Planting Apple Trees

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Planting Apple Trees

Cultivated in Europe for more than 2,000years, the apple was introduced to this countrysoon after the Europeans first arrived. Today,Washington, New York, Michigan, California.Pennsylvania, and Virginia are the leading pro-ducers of apples. The number of trees hasdropped since early in this century, but yieldshave remained about the same thanks to supe-rior sites, soils and better orchard management.Per capita consumption of apples has sufferedas better transportation has made citrus fruitmore available. The most popular varieties areRed Delicious, Golden Delicious, McIntosh,Rome Beauty, Jonathan, and York. Such oldstandbys as Baldwin, Grimes, Northern Spy,and Wealthy are losing popularity.

Apples will grow in almost any soil, butdo best in a clay loam. A general rule is thatthey thrive in soils suited to common cerealsand potatoes. A sloped site promotes air drain-age, thus minimizing frost damage, but alsoencourages soil erosion. Such steep sites canbe grown to alfalfa sod, and the growth cuttwo or three times a season.

Trees must be provided with plenty oforganic matter, such as a heavy mulch of alfalfaor grass clippings. Sweet clover, seeded late inJuly, makes an excellent winter ground cover.Leave it standing through the following summeror turn it under in spring. If the surface soil islow in fertility, rye will do better than clover but must be turned under before it developsfully, as it tends to grow woody when matureand could threaten young trees.

Mulches should be deep enough to smotherhe weeds beneath the branches. Increase thedepth of the mulches as the years pass: a five-year-old tree can use 100 pounds of straw;trees two to four years old will need propor-tionately less.

Natural forms of nitrogen can be appliedIn the fall after the foliage has dropped. Use21/4 pounds of dried blood or 41/2 pounds ofcottonseed meal per tree. If too much nitrogenreaches a tree late in the season, the resultantgrowth may be susceptible to winter injury.

Young trees have shallow root systems,and are therefore more vulnerable to shortagesof water and nutrients than well-establishedtrees. Larger trees also can rely on food re-serves in the bark and wood in hard times.

To protect trees from field mice and othersmall animals, place fine-mesh wire screens orwrap two thicknesses of aluminum foil aroundthe base in the fall. Also, staking a new treemay be necessary where wind or heavy snowmight cause it to grow crooked. Placing afour-inch barrier of one- to two-inch crushedrock on the bottom, sides and top of the plant-ing hole is also effective.

In late winter or early spring, while treesare dormant and before their buds begin toswell, a dormant oil spray should be applied.This mixture of 3 percent miscible oil and watersmothers many insect eggs before hatching.

Planting: Buy healthy one- or two-year-old trees about three to five feet tall and plantthem after the leaves have fallen, from lateOctober into early November. Freshly dug treescan also be planted early in spring, but in springland dries slowly and the growing season maybe well advanced by the time the orchard is planted. Young apple trees withstand the shockof transplanting best when they are dormant,another good reason for fall planting. By plant-ing your trees before the ground freezes, somenew growth of the roots will take place at onceand the trees will have a good start on the sea-son when spring comes.

Set the trees 40 feet apart in and between .the rows. Make the holes for them just largeenough to accommodate the root developmentof each tree. Set the trees an inch lower in theground than they stood in the nursery; a youngapple tree will not root any deeper by deepplanting, and may suffer for it.

Trees of at least two varieties should beplanted within 50 feet of one another, becausepollination of one variety by the pollen fromanother is usually required for the trees to bear.

Nutrition: If your soil is very acid,broadcast one pound of lime and 1/2 pound ofphosphate rock per tree over the entire orchardbefore planting. One-half this amount may wellbe sufficient for young trees grown in a covercrop that is mowed for mulch. If apple treesare grown in sod and mulched with nonlegumehay, add dried blood or other nitrogenousfertilizer. Increase the amount with each re-curring season, reaching a maximum applica-tion of two pounds of nitrogen for seven- oreight-year-old trees. Apply nitrogenous mate-rial in a circle about three feet wide under theouter extremities of the branch spread.

A deficiency of nitrogen will show up assmall, yellowish leaves. If the foliage rolls andscorches that indicates a lack of potassium inthe soil. A liberal mulch of manure (or a clovermulch to which lime has been added) mixedwith the right amount of potash rock to theacre, will adjust the potassium deficiency.

Falling Apples: The fall of apples, if notin excess, is a natural phenomenon, nature's way of removing improperly pollinated fruit.This also removes fruit that the tree could notnormally bring to maturity without exhaustingits nutrient supply. Two abscission periodsgenerally occur. The "first drop" begins shortlyafter petal fall and lasts for two or three weeks.The so-called "June drop," which begins a fewdays after the completion of the first drop, issomewhat of a misnomer since it normallyspans two to four weeks anywhere from lateMay to early June. Excessive drop may becaused by a deficiency of boron or magnesium,or by too little moisture, and heavy applicationsof nitrogen may encourage drop.

Apple Scab: Apple scab spends the win-ter on dead fruit and dead leaves on or underthe tree. It can be prevented largely by care-fully removing all dead leaves and fruit to thecompost heap and mulching under the tree. Adormant oil spray will also help.

Old Trees: Apple trees may bear cropsfor 30 to 50 years. If the trunk or branchesare badly rotted or about a quarter of the topis dead through disease or winter injury, it isnot ordinarily worthwhile to attempt salvage.However, here's some general advice whentrying to bring new life into old neglected trees:

Cut out old wood and prune heavily tostrong, new growth; remove all suckers notnecessary to replace the top; prune out inter-lacing branches to open the trees to light andthe circulation of air; break up the soil aroundthe tree, working in a great deal of compost,manure and organic materials; apply organicnitrogen such as dried blood, cottonseed mealor nitrogen-rich sludge, about 25 to 35 poundsper tree; mulch heavily. Do this regularly forseveral seasons.

Vitamin C Content: Apples are an im-portant source of vitamin C, although thevarieties differ greatly in their level of this vitamin. While five Delicious apples provide aminimum amount of vitamin C, one could getthe same amount from two Winesaps or oneBaldwin. Yellow Newton and Northern Spyare other good sources. McIntosh, Jonathanand York Imperial rate low in vitamin C.

Baldwin is widely grown in the easternUnited States. It is sensitive to the climaticextremes existing west of Lake Michigan, how-ever. Northern Spy, another high-C apple, isalso adaptable to the midcontinent and eastern region. Northern Spy is an excellent dessert oreating apple, but is not too useful for cooking.Baldwin is just the reverse. It is good for mak-ing pies and applesauce, but not too good foreating fresh. So by planting both of those trees you will get a good supply of both cooking andeating apples that are rich in vitamin C.

Tests have shown that most of the vitaminC in apples is right in or under the skin, andthe skin can contain five times as much of thevitamin as the flesh. It is interesting that smallapples are richer in vitamin C than large apples;small apples have more area of skin per poundof fruit, and this greater percentage of skin isprobably the cause of the higher vitamin Ccontent. It is fortunate that apples lose verylittle of their vitamin C in storage. If stored at36°F. (2.22°C.), Baldwin apples will lose novitamin C over a period of five or six months.However, if the storage temperature gets up to45°F. (7.22°C.), some of the vitamin contentwill be lost.

Selecting a Location: Each variety doesbest in certain regions of the country. In theNortheast, the Great Lakes keep the growingseason cool and summer rainfall is usuallydependable. Growers in the central Atlanticregion worry more about rainfall. Warmertemperatures dictate that most orchards beplaced at fairly high elevations in the Appa-lachians. Warm temperatures in the Ohio Basinregion cause more importance to be placed on asufficient rainfall; droughts tend to be quiteserious. Soils that can hold water well to adepth of three to four feet will minimize thethreat of damage. In the north central states,cold winters are the grower's main concern.Cold-resistant varieties have been developed,and include Haralson, Honeygold, Red Baron,Joan, Secor, Anoka, and Regent. Sunny sum-mers and relative freedom from spring frostdamage make the West Coast an excellentapple-growing area, although large orchardsoften must be irrigated.

In general, the primary consideration de-termining what variety can be grown is temperature. Talk with growers in the immediatearea and extension service agents about thedangers of spring frost, in particular, and thesuitability of temperature the rest of the year.

A persistent heavy wind may render a siteunsuitable, making spraying difficult and affect-ing fruit set. The best sites are elevated rollingor sloping fields; low-lying areas tend to collectcold air.

Although they cost a bit more initially,dwarf apple trees offer several advantages to thehome orchardist. Most standard apple varietiestake five to ten years to bear fruit; dwarf treesbear from one to three years after planting. Adwarf produces an average of one to threebushels (50 to 150 pounds) of fruit per season—plenty for the average family—and the fruitis as large or larger than that of the standardtree. Because they grow only six to eight feethigh-15 feet in the case of semidwarfs-dwarfs are easy to spray and pick from. Theyalso require much less space; you can plant sixdwarfs in the amount of space required for onestandard tree.

Gardeners interested in growing some ofthe colorful old apple varieties of yesteryear,either for their superior regional adaptability or exceptional taste, should consider grafting scions of old varieties like American Beauty,Rhode Island Greening and Cox Orange. Indi-viduals and groups who raise these old favoritescan often be traced through local nurseries,horticultural societies or county agriculturalextension offices. Other old-time varieties thatonce flourished in backyards and small orchardsinclude Ben Davis, Black Gilliflower, BluePearmain, Esopus Spitzenburg, Maiden's Flush,Pound Sweet, Twenty Ounce, and Fameuse.Some nurseries that specialize in old varietiesare Baum's Nursery, New Fairfield, Connecticut; Leuthardt, East Moriches, New York..Mellinger's, North Lima, Ohio; and Waynes-boro Nursery, Waynesboro, Virginia

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