Getting a good harvest of apples must be taken care of in advance. This period begins in early spring, long before shoots appear, when the apple tree only wakes up from winter dormancy. Experts say that one young apple tree can bring as many apples as is enough for the whole winter for the whole family. But for this to happen, you need to work hard.
How to care for an apple tree?
The main steps in caring for an apple tree include:
- Pruning branches.
- The treatment of wounds.
- Fertilizers
- Leaf protection against parasites.
This is the sequence of actions of the gardener in the spring. It's best to get started as early as possible. After unnecessary branches are cut and a crown is formed, you should focus on the fertilizer application stage for the apple tree in spring.
Apple feeding
The amount of valuable elements in the soil decreases over time. To replenish soil reserves, it is necessary to fertilize the earth.
Methods of fertilizing are:
- root - in this case, useful substances are laid in the ground near the trunk circle;
- foliar - spray the crown of the apple tree.
The first fertilizers for apple trees in the spring are used in April, then during the appearance of flowers and after flowering. A similar scheme can provide good yield in the fall.
All fertilizers are divided into:
- mineral;
- organic
- having a mineral base.
Using mineral fertilizers for apple trees in spring, take into account the type of soil. The earth is fed with the missing substances. For example, sandy soil needs nitrogen. On chernozemic lands, nitrogen-containing fertilizers should be used carefully, since they are already rich in nitrogen.
What else needs to be considered when applying fertilizers?
To determine the sufficient amount of food, you need to calculate the area of the fed area. For this, one is added to the diameter of the crown of the apple tree , the result is multiplied by 3.14.
The dosage of the substance written on the package is designed for one square meter. To calculate the amount of complementary foods, you need to multiply the resulting number with the number on the packaging bag, you get the desired result.
Top dressing is applied under the root and in the interval of half a meter from it. To ensure better penetration of nutrients, you can make furrows into which fertilizers are applied. After top dressing is absorbed, the furrows are covered with earth.
It should be taken into account and soil moisture. If the earth is wet, make dry top dressing. They can be scattered around a tree.
Foliar fertilizers for apple trees in the spring help to penetrate all the necessary substances through the leaves of the tree. This is done using spraying, which is done before flowering.
Spraying will be more effective if they are performed early in the morning or late in the evening. So the sun will not be able to quickly evaporate useful elements from the leaves.
When preparing the solution, you need to follow the instructions exactly so as not to harm the apple tree.
Fertilizer Dosage per sq. soil meter:
- nitrogen - 12 grams;
- saltpeter - 30 grams;
- potassium sulfate - 10 grams;
- ammonium sulfate - 25 grams.
Organic food
An excellent spring fertilizer is cow dung. For each sq. 4-8 kg of mullein make a meter of land. If you do this regularly, the soil structure is greatly improved. In sandy structures, moisture is better retained, and clayeys are easier.
It’s good to use bird droppings. A solution is made from it or used in dry form. In the second case, the litter is first well ground. When preparing the solution, the litter is diluted with water in a ratio of 1:15. The prepared solution should be used immediately, leaving it for later is not recommended.
Organic compost is considered extremely beneficial to the soil. It is made from sawdust, foliage and other organic waste. Thanks to compost, the soil can be saturated with important elements. The soil structure also improves: it becomes more loose, can pass water.
Mineral Feeding
Mineral fertilizers include nitrogen-containing fertilizers:
- potassium sulfate;
- ammonium sulfate;
- micronutrient fertilizers.
Each package contains a certain amount of the main element indicated by the letter of the Mendeleev table of chemicals. The assimilation of mineral compositions, as a rule, does not occur in full. The amount of nitrogen affects the level of yield. But you need to make it in the spring as early as possible. Lack of nitrogen affects the quality of the fruit.
Potassium sulfate belongs to potash fertilizers and is considered one of the best in this group. It provides rapid growth and normal fertility of the apple tree.
Ammonium sulfate is well preserved in the soil without being washed away. Therefore, it is used in spring and autumn. It also improves crop quality.
Micronutrient fertilizers are needed in order to prevent fungal infections. They also improve the quality of apples.
How to make nutrients?
We examined what fertilizers to apply under the apple tree in the spring. It is worthwhile to dwell on the question of how to do this.
When feeding the soil of near-trunk circles, grooves are made up to 30 cm wide and 40 cm deep. Manure, humus or mineral substances are placed in these holes. Lime can be added to acidic soil. After making the necessary elements, the groove is covered with earth.
You can make holes, wells with a shovel, crowbar and other tools. The root structure is not destroyed. After inserting the pin into the soil, they perform a circular motion to form a hole 40-45 cm deep. A half a kilo of mineral compounds will fit in each hole. For each sq. a meter of barreled earth is enough for one or two pits.
You can make holes with a shovel. Wells are filled with leaves or freshly cut grass. They are watered weekly, a couple of tablespoons of nitroammophos are added twice a month, and superphosphate fertilizer and potassium salt have been added since August. The grass turns into humus; as it settles, still fresh grass is laid.
Fertilizing apple trees when planting in spring
Apple trees feel good on light chernozems, medium loams and sandy loamy lands. The tree does not like excess moisture. A strong and branched root structure is formed in the apple tree, sometimes twice as large as the crown diameter.
When planting, it is important to fertilize under the apple tree in the spring. First, special pits for seedlings are prepared. The larger the size of such a hole, the better the tree will develop. Usually make a hole with a diameter of up to 100 cm, 80-90 cm in depth.
Dig a hole in advance. If the seedlings are planted in the spring, the pit is prepared in the fall or immediately after the snow melts. Two-thirds of the dug hole is filled with a prepared healthy mixture. The nutrient mixture consists of fertilized earth.
2-3 buckets of decayed organic matter, 3-4 buckets of peat, 1 kg of superphosphate composition and ash are placed in each pit. Ash can be replaced with 150 grams of potassium sulfate. If there are no mineral compounds, only organic matter can be added.
What fertilizers do not need to be used when planting an apple tree in spring? It is forbidden to add nitrogen and lime into the pit for planting, this can reduce the survival rate of the seedling.
Also, you do not need to put fresh manure in the pit. Underground, it releases hydrogen sulfide-ammonia elements harmful to the roots.
What fertilizers to apply when planting apple trees in the spring on sandy soils? Magnesium deficiency is usually felt on sandy ground, so potassium magnesia is used on these soils.
After the tree is planted
If the tree is planted in a well-prepared hole, then the first two years the land does not need to be fertilized.
In the first year of life of an apple tree, it is important to remove weeds from the near-stem circle, as well as periodically loosen the soil.
To add to the growth, seedlings are often watered.
In the aisles you can plant strawberries and vegetables. But then you need to fertilize annually.
At the beginning of the growth of the apple tree, he needs more phosphorus, from this the root system is better formed. Nitrogen begins to be introduced in the second year.
In spring, young and adult apple trees need complex nitrogen-phosphorus-potash fertilizers. Since July, phosphorus-potassium compounds have been introduced.
Now it became clear what fertilizer for apple trees in spring should be used. These simple recommendations will help to grow a good apple crop in your garden.