As soon as the street temperature rises, the gardeners immediately get to work. It’s okay that snowdrifts prevent snow from reaching the trees, because time does not wait. Until the apple trees wake up, so much needs to be done! Spring is the most beautiful time of the year, but hard workers have no time to look around, it is during this period that you need to trim your pets, loosen the soil, fertilize, and protect from pests. After all, the future harvest depends on the work done.
Pruning an old apple tree
Many gardeners believe that trees that are over 15 years old should be replaced with young early varieties. But what to do if the hand does not rise on an old, but such a native and tasty apple tree? In this case, it is recommended to do a rejuvenating pruning. An apple tree is usually cut in the spring to 3-4-year-old wood, but if it has not been growing for two years, then half-skeletal and skeletal branches should be shortened and some fruit formations removed. In very old trees, you need to trim branches to 7-9 year old wood.
Old apple trees can not be shortened to a small pillow or ring-moth, should be guided by the zone of sleeping kidneys, located in the lower part of the shoot. Next year, restoration processes will appear, the tree will rejuvenate. Too many branches thickening the crown may form; they should be thinned out. Already in the second year after pruning, apples appear on the apple tree, and in the third year it will delight you with tasty and juicy fruits.
Pruning a young apple tree
Even the smallest trees need a crown. Caring for young apple trees in the spring involves preventive pruning, which will help regulate not only growth, but also fruiting, because due to overload, the quality of the fruit often worsens. Annual seedlings usually do not have branches, so they are pruned at the level of one meter from the ground. If there are side shoots, then at a height of half a meter from the ground they need to be removed. It is necessary to immediately remove the branches forming an acute angle with the trunk, because in the future they may break off under the weight of apples.
Biennial seedlings are pruned in the same way as annuals. Leave the strongest-looking side shoots, forming a wide angle with the trunk, which in the future will become the skeleton of a tree, and all the rest are removed. The length of the lower branches should be about 30 cm, and those that are higher should be even smaller. The conductor should rise above the other shoots by about 20 cm. In the first years of life, the apple tree needs a pruning pruning, because only a tree with a well-groomed, well-lit, compact crown can bring a good harvest. Up to 5 years, it is better not to experiment with shortening branches. Branches are trimmed to a minimum, otherwise the apple tree may linger in development.
Fertilizing fruit trees
There is nothing even to rely on a good harvest if there is no knowledge about how to care for an apple tree in spring. Professional gardeners annually apply fertilizers that allow you to regulate growth processes, develop immunity against pests and form a rich harvest. As soon as the snow melts and the earth melts a little, you need to dig up the soil and bring a little ammonium nitrate into the near-barrel zone. It is best to top-dress with a solution of 30 g / 10 l of water. Of course, saltpeter balls can be poured directly onto snow or an ice crust, but there is a high probability that the fertilizer will be washed and only the crumbs will get the tree.
Caring for apple trees in the spring involves the introduction of nitrogen fertilizing at the beginning of the growing process. It is not necessary to buy special organic fertilizers, you can use ordinary bird droppings, manure or peat. These remedies have a good effect on the growth and fruiting of apple trees, but it is better to dilute them with water in order to protect the plant from a disease such as black cancer and a root burn.
In May, during the flowering period of trees, urea or some other organic fertilizers should be added. The solution is prepared at the rate of 25 g / 10 l of water, infused for about 5 days. Annual seedlings are especially needed for top dressing. Caring for young apple trees in the spring involves three times fertilizing at intervals of half a month. This will help the tree to grow, to form a beautiful crown. Do not forget about complex dressings, they contain all the components necessary for the full development of apple trees.
How to plant a seedling?
Fruit trees can be planted both in autumn and spring. If the warm season is preferable, you should remember that it is better to plant a seedling before buds open. So he will take root more quickly, less painfully survive the transplant and will go faster. So that the apple tree does not hurt, it must be constantly watered, a lack of moisture leads to various diseases and slows the growth of the plant.
Initially, you should choose and prepare a place for a new tenant in the garden. Tall trees are located no closer than 3 m from the boundary, and medium-sized trees - 2 m. Ground water should lie at a depth of 1.5 m, possibly lower. If the water passes higher, then the tree may periodically flood. To prevent this from happening, it should be placed on a hill (about 1 m). It is best to plant seedlings in the place where fruit and berry crops did not grow before. After uprooting the garden, the territory can be sown with meadow herbs for two years, they will change the soil.
Caring for apple seedlings in spring suggests immediately that pruning should be done immediately after transplanting, because the root system is broken and it is not able to provide nutrition to the entire terrestrial part of the plant. If the soil is good, then the depth and diameter of the planting pit can vary between 50-60 cm. On waste soils, a depth of 70 cm is allowed, diameter - meter. Before planting, seedlings should be soaked for a day in a bucket of water to restore water balance. Broken off roots need to be cut off by secateurs or a sharp knife.
How to transplant a tree?
Before deciding to transplant an apple tree to a new place, you need to think carefully about whether it is worth doing it at all. Planting a plant is the probability of injury, stress, which can be detrimental to weak seedlings. It’s better not to touch the diseased trees at all, the probability is high that they will die. More or less tolerate an apple transplant older than 15 years. So, the decision is made, get to work.
Before planting the apple tree in the spring in a new place, you should prepare a trench, which should be twice as deep and wider than the lump of the plant. The earth needs to be dug up, all weeds removed, the bottom of the pit filled with fertilizers and limestone. To support the tree, prepare three sturdy pegs. Apple trees should be transplanted before buds open in early spring. It is necessary to dig out a tree carefully, capturing a large lump together with the root system. The trunk can be wrapped with a soft cloth, and the roots are packed in a mesh.
It is not recommended to hold a dug tree for a long time, it should be planted as soon as possible. Otherwise, it can become sick, take root for a long time. The earthen lump must be placed in the pit so that the root neck remains above the soil. The roots are sprinkled with loose soil, which is well compacted. After some time, you will have to add earth, because the tree will settle. A balance must be maintained between the root system and the ground, so it is recommended to trim the crown after transplanting.
Pest protection
Even high-quality pruning and good fertilizer do not guarantee a plentiful harvest, because there are still pests of the apple tree. In spring, trees are processed in several stages. When buds open, nothing can be done, because the process of pollination and the formation of ovaries can be disrupted. You should also pay attention to the conditions of wintering, the type of insects that most often affect the plant.
The first processing of apple trees in spring occurs in March, when the buds have not yet opened and the sap flow has not begun. During this period, crown pruning should be done and the trunk cleaned of lichens and dead bark. It is also necessary to carry out spraying with chemical preparations, treatment of the near-trunk soil and whitewashing with a limestone solution of the trunk for the complete destruction of insects wintering on a tree.
In April, when buds have already formed, but flowering has not yet begun, it is recommended to protect the plant from apple blossoms with trapping belts and spray with biological preparations. During the formation of buds, you can remove pests manually, as well as remove weeds near the tree. Spraying is not recommended because it will harm pollinating insects. Caring for apple trees in spring also requires processing after flowering. In the second half of May, the tree should be sprayed with anti-leafwort, codling moth and other insects spoiling the fruits and foliage.
How to spray apple trees in spring?
All drugs for processing fruit trees have a common name - insecticides. They are contact and systemic. The first act on the insect in direct contact. They are unstable, washed off by rain, even in dry weather lose their effectiveness after 7 days. Contact insecticides are used in early spring when it is necessary to poison insects left over from wintering. The second type of drug is used in April, when re-processing trees. Systemic insecticides act about a crescent, they penetrate the plant, as a result of which pests die from poisoning. Drugs do not affect the quality of the fruit, because they quickly decompose.
How to spray apple trees in spring? The most common means include benzophosphate, which acts on leaf-eating pests. Its advantages include a minimal effect on pollinating insects and good protection, the duration of which is about a month. Trichlorol-5 can be used from early spring to flowering. "Oleocoprit" kills a tinnitus, aphids, ticks, scabies. You can also use the funds "Karbofos" and "Drug No. 30".
Why are dwarf trees good?
How to care for an apple tree in spring depends on the type of plant. Recently, many gardeners have been praising dwarf varieties, they say, less trouble with them, and they bring more crops. Is it really? It will be fairer to talk not about their advantages, but about the features of caring for these miniature inhabitants of the garden. Compared with tall varieties, dwarf apple trees enter fruiting much earlier. Care in terms of trimming is much simplified, because they are low and low-branched. Their fruits are large, removed quite easily. Even a novice gardener will be able to protect such apple trees from pests and shelter them for the winter. Problems can arise if the tree grows on waterlogged soil. Since it has a superficial root system, the plant may fall. Also, dwarf varieties often break at the sites of vaccination.
Pruning dwarf apple trees
Miniature trees have their own peculiarities in crown formation. It can be pyramidal, semi-bush, with vertical or horizontal cordons. The pyramidal type is formed by leaving six kidneys and removing all the others, while a 10-centimeter bare spike should remain at the top. Over time, when a lateral shoot from the upper kidney begins to develop, it should be tied to the apex. The rest of the crown is formed by skeletal branches, their length after trimming should not exceed 30 cm. The shape of the pyramid is created by tying the branches.
How to care for a semi-bush apple tree in spring? About 35 cm of the stem are measured out to the one-year-old, and the rest of the crown is formed as in ordinary apple trees - according to a sparse-tier or whorled-tier scheme. In addition, you can create horizontal and vertical cordons. Such crowns suggest the presence of only fruit branches on the trunk.
How to care for a columnar apple tree in spring?
Owners of small household plots face a difficult choice - which fruit trees to plant and which ones to refuse? The problem was solved by column-shaped apple trees, taking up little space, not creating shadows and annually bringing a lot of tasty, juicy apples. Such varieties are also attractive for early fruiting: already in the fifth year after planting, you can harvest a full crop. You can take a kilogram of apples from one tree with human growth already in the second year, and an adult plant produces about 10 kg.
The popular apple tree Melba also belongs to the colony. Planting and caring for such trees is somewhat specific. The top of them can not be cut, on the contrary, the top kidney must be protected, because this variety does not create lateral shoots. Colon-shaped apple trees have a superficial root system, so weed grass should not grow around them, drowning the colon stock.
It is recommended to normalize the crop: in the first year, all buds should be cut off, and in the next year, leave two flowers in each cluster. Colon-shaped apple trees need protection from severe frosts, so it is better to plant them in places protected from the wind. In winter, you can cover the root system with straw, spruce branches, fallen leaves.
Conclusion
Compliance with all recommendations will bring results very soon. Regardless of the variety, all apple trees need top dressing, watering, pest protection, periodic pruning, and winter warming. Well-groomed trees have a healthy beautiful appearance and bear fruit well annually. There are no lean years, there are owners who do not watch their green pets.