How to rejuvenate an old apple tree: pruning scheme, feeding. How to care for an old apple tree

In Europe. It is adapted to the peculiarities of the climate of the CIS countries, but this does not mean at all that it should be completely left to itself and does not require maintenance. This tree must be monitored in the same way as the rest. And it is precisely about how to care for an apple tree that we will talk in this article.

Many people think that this process is absolutely simple, but here you need to know some of the nuances. And not every summer resident knows how to care for an apple tree correctly. If you do all necessary actions, there is really nothing difficult in growing this tree.

Planting: steps and rules to be followed

Planting and caring for apple trees is not a very laborious process. But you need to clearly follow some recommendations so that the plants are comfortable, so that they fully develop. You can get an apple tree on your site using ready-made seedlings. If you plan to plant a whole apple orchard, then while the trees are still young and do not have lush crown, the gaps between them can be used for vegetables, and later - for strawberries, since they do not require a large number sunlight.

Planting seedlings

To move on to the question of how to care for an apple tree, you first need to know how to plant it correctly. It is necessary to perform this procedure in early spring- immediately after the snow melts.

Make sure that the top layer of the soil is not frozen, otherwise the planting can be delayed. Usually the best time for planting apple seedlings is April or early May.

So, let's move on to the planting process itself. First of all, we mark with pegs the places in which we will do this. It is advisable to leave at least four meters of free distance between the plants, so that each of them can fully develop. If the apple variety you are planting has a wide crown, then this distance should be equal to five meters.

After marking, you need to dig a hole for each seedling. Its depth should be 0.6 m, width and length - 0.6-0.7 m. The clay or sandy part of the soil must be folded in one direction, and the humus part - separately, in the other. If the soil in your area is infertile, then you need to enrich it with substances useful for plants, pouring two buckets of humus into each hole, a pound of phosphate fertilizers and about 60 grams of potash fertilizers. All these substances must be pre-mixed with the top layer of the excavated earth. Then we take out the seedlings from the storage area and inspect them for dried or damaged roots. If any were found, delete them. Having covered the fertilized soil at the bottom of the hole, we make a layer of ordinary soil, not saturated with fertilizers, on top. This is necessary so that the roots of the plant do not come into direct contact with the fertilizer, as this can be harmful to them. Next, you need to install the seedling over the ground in the hole so that the root collar is exactly at the level of the ground surface. If it is much lower, the plants will grow much slower and worse, but if it is higher than necessary, the roots will begin to dry out. Then we fill in the rest of the earth and compact it for better fixation of the plant.

What to do next?

Care for young apple trees just planted in the ground must be especially careful. It is on how the owner watches the plants in a given period that their further development depends. If in the early years caring for an apple tree in spring, summer and autumn is negligent, then it will simply dry out, without even beginning to bear fruit.

Caring for an old apple tree is not that difficult. The first thing to do is to be sure to water. For it, you need to prepare special rims according to the diameter of the holes in which the plants were planted. They should be about 0.15 m wide.

This is necessary so that moisture gets exactly as intended, that is, to the roots of the plant, and does not spread over the rest of the area of ​​the site. For each young apple tree for one watering, two or three buckets of water should go. After it is absorbed into the soil, it is advisable to sprinkle the hole in which the tree was planted with dry soil or humus. This is necessary so that the moisture does not evaporate longer. It is best to water the plants once every two to three weeks, but with frequent precipitation, this can be done less often.

One of the main stages of care

This is an apple tree pruning. It is necessary for all plants, but especially for young ones. Apple pruning is carried out immediately after planting it in the ground. If the conditions for the plant to take root are very favorable, which includes a sufficiently developed root system, high level soil moisture, early planting, etc., then trimming is done by only a third of the trunk. If the shoot has already branched out, then each branch should be shortened. If the conditions are not very favorable, for example, too hot and dry weather, late boarding into the ground, then the pruning must be done thoroughly - up to half of the entire shoot.

An adult apple tree also needs to be pruned - this is necessary for better growth and the formation of a beautiful crown. In this case, first of all, it is necessary to get rid of the hanging parts of the lower branches. Then the uppermost branches should be shortened, with the exception of those that are directed to the sides. Thus, we reduce the height of the tree and form a more lush and free crown, which is necessary in order for all branches to receive a sufficient amount of light.

When and how best to fertilize?

Continuing the conversation about how to care for an apple tree, let's move on to a very important topic - about fertilizers. They are of two types - mineral and organic. The former are also subdivided into two main subtypes - potassium and phosphate. Caring for an apple tree involves the use of both types of fertilizers. If you, following the instructions, enriched the soil with useful substances during planting, then for the next few years you will no longer need to do this. However, if for some reason you did not fulfill this condition, then fertilization can be applied already in the first year of plant development. Enrichment of the soil with minerals and other useful chemical compounds- one of the stages that includes caring for an apple tree in the fall, since it is best to do this at this particular time of the year. One square meter of soil will need the following ingredients:

  • 0.02 kg of ammonium nitrate;
  • the same amount of potassium salt;
  • 2-3 kg of humus;
  • 0.05-0.06 kg of phosphate fertilizers.

Fertilizers should be embedded in the soil to a depth of about 0.01 m around the trunk and about 0.02 m in those places where the root system of the apple tree does not lie. This procedure is not carried out every year, but every two or three.

Autumn digging of row spacings

This is one of critical milestones apple tree care. This procedure should be carried out every year. During digging, organic and phosphate-potassium fertilizers must be added to the soil to compensate for the lack of nutrients in the autumn.

Mulching

Do this before the onset of frost. For this procedure, compost, humus and peat are used. It is brought into the ground around the tree trunk.

Watering adult apple trees

We have already considered how to carry out this procedure in the case of seedlings, now we will talk about trees that are more than two years old. Watering is the main component. Such care of the apple tree is especially important in summer, since it is this season of the year that is the driest and hottest, which is not particularly favorable for plants (and not only for apple trees).

A tree two to three years old should be watered frequently, but in small portions. The first time this is done, as a rule, in early June. Water should be consumed, focusing on the number 4 buckets per 1 square meter of soil. The area to be moistened is calculated by looking at the crown, that is, all the ground under it must be watered. The procedure should be repeated every fifteen to twenty days. For more effective moistening of the root system of the plant, it is advisable to loosen the soil around the trunk before watering.

An apple tree that is more than three years old should not be watered so often, as this can lead to a reduction in yield. It is enough to water it once a month, but in large portions. In this case, you need to spend about 40-42 buckets of water per tree.

Caring for a columnar apple tree

Due to the structural features of such trees, they can be planted at a distance of 0.3-0.4 m from each other. Between the rows it is necessary to leave from 1 m. All stages of caring for such an apple tree differ from those that can be used in the case of an ordinary one. This is due to the anatomical features of this type of trees, which must be taken into account when growing them in order to achieve good results and an intensive harvest.

Tinning

This is a special type of care that is characteristic of columnar apple trees. It lies in the fact that cereals are sown around the trees, or different kinds spices (lemon balm, dill, which, by the way, can also protect from pests), and then periodically carefully mow them. Such a procedure is necessary for plants because their root system is very close to the surface. It is not pivotal, that is, there is no main root in it that goes deep into the soil. Because of this, the roots can easily be damaged by external influences onto the ground above them. And due to tinning, this possibility is much reduced. In addition, mulching can be used for the same purpose.

Pruning a columnar apple tree

It has its own characteristics and differences from a similar procedure in the case of ordinary varieties. Trimming is carried out only on lateral branches, which are already available in very small quantities. It is impossible to violate the main trunk, as this can lead to regrowth more side branches - and the columnar apple tree will no longer look like that. This operation should be carried out as follows. The side branch is cut so that three to four buds remain. In this case, she will give about three shoots. But in the first year, it is only cut for two buds. Then, in the second year of the plant's life, that lateral shoot that is farther from the trunk must also be shortened by two buds. The first one, which you did not touch, this year will already begin to bear fruit. The next spring, it needs to be removed completely. And the remaining branches that have not yet yielded fruit should also be cut into two buds.

Protecting apple trees from rodents

For this, the plants are whitewashed. It is imperative to carry out this procedure in the case of young trees (four to five years old), the bark of which has not yet become coarse. Freshly planted apple trees are whitewashed with chalk solution. Older trees can be whitewashed with lime mortar if necessary. You need to prepare it as follows: add two kilograms of clay and twenty liters of water to six kilograms of freshly slaked lime. In addition, two hundred grams of preheated wood glue and a kilogram of copper sulfate can be added to the solution.

Pests and diseases of apple trees

The most important stage in caring for any plant is its treatment, as well as the prevention of possible diseases. The most common pests: eastern moth, green apple aphid, hawthorn. The first one looks like a brown-red caterpillar, about 1.3 cm in size. Its butterfly has a wingspan of 1.5 cm. The front wings are brown with gray, and the back ones are solid gray. Apple aphid is a small insect about three millimeters in size.

Hawthorn caterpillars are approximately five centimeters long and are dark in color with orange and black longitudinal stripes. Their butterflies are also quite large. Their wingspan is about seven centimeters. The veins on the light winglets are clearly visible. All of these insects can be fought with various insecticides. Spraying is also carried out for prophylaxis.

What if the apple tree bent over?

In the event that under the action strong winds the apple tree bends in one direction, many think that it is already impossible to fix it. But this is not true. What to do to make the tree even again? It is necessary to drive a stake into the ground from the side opposite to the one into which the apple tree bent, gently pull the tree up to it and tie it. You can also put a support on the side into which the apple tree bent. Of course, in one day the tree will not become even, this requires at least three years, after which it will already be possible to remove the support.

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Apple tree care in July

Planting: steps and rules to be followed

Also, do not get too carried away with varieties of foreign selection, they are often not adapted to our harsh climatic conditions, they get sick for a long time, or even freeze in the first winter.

Planting seedlings

You also need to pay Special attention top. There the bud should ripen every year, due to this process the tree will gradually grow in height. If several shoots have formed at the top, and even all with buds, then choose the most powerful one, remove the rest. You can leave more, then over time you will have an apple pole with a miniature crown, but it will also require further care.
So, the goals that gardeners pursue through pruning apple trees are many. This, of course, helps a lot to form the crown of the shape you need, so that it is more convenient to harvest or just harmoniously complement the design of the site. This also affects the height of the tree, especially if you start pruning apple trees in the early years of its growth. In addition, it will help strengthen young shoots, thereby laying the tree's health for life.

It is best to buy seedlings with an open root system when the soil is ready for digging. It is not recommended to store them without soil for a long time. Wrap the roots with a damp cloth, put in a bag and store in a dark, cool place, such as a basement, but no more than 3-4 days. You can plant an apple tree in the garden as soon as you can stick a shovel into the ground. At this time, the earth has already thawed, and its moisture makes it possible for the seedling to receive as much water as it needs.

After watering, it is advisable to loosen the soil shallowly - this prevents the formation of a crust on the soil.

What to do next?

In early - mid-March, after the snow melts, inspect the lower part of the trunk. If there are signs of damage by rodents, urgent action must be taken. It is enough to cover superficial damage with garden varnish. If the bark is eaten on a “ring” right up to the wood, inoculate with a bridge, using the maximum number of cuttings.
An apple tree that is more than three years old should not be watered so often, as this can lead to a reduction in yield. It is enough to water it once a month, but in large portions. In this case, you need to spend about 40-42 buckets of water per tree.

One of the main stages of care

An adult apple tree also needs to be pruned - this is necessary for better growth and the formation of a beautiful crown. In this case, first of all, it is necessary to get rid of the hanging parts of the lower branches. Then the uppermost branches should be shortened, with the exception of those that are directed to the sides. Thus, we reduce the height of the tree and form a more lush and free crown, which is necessary in order for all branches to receive a sufficient amount of light.

The apple tree is one of the most common garden trees in Europe. It is adapted to the peculiarities of the climate of the CIS countries, but this does not mean at all that it should be completely left to itself and does not require maintenance. This tree must be monitored in the same way as the rest. And it is precisely about how to care for an apple tree that we will talk in this article.

When and how best to fertilize?

May also consist of foliar dressing to increase the vitality of the tree. They are used with abundant fruiting, freezing of the apple tree, or when signs of a lack of any element are clearly visible.

  • You can get enviable apple yields if you pay attention to the soil cover of the garden, fertilizers and fertilizing, timely pruning and crown formation.
  • A garden in which an apple tree does not grow cannot be called complete. Every self-respecting summer resident grows several varieties of apple trees on his garden plot. We are ready to fight for a clean and healthy apple harvest almost all year round.
  • If the task is to prune old apple trees, for example, you got a plot from the previous owners with a completely unkempt garden, then slightly different goals are pursued. This can thin out the crown and allow more sunlight to reach the remaining branches to increase the quality and quantity of fruit. Of course, renewal is important for an old tree, because "decrepit" branches are not able to give a healthy and bountiful harvest... And of course autumn pruning prepares apple trees for the winter, so that in the spring they actively form high-quality flower stalks, and then fruits.
  • A seedling with a closed root system can be stored for several weeks or even months before planting in the garden. It is enough just to regularly water the container with the seedling.

To maintain soil moisture, you can mulch the trunk circle with straw or peat, but not with sawdust - this material increases the acidity of the soil. Do not lay mulch around trees in a thick layer, leaning it against the trunk. They can start there harmful insects and mice, a thick layer of mulch remains wet for a long time, and the bark can begin to undermine, and this will lead to infection of the tree with fungal diseases.

Autumn digging of row spacings

The second spraying is done after flowering, when the fruit ovaries become noticeable. At this moment, a new wave of insect activation and the maturation of spores of harmful fungi begin. It is undesirable to use highly toxic drugs, it is better to use bacterial ones: "Lepidocid", "Bitoxibacillin" or "Fito-Verm" and "Akarin".

Mulching

In winter, the bark of the apple tree is damaged by frost. This manifests itself in the form of brown spots, sometimes the damaged bark bursts and separates from the wood. In early spring, cut off the edges of the bark that have come off the trunk and cover the cuts with pitch. If the damage is not very extensive, then over time, the wound will heal completely. In case of severe damage, when the detached part occupies half or more of the trunk diameter, inoculate with a bridge. Use cuttings from a damaged tree or taken from other frost-resistant varieties, for example, from Antonovka.

Watering adult apple trees

Due to the structural features of such trees, they can be planted at a distance of 0.3-0.4 m from each other. Between the rows it is necessary to leave from 1 m. All stages of caring for such an apple tree differ from those that can be used in the case of an ordinary one. This is due to the anatomical features of this type of tree, which must be taken into account when growing them in order to achieve good results and an intensive harvest.

Continuing the conversation about how to care for an apple tree, let's move on to a very important topic - about fertilizers. They are of two types - mineral and organic. The former are also subdivided into two main subtypes - potassium and phosphate. Caring for an apple tree involves the use of both types of fertilizers. If you, following the instructions, enriched the soil with useful substances during planting, then for the next few years you no longer need to do this. However, if for some reason you did not fulfill this condition, then fertilization can be applied already in the first year of plant development. Enriching the soil with minerals and other useful chemical compounds is one of the stages that includes caring for an apple tree in the fall, since it is best to do this at this time of the year. One square meter of soil will need the following ingredients:

Many people think that this process is absolutely simple, but here you need to know some of the nuances. And not every summer resident knows how to care for an apple tree correctly. If you follow all the necessary steps, there is really nothing difficult in growing this tree.

Caring for a columnar apple tree

The bark and leaves are able to quickly absorb nutrients that contribute to the life of the plant. Such spraying has a better effect on the growing season of the apple tree, since the tree gets the maximum required amount microelements. Keep in mind that in dry weather the concentration of solutions is slightly weaker to avoid burns. The lower plate of leaves is most susceptible to foliar dressing.

Tinning

Apple tree care in summer

Pruning a columnar apple tree

Apple trees, care

Protecting apple trees from rodents

If apple trees are planted in spring so that sap flow promotes survival, then pruning can be carried out every season. We have already discussed the winter event, temperature is very important for it. In the summer, there will be little benefit from this action, except that you desperately need to increase the access of solar energy to growing fruits. But spring and autumn are the most suitable periods of time, but also not always.

Pests and diseases of apple trees

If frost is possible, spray the tree crowns with a spray hose the night before so that the water droplets cover all the leaves abundantly. If you can do this, it is best to continue sprinkling until dawn. Water drops, freezing, will give their warmth to the leaves. This method works only in calm weather. In the presence of wind, sprinkling is absolutely impossible to do - in this case, it gives the opposite effect. If the kidneys have not yet opened, then a decrease in temperature practically does not cause any tangible harm.

What if the apple tree bent over?

Spray trees in dry weather.

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Apple tree care in spring

How to care for an apple tree in spring

You can start pruning the apple tree in March, when the air temperature does not drop below -10 ° C, and continue until a green cone appears at the buds (in April).

Whitewashing the apple tree trunk

This is a special type of care that is typical for columnar apple trees. It consists in sowing cereals or all sorts of spices around the trees (lemon balm, dill, which, by the way, can also protect from pests), and then periodically carefully mow them. Such a procedure is necessary for plants because their root system is very close to the surface. It is not pivotal, that is, there is no main root in it that goes deep into the soil. Because of this, the roots can easily suffer from external influences on the soil above them. And due to tinning, this possibility is much reduced. In addition, mulching can be used for the same purpose.

0.02 kg of ammonium nitrate;

Winter damage treatment

Planting and caring for apple trees is not a very laborious process. But you need to clearly follow some recommendations so that the plants are comfortable, so that they fully develop. You can get an apple tree on your site using ready-made seedlings. If you plan to plant a whole apple orchard, then, while the trees are still young and do not have a lush crown, the gaps between them can be used for vegetables, and later for strawberries, since they do not require a lot of sunlight.

Autumn brings new concerns and requires careful preparation for the successful wintering of trees.

Spring pruning of apple trees

Especially important. Everyone uses the aisles in the garden differently: someone welcomes the "black steam" method, another sows lawn grass, or vegetable crops... All this is good, beautiful and comfortable, but because of them trees do not receive mineral nutrition and moisture. The fact that there should be no weeds in the near-trunk strip, I think, is known to everyone.

Which is carried out according to all the rules, will bear fruit annually and are unlikely to switch to periodic fruiting. By the way, non-annual fruiting is the scourge of modern amateur gardeners. Agree, everyone is familiar with this phenomenon.

So, such care for apple trees in the spring should be carried out even before the juice moves. Determining such a time is quite simple - there should not even be a hint of kidneys yet. At this time, you can find old, diseased and frozen branches, and they must be removed. In autumn, it is important to wait for the leaves to fall and remove dry and cracked bitches from the tree. But you should not do pruning if the first frosts have passed.

It is believed that such a primordially Russian fruit as an apple is very unpretentious, and the tree does not require maintenance at all. Perhaps this is so, but only in comparison with the more exotic breeds on our site. By itself, this culture requires care, then the fruits will be larger, juicier and, oddly enough, more often. Although it is believed that the tree bears fruit once every two years, this is not always the case. Coincidences with such a schedule only happen if the weather or insects make their own adjustments. Caring for apple trees consists of several activities, but now we will consider whether it is worth pruning them, and when it should be done.

Way to protect blooming garden- is to make smoke. Put heaps of sawdust, fallen leaves, grass, peat around the stake driven into the ground. Sprinkle a pile of damp earth on top. In the evening before the frost, remove the stake, and set the bunch on fire. The stake hole will serve as a chimney. A pile with a diameter of 1.5 meters and a height of 50 cm is capable of protecting one hundred square meters of a garden area for one night.

For potent drugs systemic action, such as "Skor", "Horus", "Aktelik", 4-5 hours are enough for their effect to manifest. As a rule, two spring treatments strong preparations are enough to keep the garden healthy for the whole season.

Treatment of the garden from diseases and pests in the spring

In young trees, a crown is formed, paying special attention to strengthening the skeletal branches of the first and second order.

It has its own characteristics and differences from a similar procedure in the case of ordinary varieties. Trimming is carried out only on lateral branches, which are already available in very small quantities. It is impossible to violate the main trunk, as this can lead to the regrowth of a larger number of lateral branches - and the columnar apple tree will no longer look like that. This operation should be carried out as follows. The side branch is cut so that three to four buds remain. In this case, she will give about three shoots. But in the first year, it is only cut for two buds. Then, in the second year of the plant's life, that lateral shoot that is farther from the trunk must also be shortened by two buds. The first one, which you did not touch, this year will already begin to bear fruit. The next spring, it needs to be removed completely. And the remaining branches that have not yet yielded fruit should also be cut into two buds.

The same amount of potassium salt;

To move on to the question of how to care for an apple tree, you first need to know how to plant it correctly. It is necessary to perform this procedure in early spring - immediately after the snow melts.

Apple tree care in autumn

Well-formed crown and spring pruning young apple trees from 4-5 years of age will provide you with excellent apple harvests. It is during this period that the illumination of the crown is deteriorating, which is facilitated by the shoots that have grown over the summer. As a result interior the crown is bare, and it begins to grow only along the periphery. At the same time, an excess of fertilizers (especially nitrogen) leads to the underdevelopment of the fruit wood, and the fruits are tied only along the edge of the crown. It turns out that the tree gives a mediocre harvest in one year, and rests for the next two or three years.

At optimal

Grafting apple trees

Let's discuss the basic principles of pruning. The first to be removed are those bitches that are no longer of even the slightest interest to the gardener, these are dry and broken ones. Next, we look through the tree and look for places of dense population, of the very closely spaced branches we leave the strongest. Further, 100% of the execution are subject to straight knots like a string, growing at an acute angle. We coat all sections with paint or garden varnish, and burn the resulting waste or take it to a far-away landfill.

In May, when the leaves have already blossomed and intensive sap flow has begun, you can graft new varieties into the crown of your apple trees. Vaccinations can be done until the end of May with cuttings stocked up from winter. The success of such operations at this time reaches more than 90%.

During pruning, shoots are removed, which can obscure the branches formed in previous years from the sun and departing at an acute angle from the trunk. The distance between the skeletal branches of the first order should be at least 40-70 cm. The branches of the second order are cut so that they remain looking to the sides and slightly up. In old trees, dry branches are cut first.

For this, the plants are whitewashed. It is imperative to carry out this procedure in the case of young trees (four to five years old), the bark of which has not yet become coarse. Freshly planted apple trees are whitewashed with chalk solution. Older trees can be whitewashed with lime mortar if necessary. You need to prepare it as follows: add two kilograms of clay and twenty liters of water to six kilograms of freshly slaked lime. In addition, two hundred grams of preheated wood glue can be added to the solution, and a kilogram copper sulfate.​

Watering, loosening the apple tree trunk circle, mulching

2-3 kg of humus;

Make sure that the top layer of the soil is not frozen, otherwise the planting can be delayed. Usually the best time to plant apple seedlings is April or early May.

- this is, first of all, harvesting, the destruction of pests hiding for the winter, whitewashing of trees and protective shelters. Apples for winter storage carefully collected by hand, being careful not to damage the skin. It is best to do this in cloth gloves, so you will not damage the matte bactericidal coating on the fruit, and it depends on it how long the fruit can be stored.

Protecting the apple tree from frost

The lack of fertilizers also leads to the formation of defective fruit wood, flower buds predominate on short annual shoots. Rescue measures

Caring for young apple trees

Let's say a few words about some of the features.

Winter garden maintenance

Apple tree transplant in spring

Fertilization

If the tree is taller than 4-4.5 m, its height is reduced. Define optimal height tree is possible by standing on the upper platform of the ladder (8 steps) and stretching your hand up. At this height, the tree is convenient to treat with chemicals from pests and harvest.

The most important stage in caring for any plant is its treatment, as well as the prevention of possible diseases. The most common pests: eastern moth, green apple aphid, hawthorn. The first one looks like a brown-red caterpillar, about 1.3 cm in size. Its butterfly has a wingspan of 1.5 cm. The front wings are brown with gray, and the back ones are solid gray. The apple aphid is a small insect about three millimeters in size.

0.05-0.06 kg of phosphate fertilizers.

Spring purchase of seedlings

So, let's move on to the planting process itself. First of all, we mark with pegs the places in which we will do this. It is advisable to leave at least four meters of free distance between the plants, so that each of them can fully develop. If the apple variety you are planting has a wide crown, then this distance should be equal to five meters.

After leaf fall, most of the pests hide under withered foliage, in the damaged bark of trees. Tidying up your garden - cleaning up fallen leaves, pruning damaged branches, whitewashing - will make your garden cleaner and healthier. In

Apple trees - care, pruning.

vsaduidoma.com

Pruning apple trees in the fall - a dogma or shall we try to challenge it?

Pruning as caring for apple trees

, They form flower buds for the future harvest every season, but at 5-6 years they still switch to periodic fruiting. One of the reasons is the cultivation of non-zoned varieties in your garden. For example, some old-breeding apple trees are very difficult to get to bear fruit annually. These are summer varieties of apple trees

  • If you are stripping an apple tree in the first year of its life, then do not get carried away, the so-called weak degree of pruning is suitable here.
  • Apple tree care in spring
  • It is better to replant trees in the spring before the leaves bloom - then the root system is better restored. Before digging, you need to shed plenty of soil in an area equal to the projection of the crown.

Apple trees should not be fed by simply spreading fertilizer over the surface. They will either be used by grass or washed off melt water... It is also not necessary to spread the manure on top of the snow cover. Such an operation will only reduce the rate of snow melting.

When the crown is reduced, they begin to thin it out. The same principle applies here as when forming young tree- all main branches should have sufficient distance between themselves, and the upper branches should not obscure the lower ones.

Hawthorn caterpillars are approximately five centimeters long and are dark in color with orange and black longitudinal stripes. Their butterflies are also quite large. Their wingspan is about seven centimeters. The veins on the light winglets are clearly visible. All of these insects can be fought with various insecticides. Spraying is also carried out for prophylaxis.

Fertilizers should be embedded in the soil to a depth of about 0.01 m around the trunk and about 0.02 m in those places where the root system of the apple tree does not lie. This procedure is not carried out every year, but every two or three.

Is pruning of apple trees really necessary?

After marking, you need to dig a hole for each seedling. Its depth should be 0.6 m, width and length - 0.6-0.7 m. The clay or sandy part of the soil should be folded in one direction, and the humus part - separately, in the other. If the soil in your area is infertile, then you need to enrich it with substances useful for plants, pouring two buckets of humus into each hole, a pound of phosphate fertilizers and about 60 grams of potash fertilizers. All these substances must be pre-mixed with the top layer of the excavated earth. Then we take out the seedlings from the storage area and inspect them for dried or damaged roots. If any were found, delete them. Having covered the fertilized soil at the bottom of the hole, we make a layer of ordinary soil, not saturated with fertilizers, on top. This is necessary so that the roots of the plant do not come into direct contact with the fertilizer, as this can be harmful to them. Next, you need to install the seedling over the ground in the hole so that the root collar is exactly at the level of the ground surface. If it is much lower, the plants will grow much slower and worse, but if it is higher than necessary, the roots will begin to dry out. Then we fill in the rest of the earth and compact it for better fixation of the plant.

Caring for apple trees in autumn

Pruning all year round or which season do you prefer?

The next year after the harvest

Pears, Arcades, Robins;

Trimming features - how to avoid mistakes?

... Its task is only in the formation of the crown, therefore, in the fall, young branches are cut by ¼ so that in the spring they begin to branch. Here, gardeners also do not advise rushing to smearing the cut, it is desirable to wait about a day, but this does not apply to old branches.

We recommend that you familiarize yourself with a tree under the age of 3 years to dig up and replant quite easily, but it will lose part of the root system. However, with a quick transplant to another place, abundant watering and fairly strong pruning, it will survive and recover over time.In April, it is better to apply fertilizers into the soil under the sod layer to a depth of 20-25 cm, piercing the ground around the crown perimeter with a crowbar or digging holes. Approximately a handful of complex granular fertilizer is poured into each groove and covered with earth on top. Such feeding is enough for 2-3 years. You can add 500 g of urea or 5 buckets of humus to the trunk circle. Additional feeding of the fruit tree is necessary in the case of severely depleted soil, for example, when planting a garden on sandy soils or drained swamps. Usually, the fertilizer added to the planting hole is enough for a fruit tree for a long time.

In the case when, under the influence of strong winds, the apple tree bends in one direction, many people think that it is no longer possible to fix it. But this is not true. What to do to make the tree even again? It is necessary to drive a stake into the ground from the side opposite to the one into which the apple tree bent, gently pull the tree up to it and tie it. You can also put a support on the side into which the apple tree bent. Of course, in one day the tree will not become even, this requires at least three years, after which it will already be possible to remove the support. This is one of the most important steps in apple tree care. This procedure should be carried out every year. During digging, organic and phosphate-potassium fertilizers must be added to the soil to compensate for the lack of nutrients in the autumn. Care for young apple trees just planted in the ground must be especially careful. It is on how the owner watches the plants in a given period that their further development depends. If in the early years caring for an apple tree in spring, summer and autumn is negligent, then it will simply dry out, without even beginning to bear fruit.

Whitewashing of trunks and skeletal branches with lime is of great importance. However, do not whitewash young trees under 5 years old with smooth bark. Before processing, it is advisable to walk along the trunk with a metal brush to remove dead areas of the bark. Pests can hide under it, so lay around the trunk what you will not mind burning later.

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Apple trees: care in summer and autumn. Apple tree pruning

Caring for old apple trees Autumn When the tree is over 5 years old, you can carry out a medium cleanup. Here adult strong branches are shortened by 1/3. And if your mature tree is very dense, then heavy pruning will do. Then you will have to selectively remove up to half of the branch. If you are removing non-viable old knots, then do not chop to the very bottom, leave a small stump and gash it towards the branch from which it once grew.

You may often hear that pruning apple trees in winter is okay. Although most do not trust such advice, it is really possible, however, there is a significant risk of harm, so you should very carefully choose the time for the operation. But on the other hand, in the case of a successful choice of conditions, it will be many times more convenient for you to carry out pruning, because there are no leaves that hide the real picture of the crown being formed. Also, pruning apple trees in winter excludes infection of bare areas with fungus. It is more difficult to transplant older trees (4-6 years old), because you need to keep as many roots as possible. If you observe a suppression of crown development, at the beginning of flowering, dissolve in a barrel of water 300 g of potassium sulfate, 1 kg of superphosphate, 10 liters of mullein, insist for a week and water the trees at the rate of 40-50 liters per tree. In March, as soon as thawed patches begin to appear around the trees, it is time to install glue trapping belts on the boles to protect against crawling wintering pests. This protective measure helps especially well against the flower beetle weevil. The belt should fit snugly against the trunk of the tree to keep insects out. Apple tree care does not stop all year round. But most things need to be planned for the spring. Do this before the onset of frost. For this procedure, compost, humus and peat are used. It is brought into the ground around the tree trunk. Caring for an old apple tree is not that difficult. The first thing to do is to be sure to water. For it, you need to prepare special rims according to the diameter of the holes in which the plants were planted. They should be about 0.15 m wide. Prepare the following mixture: 3 kg of lime, 1 kg of mullein, 1.5 kg of clay are taken in a bucket of water. The solution will turn out to be thick, like sour cream. Thanks to clay, mortar you get a pleasant beige color. For better adhesion of the whitewash, one or two glasses of fresh milk are added to the trunks. Try to coat the branches higher, where you can reach. Processing will make it easier for the apple tree to winter and reduce the risk of frost cracks. Be sure to protect tree trunks from the sharp teeth of hares and mice. It is worth tying the apple trees with roofing material, covering them with pine or spruce branches. You just have to wait good harvest next year and delicious fruits. Is to reduce the size of the crown. Cut out the broken branches, greatly shorten the skeletal ones, this will push for active growth and laying of flowers. If you expect a bountiful harvest this year, remove the top of the crown, remove the disturbing branches, and shorten the skeletal branches next season.

Apple tree care in summer

Anises, Aporta, Titovki; The columnar apple tree has peculiarities of pruning. Due to its unusual tree shape, many people think that this stage of leaving is not required at all, but this is not so. If you let the branching take its course, then over time your "column" will turn into something resembling a pyramid, and because of the density, the harvest will no longer be so plentiful. Therefore, a prerequisite is dry frosty air (not lower than -5 ° C), which will exclude frostbite of the bark of the branches.

Make a ditch along the perimeter of the crown, simultaneously chopping up the roots that come across and gradually deepening by 1.5-2 bayonets of the shovel. Next, the formed lump of earth is gently undermined in the direction of the taproot, which then needs to be chopped up. Move the tree to a new place along with a clod of earth. Water the tree abundantly after transplanting. To bring the crown into line with the damaged root system, prune vigorously, leaving a center conductor, a few skeletal branches, and a minimum number of second-order branches and last year's growth.

After the beginning of fruiting (at the end of May), the tree is fed, excluding nitrogen fertilizers and increasing the potassium and phosphorus components. These two components stimulate the formation of flower buds, respectively, increase the yield of the tree.The next treatment of the garden from pests and diseases occurs at the time of the appearance of a green cone in the buds. By this time, the air temperature during the day has already reached In February - early March, when the sun can damage the smooth bark of young apple trees, they need to be painted from the ground to the skeletal branches with a special acrylic-based garden paint. , we have already considered, now we will talk about trees that are more than two years old. Watering is the main component. Such care for the apple tree is especially important in summer, since it is this season of the year that is the driest and hottest, which is not particularly favorable for plants (and not only for apple trees). to the roots of the plant, and did not spread over the rest of the area. For each young apple tree for one watering, two or three buckets of water should go. After it is absorbed into the soil, it is advisable to sprinkle the hole in which the tree was planted with dry soil or humus. This is necessary so that the moisture does not evaporate longer. It is best to water the plants once every two to three weeks, but with frequent precipitation, this can be done less often.

Necessary feeding

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Good development of trees and excellent yields are provided with a sufficient amount of moisture, mineral and organic fertilizing, pruning, protection of apple trees from pests. Mineral fertilizers should be applied in three stages: in early spring before flowering; in June immediately after flowering; after the excess ovary has fallen off. Such a regime is needed to maintain the growth processes of fruit twigs and the laying of flowers for the future harvest. Ringlets, spears and fruit twigs have a different development cycle, which does not end at the same time. Winter Pruning columnar apple trees will require you to leave each young shoot with only 2-3 buds

Most gardeners are still inclined towards a more classical time for pruning apple trees - in the fall or spring, so the video for detailed guides in huge amount can be found on forums and websites. There are approximately equal numbers of supporters of each of the seasons, and there are enough of those who prefer to hold this event twice a year. But not only the season is important in planning pruning, we will define other conditions and goals of this operation.

Apple tree care in autumn

It happens that a tree dies and it has to be uprooted. Is it possible to plant in this place new apple tree? Sure. To do this, level the edges of the pit after removing the stump. Mix the soil that was removed from the pit with peat, manure and sand (if the soil is clayey). Mix well and pour back into the hole so that a small mound 25-30 cm high forms above it. Drive a stake into the center of the mound, to which you will then tie the planted seedling. the soil may no longer be enough. If the spring is rather dry, warm, there is no rain, then young trees and seedlings planted in spring or autumn should be watered at least once every 4-5 days. This applies to trees under the age of 5 to 6. Work with a hand pruner and a garden saw. It is best not to use an air pruner, as it is very difficult for them to cut the branches correctly.

This whitewash remains on the tree for a long time, is not washed off by rains and does not fall off in frost. After the snow melts, it is useless to whitewash the trees as protection from the sun, it will be only decorative. In trees over 10-15 years old, the bark is almost not subject to burns, and there is no need to whitewash the trunks.A tree at the age of two to three years needs to be watered frequently, but in small portions. The first time this is done, as a rule, in early June. Water should be consumed, focusing on the number 4 buckets per 1 square meter of soil. The area to be moistened is calculated by looking at the crown, that is, all the ground under it must be watered. The procedure should be repeated every fifteen to twenty days. For more effective moistening of the root system of the plant, it is advisable to loosen the soil around the trunk before watering. It is necessary for all plants, but especially for young ones. Apple pruning is carried out immediately after planting it in the ground. If the conditions for the plant to take root are very favorable, which includes a sufficiently developed root system, a high level of soil moisture, early planting, etc., then pruning is done by only a third of the trunk. If the shoot has already branched out, then each branch should be shortened. If the conditions are not very favorable, for example, too hot and dry weather, late planting in the ground, then the pruning must be done thoroughly - up to half of the entire shoot.

Tomatoes disease care Asters growing care

In order for the apple tree to bear fruit well all the time, and its shoots to develop normally, the tree needs constant care. In addition, due to the correct implementation of seasonal work, the quality of the crop can also increase. A procedure such as caring for apple trees must be carried out in accordance with the needs. Each season requires different work. The care of seedlings also varies.

In order for the apple tree to grow strong and healthy, you need to take the following steps to care for it:

  • cut off in time;
  • whiten the trunk;
  • spray against pests and diseases;
  • feed.

These are the main methods that experienced gardeners use to obtain a high-quality and bountiful harvest. But the main thing is to do it all on time. Some procedures need to be done at one time, some at another.

It is important to start caring for an apple tree from the very moment it is planted. The first thing is important correct fit trees.

This must be done in accordance with all the rules. There are several factors to consider:

It is important to plant apple trees at a distance of at least 4 meters. This helps the trees have enough light and room to grow. Caring for a tree in the first year of life is reduced to its timely watering and pest control.

Spring care

With the arrival of spring, not only field work begins, but garden work. You need to start leaving at the beginning of spring, even before the trees wake up. There is a lot of work to be done while the kidneys have not opened yet. Its future fruiting depends on the preparation of the tree. Spring work includes the following stages:


Moreover, caring for young apple trees is slightly different from caring for fruiting ones.

Whitewashing the trunk. At the end of winter (late February), the sun is already hotter than before. So it can harm the bark of an apple tree (especially a young one). To avoid scalding, whitewash the tree trunk. Whitewashing in the spring will also protect against pests that just wake up after hibernation. It is not difficult to whitewash the trunk of an apple tree, but for this you need to know some of the nuances.

All trees, both young and old, should be whitewashed. White color protects well against overheating of the bark in summer.

For trees, you can prepare the solution yourself, or buy a special paint in the store (mainly acrylic-based paint is sold). The composition of the paint should not be too thick. To prepare paint for whitewashing, you need to use the following components:

  • 600 grams of lime;
  • 4 tablespoons of stationery glue;
  • 4 liters of water.

All this must be mixed well to get a homogeneous mass. For improved disease and pest control, you can add some copper sulfate. For whitewashing young trees, it is better to use chalk.


Whitewashing should be applied with light movements without much pressure, as this can harm the apple tree. For the procedure, it is better to choose dry weather, since the rain will wash away all the work and you will have to do everything again.

If the tree is old, then before whitewashing, you need to remove the outdated bark, and only then apply paint or lime. It is necessary to whitewash very carefully, while applying the whitewash evenly along the trunk. If you do this procedure regularly, you can avoid the invasion of pests or diseases without additional treatments.

Winter damage treatment. When the snow has completely melted (most often in mid-March), gardeners should definitely inspect the lower part of the trunk. If traces of rodents have been found, action must be taken to eliminate them immediately. If the damage is small, then they can simply be repaired with garden pitch.


If the damage is very serious, then a bridge should be inoculated. For this, gardeners use cuttings. Frost can also damage the bark of trees. This is quite easy to find - you can see brown spots on it, it bursts and is blown away from the tree.

In the spring, you need to cut off such a bark, and cover its edges with garden pitch. If the wound is small, then it can heal on its own, but in case of severe damage, you need to be vaccinated. Cuttings for this can be used both from a damaged tree and from another tree.

Spring pruning. You need to prune apple trees from mid-March to April. If this procedure is done correctly, the crown of the tree will be well ventilated, the rays of the sun will better reach the fruits, and the apples themselves will grow larger.

If the apple tree is young, then she must carry out formative pruning. When pruning, you need to cut off those shoots that grow upward at a right or acute angle. If the apple tree is higher than four meters, then its upper branches should be shortened. Deleting branches should be done in this way:


If the tree is already old, but the hand does not rise to cut it, you can carry out anti-aging pruning. You can remove a third of the branches, but not more, as you can harm the health of the apple tree. This pruning should be done for three consecutive years. As a consequence, new shoots should grow on the tree. If this does not happen, the tree can be cut, and a young tree can be planted in its place.

Pest control. Pest control in spring includes several stages:


Graft. You can often see cases when an apple tree was planted several years ago, it is time for it to start bearing fruit, but it still does not give fruit. This problem can be solved by grafting apple cuttings of another variety into the tree. This method has several advantages:

  1. To get a new tree, you don't have to wait many years for it to grow.
  2. Several types of fruits grow on one tree, which saves a lot of space on the site.

The grafting must be done carefully and correctly, otherwise the young tree can be damaged.

Top dressing. It is often possible to observe that gardeners simply scatter fertilizer around the trunk of the apple tree. It is not very reliable and effective method as they can be washed off by rain or overgrown with grass.


In addition, in no case should you put manure directly on the snow - this will cause it to melt very slowly. Fertilizing apple trees should be done in April. Make small holes along the perimeter of the crown and pour a handful of fertilizer into each of them. Then all the holes are covered with earth. If you do everything correctly, then the apple tree will have enough fertilizer for several years.

Watering and mulching. If enough snow has fallen in the winter, and the spring is rainy, then you can do without watering, but otherwise it must be done. Young trees and seedlings should be watered every four days. So that an unpleasant crust does not appear around the tree, the soil is loosened and mulched.

Mulching is also used to keep moisture in the ground longer, which evaporates very quickly in direct sunlight. You can mulch with peat, sawdust, old straw or grass. It is necessary to make a not very thick layer of mulch, as mice and insects can start in it.

Apple tree care in summer, autumn and winter

How to care for an apple tree in summer and why not every amateur gardener knows how to do it. It would seem that all the necessary procedures have already been completed in the spring and summer there is nothing left to do. But this is not the case. Caring for an apple tree during fruiting is no less important than preparing for fruit formation.


It is necessary to thin out the ovary so that the fruits are larger and less painful. If this step in tree care is skipped, then there is a risk that the apples will be small, underdeveloped, with insufficiently good taste.

But there is one more important factor. If the tree is overloaded with fruits, then there is a risk that it will bear fruit only periodically and the gardener will not wait for a regular harvest.

From the ovary, you need to remove the fruit, which is located in the center. If such thinning does not give a result, and the branches bend under the weight of apples, then it makes sense to repeat this procedure.

It is important to know that in August the distance between the beams should not be less than 10 centimeters.

Many gardeners are accustomed to carrying out all the apple tree care procedures in the spring. And in the fall, they are limited only to watering or whitewashing the trunks. But caring for apple trees in autumn has a number of goals, including:

  • to increase the winter hardiness of the apple tree;
  • increase fruiting;
  • to make the future harvest of higher quality.

After the harvest, summer residents still have a lot of work to do to prepare their garden for winter. To do this, you need to do the following steps:

Caring for an apple tree in autumn is no less troublesome than carrying out spring works... But the benefits from them are no less.

To keep the apple trees from freezing, they also need care in winter. First of all, you need to watch out for frosts, constantly looking out for heaters. After all, there can always be a risk that small animals (hares or rats) will gnaw them. You also need to control the snow on the crowns. It should not be very much, because under its weight the tree can bend. If you do not take such action, then wet snow will break small branches. No more going into winter time apple trees are not required.

Features of caring for apple trees depending on the age of the plant

The whole range of works depends on the age of the tree. How younger apple tree, the more self-care it requires. This is due to a number of reasons:

  • harm from insects and other pests;
  • insufficient amount of trace elements;
  • a small amount of moisture in top layer soil.

And mature trees succumb to these factors, but spoiling their growth is much more difficult than complicating development. young seedling... Caring for a young apple tree has the following features:


Apple tree care is a very important process. If a gardener expects a bountiful harvest from his garden, then first he needs to work hard to get it. Fresh, ripe fruits are very pleasant, but in order for the apple tree to be able to give them, you need to monitor its well-being, feeding it and pruning it on time.

In order for your apple trees to please with a generous harvest, they must be sure to provide all conditions for wintering. All fruit trees need protection, regardless of their age. In winter, trees may not withstand such negative factors as freezing temperatures, freezing rain, heavy snow, provocative thaws and return cold. If you carry out a set of procedures in the fall, you will help the trees survive this unfavorable period for them.

Fertilizing apple trees

First of all, you need to collect the late harvest, remove litter, dig up the near-trunk area, apply top dressing, eliminate lichens, dry branches. In addition, it is necessary to treat trees from pests and diseases, close up the hollows and insulate the plants. Now we will consider all these activities in detail.

Garbage collection and digging of the apple tree trunk circle

At the initial stage of preparing trees for wintering, you will have to collect debris, leaves and dig up the near-trunk strip. In the fall, the apple tree actively sheds its foliage, so it must be collected. The fact is that litter can be a breeding ground for infections or a place where pests have taken root. Should I leave such foliage near the tree? Of course, it must be destroyed. This can be done by burning. Do not throw away the resulting ash, because it is considered a source of potassium and other important trace elements.

Autumn care

Collect twigs and rotten fallen fruit in a waste bin. If the branch is too large, burn it to obtain wood ash.

As soon as you finish cleaning the trunk circle, start digging it. Keep the shovel not across, but along the roots. Do not bury it more than 15 cm in the ground. Leave the soil loosened after digging. Thus, you will be able to destroy the pests that have accumulated in trunk circle.

Top dressing of apple trees

After the apple trees give bountiful harvest, do not disregard them. Fruiting trees need feeding. Ideal for apple trees organic fertilizers in the form of manure or compost. One tree, which is no more than 5 years old, will require 5-6 kg. For an adult plant, this amount will have to be doubled.

The importance of feeding

Spread fertilizer evenly in the circle around the trunk. Experienced gardeners it is recommended to supplement the feeding with superphosphate (20-25 g) and potassium sulfate (15-20 g). This rate is indicated for young trees. For those over 5 years old, it needs to be doubled.

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Make-up should be done dry. In the spring, when the snow begins to melt, it will be easier for fertilizers to get into the root zone and be absorbed by the plant.

Important! It is unacceptable to use fertilizers in which nitrogen is present in the autumn period. This element is able to stimulate the growth of the aerial part, which entails freezing and death of shoots in winter.

If the weather is dry after you apply the fertilizer, you can water the trees. For one young plant, 10 liters of water will be required, for those that are older, twice as much is taken.

Moisture-charging watering of apple trees

Moisture-charging irrigation will help solve the problem of drought in the autumn. The procedure stimulates the growth of an additional suction root system, due to which the vegetative mass of the tree is fully saturated with moisture. This will also prevent the soil from freezing quickly and eliminate a negative reaction to provocative thaws.

Moisture-charging watering of apple trees

Typically, one apple tree takes about 10 buckets of water. If the tree is old, this amount will have to be doubled. The land must completely absorb water, so watering can be carried out for several days.

If the apple tree grows on clay soil, it is important not to overdo it with watering, otherwise the risk of root decay will increase. You should also take into account the weather conditions: if it often rains heavily, the amount of water can be reduced by a third. Slight precipitation does not play a role, because they are not able to moisten the soil to the required depth.

As for sandy soils, it is advisable for them to choose irrigation by sprinkling. This method will exclude their blurring and exposing the roots.

Mulching apple trees

When the work related to watering is completed, you can start mulching. For an apple tree, you can take any materials as mulch, even plywood sheets are suitable.

Important! The protective cover must be removed after the snow begins to melt. This will allow the soil to warm up faster.

Mulching apple trees

It is necessary that the mulch layer is securely fixed in the near-trunk circle and does not spread over the summer cottage area in windy weather.

Removal of moss, lichens, processing of bark, sealing of hollows

Experienced gardeners often have to deal with the moss and lichens that cover their apple trees. Often their number increases if the summer is cold and damp. The growths interfere with the normal functioning of the plant, as a result of which it suffers from a lack of oxygen and begins to dry out.

Moss-infested apple tree

It is necessary to fight moss and lichens after the tree has completely lost its leaves by 90%. To eliminate them, you can use a metal scraper or an agent in the form of ferrous sulfate.

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Dissolve 250 g of the substance in 10 l of water. With the resulting composition, treat the trunk and branches on which there are moss and lichens. Do not be afraid to spill liquid on the ground - it will not affect it in any way. Within a week, all growths will begin to die off. Your job is to clean using a metal bristle brush. Spread a film or cloth around the tree to cover the remains of moss and lichens. All garbage must be taken out of the site, as it can be a breeding ground for infections.

After cleaning the tree, treat the trunk with a solution of copper sulfate (300 powder per 10 liters of water). Then you need to start sealing the hollow. First, clean them of any dirt and fill them with ordinary plaster. Please note that after a while the place that you "sealed" may remain open again, so from time to time inspect the trees.

Autumn pruning of apple trees

In the autumn, the apple tree needs sanitary pruning. The principle of this procedure is to remove dry and damaged shoots. Those that grow deep into the crown and thicken the plant are also subject to elimination. Cut them into a ring and cover fresh cuts with garden varnish or special paint. Such work is recommended to be carried out on a dry sunny day.

Autumn pruning of apple trees

Whitewashing apple tree trunks

It is advisable to apply lime mortar to the trunks of apple trees after the rainy season is over. With the help of whitewashing, you can protect the plant from sunburn, infestation of pests, fungal infection, cracking of the bark.

Whitewashing apple tree trunks

Use hydrated lime or garden paint for whitewashing. Apply the product to the first skeletal branches. Start applying the solution from below and gradually work your way up. If precipitation occurs, the procedure will have to be repeated.

Harvesting

If your apple tree generously thanked you with delicious fruits, start collecting them. It is advisable not to wait until they are fully ripe - pluck them slightly unripe. This way you will be able to feast on juicy fruits throughout the winter. Harvest in rubber gloves - this will exclude mechanical damage from nails. Place apples in plastic buckets. Do not throw them under any circumstances.

Harvesting

Do not pluck the fruits, but turn them clockwise so that they break off the stalk. It will also help them to be stored for a long period. Sort the crop right away. Use damaged specimens for culinary purposes, send the intact ones for storage.

Perhaps the most common fruit crop... Literally in every yard there is one or a pair of apple trees. So they live on their own, give a crop, and the gardener sometimes is pleased with everything, when he suddenly notices that a neighbor has exactly the same variety on identical soil, of the same age, but gives a much larger crop. The gardener begins to study the reason and learns that, it turns out, there is a special calendar, that is, in other words, an elementary list of tips by month, which indicates when and what to do.

Apple tree care in January

In January, the trees are dormant and the first thing that can be done in this cold month is to get the apple tree rootstocks from the basement, cuttings from the pits, and winter grafting. It is also called a desktop or convenient grafting: you sit in a cozy room and prepare seedlings.

What troubles can there be in the garden in January? Of course, this is the adhesion of wet snow to the shoots, especially young ones, so you have to visit the garden and lightly knock the snow off the branches and lay out the poison from the rodents, otherwise your apple trees may die. It's great if since the fall you have taken care and protected the trunks from rodents - then it was easier for you to do this.

If there is little snow in the garden, then try to trample it so that it does not melt and does not evaporate quickly in spring, but is absorbed into the soil, enriching the garden with moisture. In addition, trampled snow also interferes with the movement of rodents around the site.

In thermophilic varieties of apple trees, you need to check the stems - whether they are covered, whether the shelter has been blown off by the wind, if necessary, correcting it.

In January, it is worth paying a little more attention to the young apple seedlings planted in the fall. Their shoots are very thin and fragile and even a small amount of snow on them can cause breakage. Therefore, walk around the garden and lightly shake off the snow from the shoots with a light tap. Sometimes the tops of young seedlings even bend under the weight of the snow - the seedlings also need to be rid of the snow on the tops.

Apple tree care in February

In February, the forced dormancy of trees continues, and gardeners continue to vaccinate. But while doing the vaccination, of course, do not forget about the apple trees on the site: wet, heavy and sticky snow may fall out, and it also needs to be shaken off, and new poisoned baits should be spread from the rodents.

In February, in addition to sticky snow, there are often icy rains, it is beautiful - the trees stand, as if from a fairy tale, frozen in ice, as if silvered, but this miracle is very dangerous, since branches under the weight of heavy ice can very easily break.

It is difficult to cope with such a misfortune - you can try to lightly knock on the branches with a stick, you see a piece of ice will fall off, but it is better to wait for a thaw, albeit a short one, and try to shake the plants, perhaps it will be possible to free the apple trees from the ice shell.

Also in February, you can start breaking down the crust (a compressed layer of snow), along which rodents move freely and from which, like from a mirror, are reflected Sun rays and burn the trunks. This is a useful activity, it can also contribute to the retention of snow, if it can be trampled down. In February, if the forecast of freezing rain is not worth it, it is quite possible to do whitewashing of trunks and skeletal branches, choose a fine day and do this work.

At the very end of the month, you can already start. As a rule, during this not cold time, both sanitary and formative pruning can be carried out, but with the obligatory removal of shoots on the ring and covering the sections with a heated garden pitch.

Also during this period, you can harvest apple cuttings for spring copulation, placing them in the snow or in the refrigerator.

Apple tree care in March

Usually this month the apple tree is still at rest, but slowly closer to the middle of the first decade of March, sap flow begins, and the buds begin to swell. During this period, it is quite possible to continue the winter vaccination in a comfortable room, as well as go out into the garden and perform pruning - doing it according to all the rules.

The trouble in March can be frequent changes in freezing and freezing temperatures, in connection with which the soil around the boles of trees can even become bare, which is especially dangerous for young seedlings, because at night it can be severe frost and the roots may well freeze. To avoid this in the daytime, snow must be poured onto the bare sections of the trunk strips and compacted, nothing will be wrong if we do it again.

Walk around the garden, carefully inspect the young apple trees that you planted in the autumn, there may be broken shoots, they must be removed immediately. Any damage to trunks and shoots should be smeared with garden paint or garden varnish.

In March, sunburn is often observed, so it is advisable to whitewash the apple tree boles to the skeletal branches. Try to choose a period for whitewashing when, according to the forecast, there is no rain, otherwise, after the rain has passed, the whitewashing will have to be done again.

Closer to the middle or the end of March, depending on the arrival of real spring, very heavy snowmelt can begin and, if your garden is even on small slope, roots can be washed out with water. Taking this into account, it is necessary to build drainage channels, and if the site cannot boast of an abundance of moisture during the growing season, then dig holes to the depth of the shovel bayonet so that melt water will accumulate there.

Pay attention to the crowns of trees, if you did not do it in the autumn and winter: all mummified fruits urgently need to be collected and burned, because they will serve as a breeding ground for diseases and pests.

In March, you can carry out the first spraying of plants with 1% Bordeaux mixture, as a prophylaxis.

Apple tree care in April

It is already spring, apple trees are actively waking up, buds are increasing in size every day. At this time, you can safely start planting the most different varieties apple trees to your site, nothing bad will happen to them. But if you tighten with planting and the buds crack, exposing a green cone, then the seedling may not take root or hurt for a long time.

At the very end of April, the time for copulation begins, that is, grafting of an apple tree with a cuttings, during this period active sap flow begins and if you make an oblique cut on the scion and rootstock, then you can feel the abundant moisture by sliding your finger along the cut. These days, you can safely engage in copulation. The main thing in this case is not to vaccinate in the cold, when it is below + 5 ° C and when it is raining, and the top of the scion should be covered with garden varnish.

If snow remains on the branches, then it is quite possible to throw it off, mosses and lichens can begin to grow under the snow, and the apple tree does not need this at all.

If the hilling of the stem was carried out, insulating it for the winter, then the soil must be carefully raked off so that the root collar is at the level of the soil.

At the beginning of April, it is time to tie the apple trees with pruning, but if you find dry, broken shoots and those that grow deep into the crown, which will certainly lead to its thickening, or competitors' shoots, then you can remove them. Just be sure to cut "on the ring" and be sure to isolate the slices with garden pitch.

In addition to the vaccination, which we have already described, you can also re-inoculate. Suppose an old apple tree grows on your site, the fruits of which you do not like, but this apple tree gives spinning tops on a regular basis. So, by the method of improved copulation, graft a cutting from the variety you like on a couple of tops, remove the rest of the tops (also on the ring), isolating the cut with garden pitch. Young shoots will grow sideways from the grafted cuttings, on which fruits will soon appear that suit your taste.

Remember to check the garden periodically. For example, if you notice a hollow, then use a sharp garden knife to clean it up to healthy tissue, and then simply cement it and the tree will be alive and well (you will get a kind of dental filling).

In April, apple trees can be fed as long as there is enough moisture in the soil, you can combine three important procedures: firstly, loosen the soil to rid the soil of the crust, and secondly, pour a tablespoon of nitroammophoska under each tree older than five years and half of of this amount - under a tree under five years old, and thirdly, mulch the near-trunk strip with a layer of humus a couple of centimeters.

April is also a month-constructor: we noticed a dozen tops on the apple tree, that is, vertically growing shoots, which are of no use, choose five of them, cut the rest into a ring, and bend the rest at angles close to 900 in different directions, but so as not to break. It is better to use twine for this. Place a piece of elastic under the twine, and secure the twine to the growing branch or peg below. At the end of the year, the top will grow in the right direction, and the next year it will give its first harvest.

At the very end of April, young trees may "fall" into the planting holes, this problem needs to be urgently addressed: slightly raise the tree and fill a layer under it nutrient soil, then everything is well sealed and aligned.

Do not forget about the birds, in April there is still not much food and the feeders will not interfere with them.

Beloved by many, the month when everything really wakes up, lives, blooms, enjoys life, whispers with leaves. This month, it is imperative to carry out the fight against a number of diseases, pests and ticks, and all this in evening time putting on protective equipment and doing everything in strict accordance with the instructions on the package, using only those drugs that are allowed in the current season.

In May, when the bird cherry blossoms, recurrent frosts are not uncommon, the apple tree blooms at this time, the frost can corny ruin most of the flowers and leave you without a crop. Most the best way- this is the making of smoky fires along the boundaries of the site, but this must be done in strict agreement with the neighbors and be present at the same time, without throwing fires unattended.

Do not forget about loosening the apple tree trunk strip, watering, removing weeds. Usually, you first need to water the tree, spending a couple of buckets of water every week, then pull out the weeds directly with your hands on wet soil, loosen the soil and only then apply fertilizer. At this time, you can use superphosphate (10-15 g) and potassium sulfate (8-10 g) for each plant. Next, it remains to mulch the soil with a humus layer of a couple of centimeters.

It is advisable to carry out a couple more treatments with 1% Bordeaux liquid during the budding period and immediately after flowering, and a couple of days after the second treatment, etch the apple tree plants with a fungicide - but strictly after flowering.

In small gardens, where there are only a dozen trees, you can simply hang pheromone traps on the plots and attach trapping belts to the trunks (dry, glue, poisoned - this is not so important).

At the very end of May, you can also continue planting apple trees, but only apple trees with a closed root system can be planted at this time of the year, otherwise they will most likely not take root, how often do not water them.

In mid-May, you can clean apple trees from old bark and lichens. To do this, you first need to walk well with a wooden scraper, then process the areas where you cleaned off the bark with 1% Bordeaux liquid, let it dry and isolate with a garden pitch.


Apple tree care in June

In June, there is a massive shedding of the ovary, which every gardener knows about, this is a completely normal biological phenomenon and you should not be afraid of it, but if the apple tree has enough moisture, nutrition, light and it is not infected by the moth, then the crumbling ovary will be much less than usual.

In June, return frosts are also possible, as a rule, their intensity is noticeably lower than that of those in May, however, if the neighbors do not mind, then smoky fires around the periphery of the site can and should be built.

In June, outbreaks of diseases and pests may again be observed, in such cases it is necessary to act according to the old scheme worked out over the years - in the evening, wearing protective clothing, it is necessary to process apple trees - against fungal infections, pests and ticks.

Before carrying out treatments, pay attention to the duration of the drugs, because some of them may no longer be used due to the duration of the duration, that is, some of the toxic substances can remain in / on the fruits. You need to choose the safest ones.

In June, the death of those cuttings that we unsuccessfully planted is quite often observed. This arises because we could not tightly combine the scion and rootstock, not grease the top of the head with garden varnish, vaccinate in the cold or rain, use cuttings with flower buds. Now you don't need to rush and re-inoculate anything, wait until summer and do the most popular type of vaccination - budding.

Green work: here, first of all, we continue to pinch the green shoots of the apple tree, which, most likely, will not have time to ripen and bend the vertical branches to angles close to 90 0

Aphids may also appear actively; you can fight it endlessly using insecticides, but better times and forever destroy the ants that carry it; there are a lot of means for the destruction of ants now.

When there is a minute, walk around the garden again, perhaps you did not notice at one time a crack that needs to be covered up, a hollow that needs to be repaired or a broken branch that needs to be sawed off and covered with a garden pitch.

Do not forget about weeding and watering, although June is not as hot as July, watering is still necessary at least once a week, pour a bucket of water under each apple tree at this time. Moisture is especially needed in the period after flowering, when the ovary is growing.

At this time, the plants can be fed with potassium sulfate by dissolving 15 g of this fertilizer in a bucket of water and pouring it under each tree, but superphosphate, poorly soluble in water, can simply be poured into the previously loosened soil in an amount of 5-6 g for each tree younger than five age and twice as old - under an old tree.

Do not forget to check and change for new pheromone traps and trapping belts, otherwise they will fill up so much that they lose all meaning to the pests.

Apple tree care in July

July is the hottest month of summer, at this time, watering can be carried out at least every day, if there is no rain, pouring a bucket of water under each apple tree into the previously loosened soil.

By the way, in July you need to actively exterminate weeds, because these are real competitors, and if the grass can be mowed for apple trees more than five years old, then in young plants in the near-trunk strip it is better to weed it out by hand.

You should know that in July, apple trees grow actively, therefore, generative buds are formed, which will give a crop next year, therefore, plants should not be deficient in moisture or nutrition, but no clean nitrogen fertilizers... The maximum is nitroammophoska in the amount of 15 g of water dissolved in a bucket for each plant over five years of age and half as much for a young plant.

From about July 15, a less active, but still a second wave of sap flow begins, when everyone begins to inoculate the kidneys different varieties on the stock. This is where you can take advantage of the moment: if the spring grafting of the apple tree has not taken root, then make budding. The easiest way is in the "T" -shaped incision, where the kidney is placed, as if in a pocket.

In July, diseases and pests reappear on apple trees, and again, with extreme caution, it is necessary to use means of protection against pests and diseases, only if the timing still allows, because in July early varieties of apples may begin to ripen.

As for the rest, as in June: we update the fishing belts, look for and remove the hollows, weed, water, and we put spears under the branches of the apple tree with a heavy load from the fruits to support the heavy branches with the harvest.


Apple tree care in August

Autumn is coming, outside the windows are August and somehow it immediately becomes sad: how is it, because there is a whole month of heat ahead, but no - and the nights are already cold, and a person caught in the rain will not dry out in a couple of minutes, as in July.

In August, the growth of apple tree shoots is inhibited, and they begin to lignify. All shoots that still grow need to be pinched, otherwise they will not ripen corny before winter and freeze.

Fruits begin to ripen actively on the tree. Check again whether the supports are under the most overloaded shoots - this seems to be a trifle, but very important.

At this time, it is worth abandoning the treatment of apple trees against diseases and pests with serious chemistry, because such funds have too long term expectations from treatment to fruit consumption, although bio-insecticide treatments are still possible. Remember to change pheromone traps and clean your trapping belts often.

The early varieties of apples are already ripe, and it is time to harvest them, they, as a rule, are not stored for a long time, but in order to lie down for at least some time, be sure to pluck them together with the stalk, literally twisting it and put it, and do not drop it, into plastic bucket. Use gloves when removing.

After you remove the entire crop from the early variety apple tree, loosen the soil under it, remove all weeds and feed with potassium sulfate in the amount of 12-15 g and superphosphate in the amount of 18-20 g.

Apple tree care in September

Medium apple varieties ripen this month, in fact, all work in September overlaps with work in August, with the only difference that apples harvested in September tend to lie longer, so you need to be more careful about picking them up.

Fertilization rates after the removal of medium varieties are the same, but the amount of irrigation water can be doubled by carrying out moisture charging irrigation, because winter is getting closer and water reserves in the soil are necessary for apple trees to survive it with dignity.

Besides harvesting, September is a great time to select and plant apple seedlings. We advise you to purchase them only in the nursery of your region and plant them strictly according to all the rules, and then there will definitely not be any problems with growing apple trees on your site.


Apple tree care in October

We remove the late varieties of apple trees, here you need to be as careful as possible, any damage will lead to spoilage of the apples, and they will begin to rot, but it has been noticed that the late varieties of apples fully reveal their taste qualities only after a certain period of storage.

In the same period, active leaf fall begins, in order to avoid infection from fallen leaves into the soil, they must be collected and burned outside the territory of the site.

At the end of October, try to inspect all the crowns fruit trees that is on your site, there should be no fruits on them - remove each fruit and if it is spoiled, then burn it - this is an obvious carrier of infection.

Do exactly the same with all plant residues on the site - in the spring you may not have time to do everything properly, because this is a fleeting time, it is better to do this now, when there is more free time, it is not very cold yet and there is no snow.

At the end of October, under each apple tree, a teaspoon of potassium sulfate and superphosphate should be added to the soil previously loosened and watered with a bucket of water, and then covered with a layer of humus a couple of centimeters thick.


Apple tree care in November

Apple trees begin to plunge into peace, here and there leaves fall, which can be collected and burned. If you have not installed protective nets from rodents, then now you can do it. In addition to the nets, you can build a strong fence or scatter poison.

You can start removing all the props that the harvest used to be against. By the way, they will last longer if you just cover them with a waterproof varnish.

At the end of November, plants can be whitewashed to the first skeletal branches with breathable acrylic paints.

Apple tree care in December

Apple trees are at rest, now only rodents can harm them, so visit the garden and lay out poisoned baits. On young seedlings, you can throw more snowballs to make them warmer or wrap them with spruce branches to save them from freezing rain. In December, when there is free time, you can trample the snow, this will prevent the wind from spreading it around the site and retain moisture in the soil.

Conclusion. That's the whole apple tree care calendar. As you can see, in each month you can find some kind of work, get out into the garden and devote a couple of hours to very useful things, and then your apple trees will give you a gorgeous harvest.