Here at Portland Fruit Tree Project, we LOVE fruit trees, shrubs and food-producing vines and we want to see them flourish. We offer multiple options for home orchard care, ranging from a guided do-it-yourself approach to full-service, season-long maintenance by the PFTP team. Our services help ensure that the fruit-producing plants in our area have adequate care, and people have the educational resources to act as tree stewards and increase the bounty we can all share.

Our Services

60-Minute Orchard Coaching Session

This is an opportunity to have an in-depth one-on-one walk-through of your home site with an experienced orchardist. This 60-minute session is tailored to your unique goals, site, and types of fruiting plants. During this flat rate session, we will:

• Walk you through pruning and shaping your trees/plants, identifying and treating pests, and improving overall health and yield. 

• Compile notes and recommendations from this visit and provide you with a detailed care plan that explains what needs to be done over the course of the year to your specific site.

• Provide you with meaningful information and resources so you can go on to do your own orchard maintenance.

Cost: $155 per 60 min session

Home Orchard Pruning and Care

Fruit tree care is a fair amount of work and not everyone wants to do it. If you decide that it is too much to manage on your own, we will come in and do the work for you! With our full-service orchard care, we conduct maintenance and care throughout the season to Increase your trees’ yield and overall health, decrease the amount of work needed in the future, and provide learning opportunities surrounding fruit production. 

What we offer:

• Pruning and mulching, during the winter and summer seasons for trees up to 15’

• Water sprout removal, water check-in (discussing with you what your tree will need and some options), spring thinning fruit

• Espalier care

• Pest and disease control, we provide limited services at this time

• Haul debris from site, $125

• Orchard planning and planting

• Insight from knowledgeable orchardists for any questions or issues that come up throughout the year!

Booking:

The first step is to book a site visit and consultation, during this time we create a tailored schedule for pruning and maintenance, which costs $85. 

We will come back during the appropriate season to care for your trees. Fruit tree pruning work generally occurs in the dormant winter months of January/February or during July/August.

Service Area:

We work in the Portland Metro region but do charge a bit extra for travel outside of the central Portland core. The fees below are added to each site visit.

• Zone 1: No travel fee - South of Marine Drive, East of the Willamette, North of Johnson Creek, West of 181st

• Zone 2: No travel fee - West of the Willamette to Washington Park, East of 122nd, Portsmouth - St. Johns, North of Johnson Creek

• Zone 3: $75 - South of Johnson Creek to Lower Oregon City, East of 122nd Gresham / West Troutdale/Happy Valley/ Fairview/ Wood Village

• Zone 4: $100 - Lower Oregon City/Damascus/Oak Grove/ Milwaukie / Gladstone / Lake Oswego / Hillsboro / Beaverton

• Are you further out than that? Contact us for pricing and availability.

Scholarships:

Our goal is to make these services available to everyone who needs them and we know that many people are struggling financially right now. If you are one of those people, we do not want cost to be a barrier for you to be able to successfully grow your own food. Please email treecare@portlandfruit.org for scholarship opportunities. 

Work Force Development: 

Our experienced orchardists are actively working to share these skills to new folks in the field.  We have developed a workforce training program to pass the valuable skills of fruit tree pruning and care on to young people entering the workforce, as well as existing professionals, with a focus on BIPOC individuals. Please consider the importance of fostering an inclusive environment where our participants can feel safe and respected as tradespeople.