Due to the variety of varieties and unpretentious care of apple trees, they have become one of the most popular fruit trees in Russia. However, unpretentiousness does not mean that you can forget about the seedling after planting. Taking proper care of your apple trees will significantly increase yields.
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Correct branch placement
The horizontal arrangement of the branches (i.e. e. parallel to the ground) promotes better fruiting. Even with proper care and high-quality feeding, trees with branches growing at an obtuse angle relative to the ground give a low yield.
You can achieve the correct position of the branches using small weights and pegs. Applying mechanical force will help change the tilt. To prevent the tree from breaking, you must act gradually and carefully.
Pruning shoots
Many gardeners avoid pruning apple trees for fear of harming them. However, in fact, pruning correctly is healthier and more productive. The best option for healthy apple trees is considered to be medium pruning, in which branches are removed so that the volume of the crown is reduced by about 25-30%, and the shoots by 2/3. Sick trees may require more radical pruning, which is best left to the agricultural technician so that he can correctly assess the situation.
Thinning of formed fruits
Only young trees need to thin out the fruits if too large a harvest is expected. Thin branches may not be able to withstand this weight. In addition, the tree will not give the fruits sufficient nutrition; by the time they ripen, they will be small and tasteless, unsuitable for consumption.
In order to avoid such a situation, after the formation of the fruits, the trees must be periodically inspected, removing bad apples from each bunch. This should be done as soon as the fruits have formed in order to preserve the maximum nutrients for the apples, which are left until ripe.
You can reduce the workload by gently shaking the apple tree several times before thinning. In this case, non-viable ovaries will crumble, they do not have to be removed manually.
Watering and root nutrition
Apple trees need to be watered 4 times during the season:
- Before the kidneys open.
- 2-3 weeks after flowering.
- 2-3 weeks before harvest.
- In late September or early October (to prepare the tree for wintering).
For irrigation, use the surface method, rain or drip irrigation. Irrigation is considered optimal, since it is convenient to combine this method with plant feeding by adding nutrients to the water. With proper watering, the soil should be saturated with moisture to a depth of 60-70 cm.
Since apple trees are unpretentious to care for, they do not need complex compound fertilizers. The classic simple options are enough, the most common of which is ash feeding. The amount of ash depends on the size of the crown: about 2 kg of ash are taken per 1 m² of the crown projection.
To facilitate the access of nutrients to the root system along the perimeter of the crown projection in the soil, wells are made 50-60 cm deep, about 10 cm in diameter. Then the wells are covered with sand or gravel. This system is well suited for watering.
Pest control
Big problems can be avoided by using preventive pest control measures. For this, trees are sprayed in early spring and the adjacent territory is treated. They use both folk remedies and professional chemical compositions. As a preventive measure, it is recommended to use substances of systemic action, since the selection of individual remedies for certain types of pests is difficult in terms of combination, and also unprofitable.
Have you already planted apple trees in your garden?
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Read about the treatment of apple trees from pests in the following article:How to treat apple trees from diseases and pests in early spring