Features of caring for an apple tree

Nowadays, apple trees grow in almost every area. These trees are quite unpretentious, but they still need proper care.

You need to take care of apple trees all year round. Plants should be given special attention in the spring. After all, it is at this time that trees awaken from hibernation. The list of procedures that need to be carried out during this period is quite large.

The first step is to clear the tree from the remnants of snow. If the apple tree was covered for the winter with a film, this material must be removed immediately. This is done so that the trunk does not start to rot. You need to remove the shelter, focusing on the weather conditions.

After removing the cover, it is important to inspect the tree for damage. Particular attention should be paid to the condition of the barrel. There should be no signs of pests and cracks on it. Having noticed such damage, the trunk must be thoroughly disinfected and treated with garden varnish.

The whitewashing procedure also plays an important role. It is especially important for plants that are in the garden for the first year. Whitewashing performs several basic functions at once.

• Protects trees from sunburn. In late winter and spring, the sun shines especially intensely. Therefore, it is very important to protect the delicate bark of young trees from burns.
• Destroys pests. White helps to get rid of insects that hide under the bark of an apple tree for months.
• Protects against overheating. Timely whitewashing protects apple tree trunks from overheating. This is important for both young and old trees.

The apple tree trunk must be whitened completely. To do this, you can use a commercially available mixture or a product made at home. Homemade whitewash mixture is made from lime, as well as ordinary clay. You need to whitewash trees at the very beginning of spring. This procedure is best done in dry weather.

Removing unnecessary shoots, as well as whitewashing, should be started at the very beginning of spring. In the process of crown formation, the age of the apple tree must be taken into account. Most attention should be paid to young trees. In adult plants, the top is carefully cut off and the crown is thinned out. Older trees only slightly rejuvenate.

You need to cut off the branches at the root, without leaving hemp. Tools in work must be used sharply perfected. In this case, they will not strip off the bark and injure the plants. It is very important to remove all vertically growing shoots, as well as dry and broken branches.

To make the harvest more or more varied, apple trees are often planted by gardeners. This procedure is usually carried out in the middle of spring. The most popular method among novice gardeners is cleft grafting. It is done as follows.

• To begin with, the stock must be carefully cut with a sharpened tool.
• Next, you need to take a couple of cuttings 25-30 cm long and carefully insert them into the resulting split.
• The joint must be treated with a garden pitch, and then secured with electrical tape. The cuttings must be securely fixed.
• From above, the branch must be tightly wrapped with polyethylene. It will be possible to remove the film after the first leaves appear on the scion.

Both young and adult plants are treated for pests in the spring. The trees are sprayed three times in the spring. The first procedure is carried out even before bud break. The second time the apple trees are sprayed just before flowering. The third time - two weeks after it. If the plant is usually not sick, it is treated with a simple Bordeaux liquid. The first two times, a 3% solution is used, the third - a 1% solution. Spray the tree thoroughly.

Before the buds swell, apple trees are also treated with biological products that protect them from flower beetles. In the second half of May, gardeners use Alatar for spraying, which protects plants from insects.

Spring feeding contributes to the more active development of trees, as well as strengthening the immune system of apple trees. Experienced gardeners recommend using complex fertilizers in the spring. They are usually brought in in early spring, immediately after the snow melts. The soil next to the trunk is preliminarily loosened. After fertilization, the soil is usually watered with warm water.

Spring is the optimal time for planting new seedlings on the site. They are planted with the onset of heat. Care for the seedlings before planting must be done carefully. Their roots must be constantly moisturized. When transporting, the rhizome is usually wrapped with a piece of cloth soaked in warm water. Seedlings are usually stored in a cool room.

The process of planting young plants is as follows.

• First you need to dig a hole of a suitable size. The root system of the plants must be fully accommodated in it.
• Next, you need to add fertilizer to the pit. As a rule, one plant is fed with 2 buckets of humus, as well as a glass of ash. You can also add 3 tablespoons of potassium and a glass of superphosphate there.
• From above, the hole needs to be covered with a small amount of earth.
• In the hole prepared in this way, you need to place the support and roots of the seedling. It must be watered with warm water, and then additionally covered with soil.
• The seedling must be carefully tied to the support.
• Water the young plant again. 2 liters of warm liquid are poured under the roots.
• Immediately after this, the soil next to the trunk must be covered with a layer of mulch.

A properly planted plant will take root in a new place rather quickly.

In the summer, caring for an apple tree is much easier. All a novice gardener needs to do is water the trees regularly, and also remove excess ovaries.

During the summer months, trees should be watered in the evenings or early morning. The water should be warm. It only needs to be poured directly under the barrel. It is impossible to water plants on a leaf. This will cause burns on the leaves.

Young trees especially need regular moisture. Their condition must always be closely monitored. Withered leaves indicate a lack of water. Trees from one to two years old are watered twice a week. 3-4 buckets of water are poured under each plant... If the summer is rainy, you should refuse watering. Excess moisture can lead to rotting of the roots of a young apple tree. Mature trees can be watered less frequently.

A good gardener should also control the amount of ovaries on the tree. If there are too many of them, it will affect the quality of the crop. The fruit will grow small and not as tasty as usual.

To grow sweet and tasty apples, in the first year you need to cut off all the flowers from the seedling. In the second year, you need to do the same, leaving only a few inflorescences. In the future, it will be much easier to control the quality of the crop. To do this, after the first fruits appear on the tree, it is enough to remove excess apples of an irregular shape.

Additional feeding will help to increase the yield of the apple tree.... Winter varieties of trees in the summer must be fed with mineral fertilizers with phosphorus. Fertilizers are applied even before the start of fruit formation.In this case, they will be good to eat and very tasty.

Starting in the second half of August, apple trees are usually prepared for autumn. This should be done immediately after the end of fruiting.

After harvesting, trees in the country are carefully trimmed... In the process, you need to get rid of sick and dry branches. In addition, all excess young shoots must be removed. All branches must be cut off carefully so as not to injure the bark.

Having finished with the formation of the crown, you need to carefully examine the trunk. It should be free of moss or lichen. If even small growths are found, they must be removed with a small scraper. After that, the trunk must be processed with the same materials as the cuts.

Before wintering, it is also important to make sure that no pests are left under the bark of the tree.... To do this, the tree must be treated with any suitable insecticide. It is worth carrying out such a procedure only after harvesting. You need to spray not only the tree itself, but also the ground next to it.

As you prepare for winter, it is very important to clear your garden of dry branches, old foliage and debris. All materials must be burned or taken out of the site. Having finished with the cleaning, the earth next to the trunk must be dug up. This is done in order to get rid of insects that have gathered there for the winter.

In the middle of autumn, the tree can also be additionally fed. At this time, organic fertilizers are used. In some cases, rotted manure or humus is used as mulch. If the harvest last year was poor, phosphorus-potassium fertilizers can be applied to the soil. But the use of nitrogen fertilizers is strongly discouraged. This leads to a decrease in the winter hardiness of the apple tree.

Apple growers can face some challenges.

• Drying of the tree. If the cause of the drying out of the tree is the depletion of the soil, it must be constantly fed. The plant should also be inspected for pests or signs of disease. To prevent the apple tree from drying out, you need to get rid of them immediately. If the leaves on the tree are drying, this usually indicates that the plant lacks moisture. All it takes to remedy this situation is to water it abundantly.
• Rolling the leaves... The main cause of this problem is aphid attack. If the leaves are curled, and there are a large number of insects on the branches, this problem must be solved in a short time. You can fight aphids with folk remedies, or using chemicals. The safest products that are suitable for controlling these minor pests are tobacco infusion, tomato leaf decoction, or wood ash. You need to use them until the insects completely disappear.
• Slow growth. If the apple tree does not grow, you need to make sure that the young seedlings feel comfortable in the new place. Neighboring trees must be cleaned of unnecessary branches. The young apple trees themselves need to be properly fed, as well as watered regularly.
• Small harvest. The main reason apples shrink over time, and also become sour and tasteless, is that the plant is most likely lacking nutrients. For the fruits to be tasty and large, you must remember to process the tree in time.