Table of Contents
How do you take care of an apple tree?
Apple Tree Care By properly controlling insects and disease, fertilizing and regularly pruning the trees you can enjoy the beauty and fruit of this tree on your landscape for years. During the early spring and summer fungicide applications are essential to prevent disease and produce healthy, high quality fruit.
Do apple trees need maintenance?
CARING FOR YOUR APPLE TREES. Give established trees a good mulch once a year, thin fruit if the tree produces too much, feed them twice a year, prune them correctly and maintain basic hygiene. Those are the basic tasks to ensure you have healthy apple trees which produce lots of fruit each year.
How do I keep my apple tree healthy?
Fruit trees should be pruned every year in late winter/early spring, preferably after the coldest weather is past, and before growth begins. Prune minimally, especially with young trees, as excessive pruning will delay or reduce fruiting and create too much leafy growth.
Do apple trees need pruning every year?
Apple and pear trees trained as free-standing bushes are best pruned every winter to ensure a good cycle of fruiting wood. Trees that are not pruned become less productive and congested with old branches.
What do you spray apple trees with?
Horticultural oil is a well known insecticide for application during a tree’s dormant period to prevent unintended harm to beneficial insects such as bees and ladybugs. The University of California recommends spraying apple trees with dormant oil in the winter to control San Jose scale, and aphid and mite eggs.
How can I make my apple tree grow better?
You will need to prune your apple tree—to train it to a central leader the first year and for maintenance every year after that—to stimulate fruit production and to keep the tree open and balanced. Without regular pruning, an apple tree produces lots of vegetative growth that then turns into fruiting wood.
What’s the best fertilizer for apple trees?
Apple trees require nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium — the three numbers on fertilizer bags — as well as various trace minerals. For home growers, fertilizers should have a higher nitrogen ratio to fuel healthy growth. Common granular 20-10-10 fertilizer is suitable for apples.
Are coffee grounds good fertilizer for apple trees?
Coffee grounds are highly acidic, they note, so they should be reserved for acid-loving plants like azaleas and blueberries. And if your soil is already high in nitrogen, the extra boost from coffee grounds could stunt the growth of fruits and flowers.
How do you feed an apple tree?
As long as fruit trees are small, it is better to use an organic fertiliser combined with compost or mulch. A low analysis, slow release organic fertiliser scratched into the soil’s surface around the tree, watered in well and then covered with compost and mulch feeds the soil, which in turn feeds the tree.
How do I get my apple tree to produce fruit?
Apples and pears must be cross pollinated. Therefore, you must plant two different varieties if you want to produce fruit. There are also varieties that produce sterile pollen and need to be planted with at least two other varieties.
When should you spray your apple trees?
Use general purpose fruit tree spray at 1- to 2-week intervals following key plant development observations. Apply the spray first at green tip, followed by pre-bloom, full pink, petal fall, first cover (1 week after petal fall), and second cover (2 weeks after petal fall).
Why is my apple tree not producing fruit?
Answer: The lack of fruit is likely due to the absence of flowers, poor pollination, or low temperatures during bloom. The lack of flowers is often due to the age of the tree. After planting, most dwarf and semi-dwarf apple trees don’t flower and bear fruit for 3 to 5 years.
How much water does an apple tree need?
In general, for an established tree, you won’t need to water it unless you are not getting much rain or there is a particularly dry spell or even drought. About an inch (2.5 cm.) or so of rainfall every week to ten days is adequate for most apple trees.
Can you cut the top off an apple tree?
Prune off the top of the newly planted fruit tree in late April. Cut it at between 20 and 30 inches above the ground. Trim back all other shoots and branches to 6 inches.
How do you make a fruiting spur for an apple tree?
Apples produce fruiting spurs on wood 2 years and older that are productive for 6 to 10 years. Thin out branches to admit sufficient light to all parts of the tree; this will encourage new spurs to develop. Remove older, unproductive spurs as the tree matures. You may also need to thin spurs.
What month is late winter?
When is Late Winter? Late winter is 4 to 6 weeks before spring thaw begins. This could be any time in January to May, depending on your climate. Use your average last frost date and count back.
How do I keep bugs off my apple tree naturally?
Pick up and destroy fallen fruit, which may contain grubs. Remove plastic and paper tree guards, where adult flies and moths may spend the winter; replace them with wire mesh guards. Surround trees with mulch instead of grass.
What is the black stuff on my apples?
The black spots are probably sooty blotch or flyspeck. Sooty blotch and flyspeck are two different fungal diseases that often occur together on apples. Proper pruning of apple trees and thinning of fruit promote drying and help reduce disease severity. Fungicides may also be necessary.
