How to Grow Apple Trees? The Latest Planting Techniques and Methods Tutorial

The apple is also a high-yielding fruit tree with strong adaptability to soil. Generally, hilly thin land, riverbank sandy wasteland and mildly saline-alkaline land, after appropriate improvement, can all be cultivated in blocks. Generally, after apple planting, it takes 2-3 years before fruit begins to form. As for the length of the fruit growth period, early-maturing varieties generally take 65-87 days, mid-maturing varieties 90-133 days, and late-maturing varieties 137-168 days. Under normal circumstances, after planting, apples can have a lifespan of 15-50 years.

Apple tree planting conditions

1. Temperature: Apple trees prefer cool, dry climatic conditions with ample sunshine. It is generally believed that an average temperature of 12°C-18°C during the growing period from April to October is most suitable for apple growth. When summer temperatures are too high, with an average temperature >26°C, flower bud differentiation is poor, fruit develops quickly, and storage life is short. The suitable coloring temperature for red varieties before ripening is 10°C-20°C. If the temperature difference between day and night is small and night temperatures are high, coloring becomes difficult. Compared with the climatic conditions of the Huaibei region, especially for mid-maturing red varieties, there is a certain gap from the optimal temperature requirements, and further south to the Yangtze River basin, this gap widens.

2. Rainfall: The annual precipitation in the world's major apple-producing regions is about 500 mm-800 mm. During flower bud differentiation and fruit ripening, relatively dry air and ample sunshine are required, so that the fruit surface is smooth, the color is deep and vivid, and the flower buds are plump. If rainfall is excessive and sunshine insufficient, it easily causes excessive vegetative growth of branches and leaves, poor flower bud differentiation, low and unstable yields, severe pests and diseases, and poor fruit quality. The annual precipitation in the Huaibei region is around 800 mm, but it is unevenly distributed, with occasional spring droughts, summer droughts or autumn droughts, and in most years rainfall in July-August is overly concentrated, so both irrigation and drainage measures need to be strengthened.

3. Light: The apple is a light-loving tree species. Sufficient light is conducive to normal growth and fruiting, and helps improve fruit quality. Different varieties have differing light requirements. The annual sunshine hours in the Huaibei region are above 2000 hours, which basically can meet the needs of apple growth and development.

4. Soil: In terms of soil, apples are suited to deep soil layers, good drainage and sandy loam rich in organic matter. The soil pH should preferably be slightly acidic to neutral. When soil aeration is poor, root growth is hindered. When the pH is above 7.8, nutrient deficiency and chlorosis easily occur. The salt tolerance of the soil is below 0.15%.

Shaping and pruning of apple trees

1. Shaping of apple trees: For apple tree shaping, the spindle shape is mainly advocated. The spindle shape bears fruit relatively early and is a currently advocated tree form. The tree height is 2.5-3.0 m, the crown width is 1.8 m, the trunk height is 70 cm, and 10-15 main branches are evenly borne on the central leader, without tiers. The spacing between main branches is 15-20 cm, evenly distributed around, and the opening angle of the main branches reaches 60-90 degrees. This tree form has a small crown and is easy to manage; it flowers in the same year, bears fruit in the second year, and production can increase substantially by the third to fourth year.

2. Pruning of apple trees

① Spring pruning: carried out after bud break and around the flowering period, using measures such as bud rubbing, branch thinning, renewal pruning, bud notching and girdling to complete the pruning tasks. Young orchards also include shaping and pruning tasks such as branch bending.

② Summer pruning: techniques such as opening the branch angle, pinching, twisting shoots, girdling, thinning and heading back, and ringing are used to moderate tree vigor, improve light, and expand the crown.

③ Autumn pruning: through measures such as branch bending, thinning upright branches, water sprouts, densely growing branches and overly dense peripheral new shoots, the light conditions are improved, flower bud differentiation is promoted, and the cold resistance of the tree is enhanced.

④ Dormant period pruning: this is pruning carried out from after leaf fall in early winter to before bud break in spring. The main task is to remove useless branches such as diseased and pest-infested branches, densely growing branches and water sprouts. Methods include heading back the tips of scaffold branches and renewal pruning of overly long and overly large fruiting branch groups, auxiliary branches and weakened scaffold branch tips. Its role is to adjust the angles and extension directions of scaffold branches, auxiliary branches and fruiting branch groups, control the ratio of flower buds to leaf buds, and balance tree vigor, so as to achieve the goal of abundant and high yields.

Fertilizer and water management of apple trees

1. Fertilization management: Fertilization is generally divided into base fertilizer and topdressing. The specific timing depends on the variety, nutrient requirements, and the growth and fruiting status of the tree. Under normal circumstances, it is advisable to fertilize 4 times throughout the year.

① Pre-flowering fertilizer or sprouting fertilizer (early April).

② Post-flowering fertilizer (mid-May). These two fertilizations can effectively promote sprouting and flowering and promptly prevent nutrient depletion caused by the large consumption of nutrients during flowering, improve fruit set rate, and promote new branch growth.

③ Flower bud differentiation and young fruit swelling fertilizer (late May to early June). This topdressing is to meet the needs of fruit swelling, branch and leaf growth, and flower bud differentiation. This fertilization is mainly potassium fertilizer.

④ The best time to apply base fertilizer is autumn (early to mid-September). When applying base fertilizer mainly with farmyard manure, phosphorus is applied in full according to the total annual amount. In order to give full play to the fertilizer efficiency, phosphate fertilizer should first be piled and composted together with organic fertilizer, then mixed evenly before application.

2. Flower and fruit management

① Flower promotion techniques for young trees: For trees growing normally or vigorously, in addition to the aforementioned spring bud notching, summer girdling and autumn branch bending, growth regulators can also be used to promote flowering. During the early and mid-stages of vigorous new shoot growth and the autumn shoot growth period, spraying 0.15%-0.2% daminozide or 0.1%-0.2% ethephon 2-3 times can effectively inhibit growth and promote flowering. If daminozide and ethephon are sprayed together or alternately, the effect is even better. In addition, from around leaf fall in autumn to before bud break in early spring of the following year, applying paclobutrazol to the soil at 0.5 g/sq m-0.75 g/sq m (referring to active ingredient, equivalent to 15% paclobutrazol wettable powder 3.3 g/sq m-5 g/sq m) calculated by the tree crown projection area, evenly broadcast within the tree disk and turned in, or applied with water in a ring-shaped trench below the outer line of the crown, also has good effects on flower promotion. It is also possible to spray a 0.1%-0.15% paclobutrazol solution on the foliage when new shoots begin vigorous growth, which is likewise effective for flower promotion. At the same time, leaf protection and root nourishment should be done well in autumn, as good vegetative growth is the foundation for early flowering and fruiting.

② Improving fruit set rate: In years with poor climate and few flowers, artificial pollination or bee release at the early full-bloom stage of apples can ensure fruit set. For trees with many flowers or in years with many flowers, supplementary pruning is carried out when flower buds swell and begin to open, including removing weak ones and keeping strong ones, blocking-flower pruning of cluster flower branches, and renewal pruning of short fruiting branch clusters, and thinning flower buds. This can not only improve fruit set rate and enlarge fruit, but also help spur branches form flower buds, so it is also an effective measure to overcome alternate bearing. Spraying boron at the flowering stage in boron-deficient orchards has a significant effect on improving fruit set rate.

③ Flower and fruit thinning: From the early to late full-bloom stage, excessive inflorescences and flowers are thinned as required. At 1-4 weeks after petal fall, excess young fruits are thinned. This is a necessary measure to prevent or overcome alternate bearing in apples. According to the leaf-to-fruit ratio standard, generally (30-40):1 is maintained. According to the branch-to-fruit ratio (vegetative branches/fruiting branches) standard, it is (3-4):1 for the Delicious group, 3:1 for Golden Delicious, and (2-3):1 for Ralls Janet. Weak trees should appropriately increase the ratio. In general production, leaving 1 inflorescence to set fruit out of every 6-7 inflorescences can basically achieve the leaf-to-fruit ratio standard of (30-40):1. In order to improve thinning efficiency, taking advantage of the irregularity of apple flowering, that is, the first-opening central flowers have already been pollinated and fertilized while lateral flowers and spur flower buds open later, chemical flower thinning with 0.5-1 degree Baumé lime sulfur mixture at the late full-bloom stage can be promoted and used in production after testing.

④ Preventing pre-harvest fruit drop: Some apple varieties, such as Delicious, Starking, Jonathan, Fengyan, and Tsugaru, have severe pre-harvest fruit drop. Using a solution of naphthaleneacetic acid or sodium naphthaleneacetate at a concentration of 20 ppm-40 ppm (20PPM-40PPM), spraying the fruit clusters 1-2 times 30-40 days and 20 days before harvest can effectively reduce fruit drop.

⑤ Preventing fruit russeting and fruit cracking: Fruit russeting of Golden Delicious apples is an important factor affecting the commercial value of the fruit. It mainly occurs within 1 month after petal fall. Rainfall, high relative humidity and spraying Bordeaux mixture all aggravate the formation of fruit russeting. Although bagging has a good anti-russeting effect, it is difficult to apply on a large scale. Within 1 month after petal fall, using other agents instead of Bordeaux mixture for disease control can reduce the formation of fruit russeting. In addition, strong tree vigor can also reduce the degree of fruit russeting. Fruit cracking is a common phenomenon in Ralls Janet apple varieties in the Huaibei region, reducing the commercial value of the fruit. Spraying a 0.5%-1% calcium chloride (CaCl2) solution 1-2 times 1-3 weeks before fruit harvest has a clear effect on preventing fruit cracking. In addition, varieties with light cracking such as Fuji can be selected to replace Ralls Janet.