Backyard orchards: a better way
The biggest mistake home gardeners can make when growing fruit trees is to adopt the practices used in commercial agriculture. A farmer’s objectives are completely different from those of a home grower.
The intention of commercial fruit growers is to produce the largest possible harvest to meet mass-market demand. They achieve this by growing large numbers of identical fruit trees, sometimes pruned low for hand-picking, sometimes grown to full size to maximise yields, since they have no shortage of space.
Having fruit trees widely spaced apart and growing to maximum size may work in large-scale commercial orchards, but that’s not the best option