How often and correctly to water the apple trees?

A gardener cannot rely only on rains and a snowy winter for watering apple trees. This is primarily his task. The care of the tree is not only in timely feeding and pruning. And given that fruit trees can be called rather capricious plants, watering will have to be dealt with first.

This question is quite voluminous: watering has its own characteristics in each season. Young apple trees, seedlings, have their own requirements for watering, and the water itself, its quality and temperature - this is a whole list of rules. The general principles of watering apple trees are as follows.

• The greater the difference between the air temperature and the water temperature during watering, the more shock this will cause for the tree. This means that watering with cold water is prohibited. And even if there is a well on the site, the water from it should first be warmed up in the tank.
• How often and how much to water the apple tree depends on the type of soil. If the tree grows on crumbly, sandy soil, water will quickly seep and evaporate from the surface, that is, very little life-giving moisture will remain for the roots. Therefore, such soils need to be weighed down with river silt or clay. And silted or clayey soils need reverse action.
• There is a conditionally average form of calculating the volume: the number of buckets per tree is equal to the age of the apple tree multiplied by two. A one-year-old apple tree will thus receive 20 liters of water in hot weather. And, for example, a 6-year-old tree that is already bearing fruit, 12 full buckets at least.
• You need to understand what place the root system of the tree takes - up to a depth of about a meter, but in diameter it will be approximately equal to the width of the crown. This means that feeding (or rather, soldering with water) needs approximately this space. Therefore, watering the tree only at the root, to put it mildly, is not enough.

For irrigation, you can use water from a well, artesian well, rivers, ponds, lakes and other natural sources. But cold water should not be close to the freezing point - as already noted, this is a real shock for a tree. Water temperature +4, +5 is not the best option, but if there is no drought and other opportunities, it’s better than nothing. The only thing is that you cannot water the trunks and branches with water at this temperature, but pour it into the soil grooves between 10 pm and 7 am. Important! The composition of the liquid should not contain chemicals, poisonous impurities. Melt, soft and neutral in composition is considered ideal water.

Separately, it should be said about the water from the septic tank. Microorganisms, viruses, parasites will not die in an ordinary septic tank without the introduction of special agents and without steaming the mass. If the garden is watered with such water superficially, fragments of suspension will remain on the grass, on the branches, and then "pass" onto the fruits or the hands of people. It is possible and even necessary to introduce the liquid fraction, but only between the rows of apple trees in the trench. And it is better to do this in the fall, before the ground is covered with snow. The bottom of the pit should have a depth of 4 bayonets - for 2 bayonets it is filled with sawdust and shavings, and then slurry. After pouring, the soil layer returns to its place, and the excess top soil can be scattered under the trees - but temporarily.In the spring, after the pit has settled, the soil will return to its place.

Watering can be superficial, drip and sprinkler. Surface watering is understandable, but here's the nuance: a year or two after planting the apple tree, a depression, a near-trunk circle, remains. It is convenient to water it, water evenly soaks the soil layer by layer. Then this circle is worn out, and if the place is horizontal, there will be no inconvenience either: it is easy to distribute the volume around the trunk. But if the stream goes downhill and spreads unevenly, problems may arise. Then the space around the tree can be ringed with a closed furrow so that the water does not flow out further than necessary.

Sprinkling implies the organization of an installation that will spray water: the earth is evenly and gradually saturated with water, and the foliage also receives life-giving moisture. The main thing is that direct sunlight does not fall along with the drops, which means that the installation is turned on in the morning or evening hours.

The first irrigation occurs on the day of planting.... If it so happens that there is not enough water for this, you can wait a day and a half after disembarkation, but in an exceptional case. If the tree is planted in spring, and at this time it is rather damp and dirty, the amount of water for irrigation can be significantly reduced - for example, 7 liters per seedling. In the first summer, when the tree is actively growing and gaining strength, it should be watered 3-5 more times. How much is difficult to say, because it depends on the summer weather, and on the characteristics of the soil, and on how the soil is prepared for planting trees. For example, it is important whether the gardener prepared a hole for the apple tree in advance, whether he loosened the soil, whether he fertilized it.

And here's another important thing in watering young trees:

• if the apple tree grows in a region where the heat is rarely prolonged, irrigation is carried out three times;
• if sandy soils dominate on the site, and the area is under the influence of winds all the time, and summer is characterized by heat and drought, then even 5 irrigations will not be enough;
• in the region described above, the second watering of seedlings occurs within 25 days after the first watering, if the season is rainy, and if not, after 2 weeks;
• the fifth (in an average form) watering for seedlings is usually carried out in August, if the days are clear and hot.

Dry autumn is not uncommon for steppe regions. If this is the case, then the seedlings should be watered, and the unripe ends of the shoots should be cut off after that. If the season of abnormal heat turns out, young apple trees are watered at least once every one and a half weeks, and this is done until the usual mild weather is established. Watering is carried out in an annular ditch 15-17 cm deep, which is located a meter from the apple tree... Until the end of the season, you need to ensure that the soil under the seedlings does not dry out. Watering 1-2 times a month is quite a convenient schedule, but you also need to focus on the frequency of rains.

The irrigation regime also depends on the season.

In most regions, spring means rains, so there is no need to talk about additional watering. He can only harm the tree. But if this is a region with early spring, dry and hot weather sets in quickly, then the apple tree should be watered before flowering. The best option is to start watering the trees when the buds in the inflorescences begin to separate.... If the heat comes at a time when the trees are blooming and the soil dries up, then in the late evening hours the whole garden should be watered along the grooves. Each mature tree will have at least 5 buckets of water.

To water or not after active flowering, and with what frequency, is still a controversial issue.But nevertheless, beginners argue, because experienced gardeners know that it is necessary to monitor the condition of the soil during this period. If it is wet enough, then adding additional water will be undesirable for the tree. But if the air is dry, and there is a small amount of mobile water in the root system, it is necessary to water the planting. Not often, not necessarily once a week, perhaps less often - but necessary. Again, you have to monitor the weather carefully and react to changes.

This, in any sense of the word, is the hottest time when the degree of soil moisture must be monitored constantly. If the growing region is hot and arid, the condition of the soil is assessed as strictly as possible. Irrigation is especially important in the first half of summer, when the ovaries begin to fall off (this usually falls in the second half of June). It is during this period that the first large irrigation falls.

Watering is organized for the second time 2-3 weeks after the first... But if there is a severe drought on the street, the sun mercilessly fries literally every day, the frequency of irrigation increases. But at the same time, the volume of liquid introduced at a time does not change. If this is the middle zone of Russia, and August is typical, without much heat, there is no need to water the apple trees. Because watering can be fraught with secondary growth of branches, and they will definitely die in the winter. Only in the event that the August watering takes place, if an abnormal heat is established. Pits and grooves are salvation for apple trees at such a time.

In autumn, when the ripening of apple trees is either underway, or has already ended, watering is not particularly necessary for the trees. It is usually the rainy season, and the need for additional irrigation is eliminated by itself. And if it is still warm enough outside for autumn, the tree can easily enter the stage of powerful vegetative growth, the shoots will not be able to accumulate the required amount of sugars, and in winter the branches will freeze. This is dangerous with the death of trees.

If you follow everything prescribed, taking into account the season, weather, periods (flowering, fruiting), the trees will already be all right. But even the most attentive gardener is not immune from mistakes. You should once again go over the cases that can become problematic.

What oversights can arise.

• Watering near the trunk. This is almost one of the most important mistakes. It seems that it is necessary to water at the root, which means that what a person is doing wrong is pouring and pouring. Abstract thinking is not enough to understand how far the root system extends. Naturally, such near-stem watering will be meager, and the root system will die of thirst.
• Strengthening the portion of watering. Those owners who do not constantly live on the site like to compensate for the time of their absence. They pour in a double or even triple dose of liquid, not realizing that the tree will not cope with such a volume. And even worse, when the owner, who has arrived at the dacha, takes up buckets of water without waiting for the evening. The sun will help the water evaporate quickly, and the tree will remain "hungry". In such a situation, you need to take care of the apple tree, and if it has not been watered for a long time, then frequent watering should be divided in two portions.
• Without reference to the specifics of the season. It is said in the instructions to water 3 times a month, a person does just that. But the month can be dry, with a rare and fast rain that barely saturates the earth - here you need to get the apple tree drunk. Or, on the contrary, the month turned out to be surprisingly rainy, which means what kind of watering can we talk about. After all, the roots can rot from dampness and oxygen deficiency, and it will not come to the formation of high-quality fruits on time.
• Wrong time. Early morning, late evening is the best time for watering. Doing this in the middle of a sunny day is simply a waste of time. During the day, most of the liquid will still evaporate under the influence of the sun, and the roots will get almost nothing. Watering at other times is possible only in case of persistently cloudy weather.
• Lots of mulch... Mulching is generally a useful agronomic procedure, but if the layer of mulch around the trunk is too dense, can water penetrate the root system.
• Poor watering. For example, during fruiting, an apple tree should receive from 6 to 10 buckets, depending on its age. If during this period the gardener completely forgot about the tree, the fruits can become unusually sour and small.
• Over-caring for mature / old trees... After 15 years, the need for moisture in apple trees, in principle, decreases. 30-40 liters of apple for every quarter of the trench is more than enough. Because a tree is aging, it does not need to be flooded with water; rather, on the contrary, it needs moderation in everything.
• The temperature is very high. This is a death for a plant, for example, a temperature above 50 degrees, not a single tree, neither young nor adult and strong, will not endure.

For information on when, how and how much to water the trees, see the next video.