.com/