The laying of the garden provides for the planting of fruit trees, the selection of the necessary varieties, as well as taking into account the fact that some species can create competition in relation to each other. It is also necessary to pay attention to the biological requirements of fruit trees and provide that their care will require periodic pruning.
Site layout
A garden cannot be formed in a small area. Fruit trees are planted, as a rule, after shade-tolerant shrubs. The distance between neighboring plants should not be less than 4.5 m. If buildings are located nearby, you need to back away from them by at least 3-4 m so that the root system does not damage the foundation, and comply with fire regulations.
A place under the garden is best protected from strong winds. Bookmarking is best done on soils with deep groundwater, since the latter impede the growth of trees.
Light and heat requirements
Fruit trees and shrubs can be alternated in many cases. This is due to the fact that most of the latter refers to shade-tolerant.
Light-loving trees and shrubs include:
- Rowan;
- pear;
- apricot;
- sea buckthorn;
- quince;
- peach;
- plum;
- sweet cherry.
Shade-tolerant include the following:
- rosehip;
- barberry;
- dogwood;
- Apple tree;
- viburnum;
- blackberry;
- raspberries;
- hazel;
- honeysuckle;
- black elderberry;
- currant;
- gooseberry.
Heat-loving cultures should not be tried to grow in the conditions of the central zone, and especially Siberia. Harvest may not have time to ripen, and in more severe conditions, trees may die.
Fruit tree planting time
It can be carried out in autumn and spring, depending on meteorological conditions that take shape in a particular place.
In the southern regions it is better to make an autumn landing. In the nursery, the seedlings end their growth, they are preparing for winter. After planting during the warm autumn, they manage to take root, wounds begin to heal, callus forms (sagging). During spring planting, droughts are observed under these conditions, therefore fruit trees do not take root well and often get sick.
In the central and northern regions, spring drought is practically absent. Therefore, it is preferable to plant fruit trees this season. Autumn implementation of this operation can lead to freezing of trees (mainly stone fruit). Or they may suffer during the winter withers.
In the Urals and Siberia, with sufficient snow cover, trees are planted in the fall, and in case of insufficient thickness and the absence of dry winds in the early spring - in the spring.
Planting is carried out when the tree is at rest (in the absence of the beginning of growth or its termination). Autumn planting should end about a month before the onset of stable frosts, in spring - in the first 5 days after the start of field work before the swelling of the kidneys.
All preparatory work is performed in the fall.
Landing technique
A hole is dug in which a stake is placed, having a length of about 1.2-1.4 m, which will not allow the planted trees to warp, and also protect them from the wind. Around the stake 3 to 5 days before planting a mound is poured from the soil.
The root neck of the tree during planting should be located at the same level with the surface of the soil. In order to protect the trunk from burns, it is placed on the north or northeast side of the stake.
The required landing depth is determined by the landing rail. It is better to raise the tree slightly above it, since the soil in the pit will settle. On light soils in mechanical composition, it is raised by 3-4 cm, on heavy soils by 5-6 cm.
Landing should produce two people. One of them spreads the roots and compacts the soil, which the second spills out. After backfilling by 20-25 cm, the soil is compacted, then it is poured to the edge and this operation is repeated again. In the fall, it is better to introduce manure into the soil.
After filling the pit around the tree, make a hole on the same level with its edges. Its width should be no less than that of a pit.
After planting, the tree is watered at the rate of 2-3 buckets for each, trying to evenly distribute it throughout the hole, which will ensure the same subsidence of the soil. After this operation, the latter is mulched.
The planted tree is tied to a stake at a height of 15-20 cm from the surface of the soil and under the “eight” crown. If you need to align the crooked trees, it is imposed in several places. To prevent damage from friction between the stem and the stake, you can attach any soft material.
Growing a tree from a cuttings
Growing seedlings of fruit trees requires certain skills and knowledge. Sometimes cuttings are bought instead. In this case, you need to grow a full-fledged tree yourself.
Seedlings are grown in three stages:
- oculants;
- one-year-olds;
- two-year-olds.
Oculant
For a specific fruit tree, certain stocks are selected. Under autumn plowing, 2–5 kg of manure per hundred square meters and 0.6–1 kg of phosphorus-potassium fertilizers are applied.
In early spring, stocks are planted. They are placed according to several schemes when growing one-year and two-year-olds:
75 x 20 cm - unbranched annuals;
85 x 25 cm - armored of the same development cycle;
90 x 30 cm - two-year-old pome seeds.
Rootstocks should have a well-developed root system. The thickness of the root neck should be 6 - 10 mm.
Before planting, the roots of the seedlings are cut to 15 - 20 cm, and for clonal stocks - to 5 - 10 cm. The seedlings are deepened along the root neck, the cuttings of the clonal stocks are 20 - 25 cm.
The stocks are cut after planting at a height of 20 - 25 cm, removing unnecessary branches. It is necessary to periodically conduct inter-row treatments; in June, fertilize with nitrogen fertilizers.
At this stage, carry out budding. It is carried out during the lag of the bark on the stock and the ripening of shoots on the uterine trees. Closer to the north, budding is carried out until mid-August (starting from July 20 - 25), and in the south - until the beginning of September.
Seedlings oculate to a height of 3 - 5 cm, clonal stocks - 15 - 25 cm. After this operation, the soil is loosened.
First, pear seedlings are eyed, then seedlings and clonal stocks of apple, cherry, sweet cherry, and lastly quince, peach, apricot, cherry plum, almonds.
Rootstock cutting
It is carried out before the sap flow in early spring. The slice is performed with sharpened secateurs 1 - 2 mm above the grafted eye with an inclination of up to 20 °. Its surface is treated with a water emulsion with the addition of fungicide or garden var. It is advisable to install a peg near each oculant to which a grafted shoot is tied. Stems are formed at the rootstock, which, when 5 cm is reached, are removed.
In the spring - at the beginning of summer, annuals are fed with nitrogen at the rate of 0.15 - 0.2 kg a.m. per hundred square meters.
Almonds, apricots, peaches, cherries, some varieties of apple trees, pears, plums form annuals with a crown. It is necessary to remove shoots that appear at a distance of 50-60 cm from the soil surface, breaking or pinching and cutting into a ring at the end of summer.
Above this zone, several shoots are selected that have an angle of departure from the trunk of 45-60 degrees, pinch the rest.
When grown in the central and northern regions, a peach is formed in the form of a bush with or without a small stem, which is due to the fact that such a plant is easier to cover for the winter, leaving side shoots from the lower buds.
To stimulate the development of such stems in cherries, weakly branching quinces, plums, pears, and apple trees, the top of the seedling is cut to 20 cm in such a way that the branching is 15 to 20 cm higher than the stem, when it reaches a height of 0.8 - 1 m.
Cutting seedlings
One-year-olds can be left to grow for another year. In this case, in the spring, formative pruning of seedlings is carried out.
Until sap flow begins, unbranched one-year-olds are crowned with a cut 20 - 25 cm above the length of the stem accepted for a particular breed. The slice is made on the kidney, which is directed to the side opposite to the bend of the annuals. At the beginning of the growth of shoots, they are all broken out, then the skeletal branches are secreted, the rest are pinched.
When the crown is formed in spring, branches are cut that extend from the trunk at sharp angles in the area of the stem and shorten the rest.
In the end, only the upper shoot is left, which, when it reaches 30 cm in height, is tied to a support for vertical growth.
Planting different trees nearby
Not all fruit plants are compatible with each other. What fruit trees can be planted nearby? Walnuts must be protected from other plantations at a distance of 18 meters.
Photos of fruit trees of different species are posted in the article.
Nearby you can grow:
- plum and barberry;
- a number of crops with an apple tree:
- Cherries
- plum;
- a pear;
- quince.
The following are fruit trees that are best not to be planted nearby:
- apricot with cherries, peaches and cherries;
- apple tree, pear, cherry - with cherry plum;
- apricot, pear, hawthorn - with cherries;
- pear - with cherry, barberry, cherry plum, cherry, plum, raspberry;
- peach - with pear, cherry, apple, cherry;
- plum - with cherries, cherries, pears;
- apple tree - with raspberries, cherries, barberries, apricots;
- raspberries - with apple and pear.
Pruning fruit trees
It contributes to the growth, development and fruiting of such plants. In addition, during its implementation, branches that can harm the tree are removed. For the old, anti-aging pruning is used to give the plant new strength.
It is mainly carried out in spring or autumn. In the latter case, pruning is carried out in mild winters. A sharp cooling leads to freezing of the bark at the site of the former branch, as a result of which the tree may die. The most common pruning is needed for pome crops.
Finally
There are many fruit trees. Everyone chooses the best of them, depending on the purpose of cultivation and tastes. Sometimes it’s enough to buy a seedling and only feed and process it from pests and diseases, subsequently conducting regular pruning, and sometimes you need to get a stock from the cuttings yourself. When growing fruit trees, one must take into account their compatibility with each other.