How do you think, what fruit tree is the most popular in our gardens? Of course, this is everyone's favorite apple tree, which every autumn gives us delicious crispy apples, so rich in vitamins.
There are a lot of apple cultivars. Among the most common are:
- summer - Melba, Grushka Moskovskaya, Papirovka, Quinti;
- autumn - "Antonovka", "Mackintosh", "Spartacus", "Glory to the winners";
- winter - "Richard", "Medunitsa winter", "Golden", "Kutuzovets", "Sinap".
Its popularity has earned the apple tree, among other things, because caring for this tree is not at all complicated, nor is it planted. Let's find out the details.
Planting an apple tree
It can be autumnal or spring.
In the first case, it should be the middle of October, so that the seedling well strengthens its root system and grows stronger in the winter. For the landing, prepare a pit about 70 cm deep, center the score. The pit is filled with a nutrient mixture of humus, peat, manure, organic fertilizers. Further in this soil, make a small hole and deepen the seedling so that its root neck was 5 cm above the ground. The sapling is tied to a peg, the tree is poured with 3-4 buckets of water.
In the spring planting of apples (April-May), it is often necessary and abundant to water the tree to avoid drying out its root system.
Caring for the apple tree after planting
During the first year after planting, the care of the tree consists in its watering and protection from pests .
It's only four times to pour the apple tree for a season, but it's plentiful. The first time watered before blooming, the second - after the flowering of the tree, the third - a couple of weeks before the harvest, and the last, the fourth watering falls in October. Some features are planting and caring for a dwarf apple tree, whose roots are shallow, so it needs watering more often.
As for the protection of wood from pests, it is possible to use various preparations for spraying ("Aktelik", "Horus", "Skor" or others). Resourceful gardeners arrange in the garden troughs for tits, which are very effective in destroying insects.
Caring for the apple tree also implies its pruning, which is carried out starting from the first year after planting. Initially, the central conductor is shortened to 2-3 buds, and the next spring they begin to form pruning. It is meant to shorten young shoots, which "look" inside the crown or grow at an acute angle. In addition, every year an apple shoots up another central shoot - it should be removed, and the main conductor shortened again, and the skeletal branches too. Do not forget about sanitary pruning.
Loosen and weed the root of the apple tree at least in the first year. Ideally, it should be covered with its mown grass or overripe manure.