Planting an apple tree

For planting apple trees, you should always take good two-year-old seedlings, which you can buy in nurseries. Annual seedlings also develop well, butthey may not be as strong as two-year-olds. In any case, when choosing a seedling, pay attention to the integrity and development of its root system. The roots of seedlings for planting should have 2-3 skeletal roots and well-developed fibrous roots.

Planting Apple: Fertilizer

Planting of apple seedlings begins withpreliminary preparation of pits for trees. The root system of apple trees very branched, but it is close to the surface of the soil, so it is desirable to make fertilizers for the entire area of ​​land allocated for planting. Thus, the tree will receive all the nutrients it needs. To fertilize the soil, use both organic and mineral fertilizers. For 1 m², use:

• 10-20 kg of humus or compost


• 30 g superphosphate


• 15 g of potassium fertilizers


• 15 g of nitrogen fertilizers

If you do not have enough organic fertilizer, You can put them in smaller quantities directly into the pit, in which the apple tree will grow. And in the following years you can additionally fertilize the land around the apple tree with organic fertilizers.

Planting apple trees: pit preparation

For apple trees, a fairly large pit is required, which must be prepared in advance. Planting apple trees can occur as in spring,and in the autumn. It is best to plant apples in the fall, then they will be able to settle down, and in the spring after pruning will begin to grow actively. Autumn planting of apple trees should be finished no later than October 10. The pit should be cooked 2-4 weeks before the apple tree is planted.

Planting apple trees in spring is also possible. But in this case, the apple should be planted very early, before budding. To plant an apple tree in the spring, a pit can be excavated from autumn.

Dimensions of the pit depend strongly on the fertility of the soil in your dacha and on what kind of apple tree you chose. For a typical apple tree, dig a holedepth of 50-60 cm, a width of up to 60 cm. If you do not have very fertile soil, the width of the pit should be increased to 100 cm. Planting column-shaped apple trees should occur in pits of slightly smaller size. Ideally, the pit size is 50x50 cm. When excavating a pit, the top layer of the soil should be folded separately from the bottom. The bottom of the pit is shoveled to a depth of 10-15 cm.

The top layer of soil, which you pulled out when digging a hole, should be mixed with fertilizers. Depending on the size of the pit, use more or less of these fertilizers:

• 1-4 buckets of humus or compost


• 50-80 g of potassium fertilizers


• 100-200 g superphosphate


• 50-70 g of nitrogen fertilizers and ammonium nitrate for poor soils

Well mixed with fertilizers the soil should be poured into the pit with a mound and a good trampling. Now you can start planting a seedling. Planting an apple tree will not bring you much trouble if you are someone to help. On the mound in the pit, put the apple tree and hold it. Another person will straighten the roots, pour the rest of the soil with fertilizers on top and compact it so that no air pockets remain in the ground. Fill the pit completely up to the top using the soil of the lower layer. At the edges of the hole make a small groove to water during irrigation could be delayed. Planting apple trees is completed. Now the apple tree should be watered.

It should be noted that the root neck of the apple-tree when planting should be deepened by a couple of centimeters or be on a level with the ground surface.

Planting apple trees: watering and pruning

Regardless of when the apple tree was planted, the tree should be watered abundantly. For one apple tree, 2-3 buckets should be usedwater. In dry weather, watering should be repeated again. In regions where there is very little precipitation, for example, in Siberia, watering should be repeated a couple of times. When the water is completely absorbed, the ground around the apple tree should be covered.

When the apple tree is planted, Seedling should be trimmed so that the buds of the tree are awake, and in the lower part of the trunk began to grow newshoots. Planted in the autumn, the seedlings are cut only in the spring until the buds bloom. Cut the seedlings "on the kidney" with a garden knife so that no stumps remain. Saplings of the columnar apple tree are not required to be cut.

After planting an apple-tree, be sure to beat the peg, to which you bind the tree. So you will be sure that the wind will not break your apple tree.