Today, a stunted garden is not a fantasy, but a quite ordinary reality. The growing popularity of dwarf trees is due to a number of advantages, among which are the aesthetic and decorative garden, which gives abundant harvests.
What fruit trees are called dwarf
Trees obtained by grafting the desired variety on a special stock are called dwarf trees, but it is more correct to say this: trees on a dwarf stock.
The selected stock should be one or two year old. Vaccination is carried out by budding a sleeping or germinating eye. Some gardeners in the spring prefer to do a side vaccination of the cuttings over the bark.
Dwarf trees can also come from tall trees when the plants are still young. American authors Gertman and Koestler in their book talk about the fact that such an operation is possible if a young tree has a strip of bark cut out and turned upside down. But in our country, such experiments have not yet been done, so there is no need to talk about the reliability of the information.
Main advantages
The dwarf garden in our latitudes is not yet widespread, but many gardeners in the world have already been able to appreciate the benefits of such options. It is noted:
- Shortened start of fruiting. Everyone knows the fact that traditional vigorous trees begin to bear fruit only 5-7 years after planting.And another 7-10 years they need to stabilize the crop. Dwarf fruit trees enter fruitful age already 3-4 years after planting. And it will be possible to enjoy a full-fledged harvest in an average of 7 years. Saving time is substantial, isn't it?
- Ease of care. Dwarf trees do not grow above two meters. Strong overgrowth of the crown is not characteristic of them. All necessary care procedures can be done directly from the ground.
- A relatively small area of nutrition. Where one tree grows in a traditional garden (the feeding area of which is up to 45 m²), you can plant 5 dwarf plants with a feeding area of 8 m².
- High yield. Breeders around the world, as well as gardeners and agronomists note higher yields in dwarf fruit trees, rather than their traditional counterparts.
Imperfections of dwarf landings
Despite a significant list of advantages, dwarf fruit trees and orchards have a number of disadvantages that must be taken into account. Namely:
- The considerable initial costs required to create a dwarf plantation can stop some gardeners.
- Some varieties are adapted exclusively to warm climatic conditions, which means they simply cannot survive our winters.
- Short life.
- Dwarf fruit trees, due to illiterate planting, are prone to changing the quality of the variety.
- Additional costs associated with the installation of supports. In some cases, this is simply a necessity, since in dwarf plants the root system is shallow. And the supports allow avoiding damage to the tree, breaking off branches under the weight of the crop, washing the soil.
- Frequent and thorough pruning of these trees is a must. Otherwise, deterioration in the quality, size and presentation of the fruit will be immediately noticeable.
- Despite the fact that caring for a dwarf garden is simple, it must be done often. Otherwise, nature will make its negative corrections.
The main varieties for a stunted garden
Despite the comparative simplicity of creation, not every fruit tree variety can have its dwarf counterpart.
Good dwarf fruit trees are obtained from peaches, nectarines, apple trees, pears, plums, because they can be grown even in pots.
But when buying a stock you should not forget about the compatibility of the grafted plant and the culture to which you will be grafted.
The most popular dwarf trees are:
- An apple tree, to which it is easiest to make a stock. Today, thanks to the hard and painstaking work of breeders, there are many dwarf apple trees that please with plentiful harvests and resistance to diseases.
- Pears, which are dwarf enough hardy, resistant to changeable weather conditions and fruitful.
- Fig Peach Sweet Cap, which in adulthood has a height of 1.8 meters. Dwarf trees on this stock are fertile. They have a sweet, slightly fleshy white flesh. Among the advantages it is worth noting frost resistance, resistance to drought.
- UFD fig peach, which will delight fleshy fruits with yellowish flesh and sugar-sweet taste.
- Dwarf plum Blue Free, which is resistant to disease, drought, frost.
- Plum President on a dwarf stock. This is one of the most winter-hardy varieties giving abundant crops and quickly filling the garden area.
- Late plum of Chachak with the harvest in late September. Dwarf plants on this stock are resistant to chlorosis, cancer of the root system. Seedlings of dwarf trees of the Chachaksky variety are resistant to frost and summer drought.
Growing dwarf seedlings
The cultivation of dwarf seedlings of fruit trees occurs mainly through winter grafting. When choosing a variety to which the stalk of a clonal stock will be grafted, it should be remembered that the grafted stalk significantly reduces the winter hardiness of the first plant. Therefore, the best graft will be a zoned winter-resistant variety. A clone insert can only be a stalk of a dwarf winter-hardy stock.
The insert should be no more than 18 centimeters long. A shorter length will not give the necessary weakening of the growth of the grafted variety. Seedlings of fruit dwarf trees, or rather, their long inserts greatly inhibit growth when planting in the garden, which inhibits yield and spoils the quality of the fruit.
Rules for planting dwarf trees
Beautiful from an aesthetic point of view and a fruitful garden of dwarf trees can be formed if you follow a number of rules put forward for planting trees on a dwarf rootstock.
- It should be planted in early spring in a wide deep hole, where the roots of the plant can freely be placed.
- Ground from the pit must be mixed with green compost.
- When examining the roots of a seedling, damaged or diseased tips should be removed, and the roots should be dipped into the root mixture before planting.
- To raise the tree, the bottom of the pit must be lined with a small amount of compost fertilizer.
- The seedling is lowered into the pit, sprinkled with earth, hands distribute the soil between the roots.
- Then the pit is half asleep, the soil is well compacted.
- We also fill up and compact the rest of the earth.
Too deep a tree should not be planted. This can lead to spoilage, deterioration in yield and quality of the variety. Do not forget about the attachment of the plant to the support, which dwarf trees are necessary. To do this, you can use a strip of rubber, which, supporting the tree, will not hurt its thin bark.
How to properly cultivate such plants
Proper cultivation is the key to a plentiful harvest on a healthy and strong tree. How to properly care for dwarf fruit trees?
- The area around the tree trunk should be kept clean, that is, all weeds should be removed.
- It is not recommended to allow the formation of crust on the ground. To avoid this, the soil must be loosened and nutritious mulching used. The best mulch for dwarf plants is semi-decomposed compost.
- Mulch should not be near a tree trunk. The optimal distance is half a meter or more. The outer border should coincide with the circumference of the crown of the plant.
- Mulching should be discarded in the wet season and in very heavy soil.
- Hay mowing is a must in arid regions with rapidly drying soil.
Feeding bonsai
New shoots and branches on the tree are formed in parallel with new root processes that go into the soil. Experienced gardeners use compost manure, decomposed compost mixtures and their combinations to stimulate growth.
Top dressing is laid in a ring in the soil. It should not touch the trunk of the tree, as this may damage the nourishing roots of the plant. Compost is allowed in the same way as mulching.
Winter care
As already mentioned, the root system of dwarf plants is shallow, so they need winter shelter. To protect the winter, the soil of the trunk circle is mulched. To do this, you can take sawdust, peat, multi-paper in several layers. An 8-10-cm layer is quite capable of protecting the roots in a snowless winter.
It is better to mulch after the first frost so as not to impede the moistening of the soil with autumn rains.
If snow has fallen, then you can refuse mulching. During the winter, it is advisable to add snow to the trees, but from those places that will not expose the soil on tree-trunk circles.
Dwarf trees, photos of which are often adorned by garden publications today, can, with proper care of yield, outstrip any traditional tall tree.