It is difficult to find a garden plot where no apple trees are grown. Fruit trees are popular thanks to apples that have a high content of vitamin C. If you use 300 g of fruits daily, your daily human need will be satisfied. Fruits of this kind grown in your garden are of great value. But to have them, you first need to plant apple seedlings. How to do this, read the article.
Selection of seedlings
Planting material is selected in accordance with the climatic conditions in which apple seedlings will grow. The Timiryazev Academy of Sciences is engaged in their cultivation, and they are sold in the nurseries of this institution.
Depending on the varieties of apple trees, they are:
- Vigorous. Large trees, eight meters high, grow from such seedlings. Plots with low (up to three meters) groundwater occurrence are suitable for them.
- Half-dwarf. Trees grown from these seedlings reach a height of five meters. Groundwater in the area should lie at a depth of two and a half meters.
- Dwarf. Such seedlings produce low trees - 2.5 m. They are best planted in a garden with a groundwater level above one and a half meters.
No need to buy seedlings whose age is more than two years, otherwise they will not take root well. It is very easy to determine. One-year-old seedlings do not have branches; two-year-old ones have two or three. When buying planting material, a thorough inspection is done. There should be no growths and damage on the roots. The color of the stem under the bark of healthy plants should be bright green. Gardeners advise not to buy plants with leaves, as they will take root for a long time or even die.
The time of planting seedlings in the ground
Apple trees grow well on loamy soils. If on your garden plot the earth is heavy, clay, you need to lighten it by adding humus, peat and coarse sand. Soil should pass air well. If it is sandy, add clay soil and a lot of organic matter: peat, compost, humus. Planting apple seedlings is carried out in different seasons:
- In the fall, starting from the 20th of September and ending in mid-October.
- In the spring, the landing period falls at the end of April.
Seat preparation
Apple tree seedlings are placed in pits. If vigorous varieties are planted, the distance between plants and rows should be five meters. In the case of medium-sized rocks - four meters. Varieties for the cultivation of which dwarf seedlings were used are planted according to the 4 x 3 pattern, dwarf seedlings - 3 x 2. The depth of the planting pits should be 70 cm, diameter - 100. The humus layer is the top, it is folded on one side of the hole, infertile - on another one. On the advice of gardeners, it is better to dig holes in advance, about seven days before planting. Their bottom must be loosened, delving into the ground by 25-30 cm. To do this, use a crowbar or a shovel with a sharp end. According to the experience of gardeners, the soil does not need to be removed from the pit, it should remain at the bottom, where a nut shell, small jars of tin or pebbles should be thrown. It will be a drainage.
Then the pit is filled to 1/3 of the humus layer. After this, fertilizers of organic and mineral origin are added: superphosphate - one glass, potassium sulfate - two large spoons, wood ash - 10 of the same spoons, and the mixture “Berry giant”. Experienced gardeners advise to replace the purchased mixture with dung humus in the amount of three buckets.
All fertilizers should be mixed with the soil right in the pit and add fertile soil so that the hole is half full. All humus remaining without fertilizer is poured into the pit. Experienced gardeners advise you to do this: leave a small mound above the ground level, 15-20 cm in height. Drive a peg 40-50 cm long into its middle.
Landing technology
Apple tree seedlings need to be planted together. One person should set them in the center of the pit, and the other - to straighten the roots on the knoll, cover them with fertile soil and ram the pit. Seedlings are planted next to the peg, north of it. Gardeners advise not to deepen the root neck, it should be about five centimeters above the ground level.
Apple tree seedlings should be tied to a peg with a figure eight and twine made of polyethylene. The final stage of planting is watering. This must be done until the water passes into the landing pit easily. The expense for one young plant is several buckets. Then the soil around the trunks should be mulched. To do this, use peat, humus or plain earth. Gardeners do not advise making the mulch layer thick, five centimeters are enough, otherwise the roots will not receive the right amount of oxygen. Watering is repeated after seven days.
Column-shaped apple trees
Fruit trees with wide crowns take up a lot of space in the garden. Breeders have bred many new species for growing in small garden plots. One of them is a columnar apple tree. This tree is compact, grows up, its fruits are tasty and large.
All varieties of this species of apple trees prefer to grow in a lighted area, not blown by strong winds and without drafts. They can perfectly develop and bear fruit on the roadside lanes of the garden, if the conditions meet their requirements. The main thing is that the groundwater on the site lies no higher than two meters from the surface of the earth. This is important for the successful cultivation of a tree, as its root system is long, pivotal.
The technology of planting columnar apple trees
The key to a high yield is soil fertility. Gardeners advise when planting in the spring to cook it in the fall. If this procedure is planned for the winter, the site should be prepared half a month before planting.
Pits are prepared in advance. Their depth and width are the same, about 90 cm. The soil for the column-shaped apple trees is the same as for other varieties of this type of fruit trees. Seedlings of columnar apple trees should be prepared - pruned roots. If they are dry - immerse in water. Then put in a hole, straighten the roots, fill with soil, compact and tie to the support. At a distance of 30 cm from the trunk, you need to make a hole in a circle and pour the planted tree with two buckets of water. The last stage in the planting is the mulching of tree trunks with sawdust and peat.
Dwarf apple trees
In nature, there is no such kind. It is obtained by grafting ordinary varieties on a dwarf rootstock. Such apple trees are popular because they bear fruit early, take up little space, and it is easy to harvest from them. But the main advantage is that the intake of nutrients is carried out in the fruits, since the woody part does not occupy large volumes.
Planting dwarf apple trees
The best time for this, according to gardeners, is autumn. Trees grow well in elevated sunny places, not blown by winds, and fertile soils. The distance between the dwarf seedlings of apple trees should be two meters. The diameter of the landing pits is 60 cm, their depth is 50. The top layer of the soil is more fertile, it is removed and laid to the side. In the future, they fill the pits, but supplement them with humus, compost and ordinary earth. A peg is driven into the pit and the prepared mixture in the amount of two buckets is introduced.
The bed is left alone for half a month. During this time, the soil in the holes will settle, which is a signal to start planting. Seedlings are placed northward from the peg in order to protect the bark from sunburn. When the roots are straightened, you can fill up the hole, leaving the root neck above the surface of the soil. After this, the earth around the trunk needs to be compacted, watered and mulched, as, however, in the case of planting other varieties.
Fuji apple tree
This cultivar is a leader in gardening. He was brought out by breeders from Japan. The variety is adapted for cultivation in climates with low temperatures. The fruits are very tasty, smooth, large. Ripen late in late October. Fruiting is characterized by a certain periodicity. Every two years, the yield is higher.
For planting seedlings of apple trees "Fuji", on the advice of gardeners, you need to choose a place on the garden plot, where they will get more rays of the sun. It is important that the soil is fertile, its moisture capacity is high, groundwater is low. Otherwise, all recommendations for planting this variety are the same as when planting a garden from other trees related to fruit species.
"Pink Pearls"
This apple variety was bred by American breeders. They took advantage of Michurin's achievements to obtain fruits with red pulp. Apples are very tasty, sweet, fragrant, reminiscent of the smell of raspberries. Their flesh is juicy. Productivity is good: 10-15 kg per tree.
Planting seedlings of apple trees "pink pearls", on the advice of gardeners, is best done in spring, when the soil thaws to a depth of the planting pit, which is 60 cm, width - 90-120. The technology is similar to the procedure for planting other varieties of apple trees. Only when watering requires more water, about 20 liters per tree. And yet, if the shoot has no branches, it is cut to 1/3 of the height.