How Long Do Apple Trees Live? Age-Related Knowledge Fruit Growers Need to Know
The apple belongs to the Rosaceae family and is the most common fruit. It has a cultivation history of more than two thousand years in China. Do you know how long apple trees live? In fact, there are many factors that affect the lifespan of apple trees. Let's take a look together below!
How long do apple trees live?
The lifespan of an apple tree generally reaches 50 years. With good management, the lifespan is longer; with poor management conditions, the lifespan is shorter. In some new apple-producing areas, due to differences in cultivation techniques or improper management, the lifespan is only around 30 years.
Growth Habits of Apple Trees
Apple trees begin to bear fruit 2 to 3 years after planting. Under ordinary management conditions, the economic lifespan is 15 to 50 years; on poor soil with extensive management, it is only 20 to 30 years. Due to the combined effects of apical dominance and bud heterogeneity, apple trees usually have strong trunk dominance and obvious tiering. Because bud-break ability and branching ability differ among varieties, the degree of tiering also varies. Apple buds are divided by nature into leaf buds and flower buds. Leaf buds are triangular, pointed and elongated, and curved; after leafing out, they grow into shoots called new shoots or vegetative shoots.
Apple branches can be divided by growth condition into: water sprouts, ordinary shoots, slender shoots and leaf clusters. The flower buds of apples are mixed buds. Axillary flower buds are buds formed in the leaf axils of the current year's shoots that can bloom and bear fruit the following year, called axillary flower buds. In most varieties, flower bud differentiation begins in early June and is completed before winter; the whole process is divided into three stages: physiological differentiation, morphological differentiation and sex cell maturation. The flower buds are mixed buds, and the inflorescence is a corymbose cyme. Each inflorescence has 5—8 flowers.
Growing Conditions for Apple Trees
1. Temperature: Apple trees are temperate fruit trees that prefer low temperatures and dry conditions, requiring no severe cold in winter and no extreme heat in summer. The suitable temperature range is an annual average temperature of 9 to 14°C; the extreme low temperature in winter should not be lower than -12°C; the highest monthly average temperature in summer should not be higher than 20°C; the annual accumulated temperature at ≥10°C is around 5000°C; the average temperature during the growing season (April to October) is 12 to 18°C; in winter, 1200 to 1500 hours below 7.2°C are needed to successfully pass natural dormancy. It is generally believed that apples can be cultivated in areas with an annual average temperature of 7.5 to 14°C. Apple trees have a relatively long natural dormancy period. If winter temperatures are high and cannot meet the low-temperature requirements needed for winter dormancy, spring bud break will be uneven. Looking at the regions where apples are most cultivated in the world, only when the average temperature of the coldest winter month (January in the Northern Hemisphere, July in the Southern Hemisphere) is between -10 and 10°C can the low-temperature requirements of apples be met.
2. Precipitation: During the growing period, apples need about 180 mm of precipitation per mu of land. Generally, only about 1/3 of natural precipitation can actually be used and absorbed by fruit trees, so 540 mm of precipitation during the growing period is already sufficient. In areas with precipitation below 450 mm from April to September, irrigation is needed. Precipitation in northern China is unevenly distributed, with 70 to 80% concentrated in July and August, while water is insufficient in spring. In inland areas with little precipitation, water is insufficient, so when choosing a site and establishing an orchard, irrigation conditions and moisture-conservation measures must be taken into account, and attention must also be paid to drainage measures during the rainy season.
3. Sunlight: Apple trees are a light-loving species and can only grow normally with sufficient light. According to measurements by Shandong Agricultural University, in the Tai'an area, the light compensation point of Golden Delicious and Starkrimson is 600 to 800 meter-candles, and the saturation point is 3500 to 4500 meter-candles. Within this range, as light intensity increases, photosynthesis also strengthens. Insufficient sunlight causes a series of reactions, such as excessive growth of branches and leaves, weakness, poor resistance to diseases and pests, fewer flower buds differentiated, less nutrient storage, low flowering and fruit-setting rates, affected root growth, low sugar content in fruit and poor coloring.
4. Soil: Soil has a great influence on the growth, yield and quality of apples. The main factors are soil layer, soil aeration and soil texture. In short, apples need deep soil with good drainage, rich in organic matter, and slightly acidic to slightly alkaline.
5. Wind: Strong winds often bring many adverse effects to the growth and development of apples, such as causing the tree crown to lean, affecting flowering and pollination, damaging leaf organs and causing fruit drop. Therefore, in windy areas, windbreak forests must be established when building apple orchards.