Necessary fertilizers for apple trees in autumn

A healthy and fertile garden necessarily requires the application of fertilizer for apple trees in the fall. Which of them is better - organic or mineral? When and at what dose should they be taken? In the article these and other questions on planting and care of apple orchard are considered.

Is it difficult to grow a garden?

When we admire a well-groomed fruit-bearing garden, it seems to us that gardening is a fairly simple occupation that does not require special knowledge and skills. What is difficult?

In spring, plant a seedling in the ground, water well, sprinkle a couple of times a season - that's all the work. People who are ignorant of the ability to plant and grow apple trees, it seems that it is very simple to have a good harvest of fruits every year. However, experienced gardeners know that growing fruit trees is a serious job, requiring experience, patience and diligence.

One of the most important moments in the care of the apple orchard is its competent top dressing. A balanced fertilization of the soil will enable the trees to develop normally and bear fruit. And the periodicity of fruiting is reduced to a minimum. The tree is not sick, it is easier to cope with pests, faster recovered after such stresses as heat in summer and frost in winter.

Soil fertilization under seedling planting

It is known that autumn planting of apple trees is preferable. This allows the root system to gain strength over the winter, recover from the transplant stress and prepare for the future vegetation. The tree should be planted in the middle of autumn after the fall of the fall.

Choosing apple seedlings for planting, it is necessary to know the composition of the soil. This will make it possible to estimate how much and what kind of fertilizers need to be introduced into the earth in order to increase its fertility.

The best fertilizers for planting apples are organic. They are brought in such quantities:

• Ash - 1 kg per pit;
• Humus - 2 small pails per pit;
• Compost - 3-4 buckets per pit;
• Peat - 3-4 buckets per pit.

You can mix all these components in a ratio of 1: 4: 5: 5 and a bucket of the resulting mixture to feed the land.

Mineral fertilizers should not be planted under the planting. Often you can find arguments about what fertilizers are needed for apple trees, and advice on applying phosphate, nitrogen or potassium fertilizers to seedlings. However, as practice shows, the introduction of mineral fertilizers does more harm than good. Trees are sick and often die. This is due to the ability of mineral fertilizers to cause root burns. And the roots of the seedlings are still young and tender, so the trauma is painful. Organics, however, only benefit. It is better to start making mineral fertilizers for apple trees in autumn, for 3-4 years after planting the tree.

It is also necessary to take into account the climatic conditions and the purpose of the apple variety for these conditions. If in the south of our country there are no restrictions in planting any varieties, then in the northern regions it is necessary to control the winter hardiness of apple trees. If you plant a tree that is not suitable for harsh conditions, it will simply perish, and efforts will be wasted.

Care for apple trees. Schedule of fertilizer application

In the spring, removal of pest or frost damaged areas, old branches or not yielding crops, as well as lichen is carried out. After cutting, all the exposed places must necessarily be treated with garden so that pests and pathogenic microflora do not penetrate into unprotected areas. It is necessary to put a whitewash on the tree trunk to a sufficient height. Summer care is mainly in watering, if the weather is very hot, and in the timely removal of fallen apples, so as not to rot under the tree.

During the whole season fertilizing the garden with fertilizers is mandatory. The first portion is added in the spring. Fertilizers are needed both organic (every year) and mineral (for 3-4 years after planting). It is important to remember that organic fertilizers should consist precisely of humus, since fresh organic matter will damage the roots of the tree.

The main fertilizing is carried out according to the following schedule:

• The first is the period of opening the buds before flowering;
• The second - when the ovary reaches the size of a walnut;
• Next - one month after flowering, when young shoots begin to grow;
• The final cycle of fertilizer application for apple trees - in the fall, to replenish potassium and create a tree of useful substances before wintering.

Autumn care, importance of feeding in autumn

Collecting the harvest, you need to prepare the tree for the difficult wintering conditions. The more severe the climate, the more carefully it is necessary to do this. Work should begin at the end of the first month of autumn. By this time, the watering of the tree stops, so as not to reduce its winter hardiness. In autumn the plant is repeatedly subjected to a careful examination, all unnecessary branches are removed, all the places are cut with a solution of copper sulfate, followed by application of a garden gum. If the tree is old enough and it has a rather thick bark, it is also necessary to check it for the presence of harmful insects. With a positive result, the bark is also better to remove and burn to prevent the spread of pests.

In order to make it easier for the tree to survive the winter, and in order to get a good harvest next year, it is mandatory to apply fertilizer to the apple tree in the fall. This is a very important stage of caring for the garden, because it is in autumn that the future harvest is laid, so it is important to provide trees with all the necessary nutrients. Under the roots are introduced organic or nitrogen, potassium-phosphorus fertilizers for apple trees in quantities according to the instructions for a particular type of fertilizer. All work must be done before the onset of severe cold, in winter the tree must enter completely with a supply of useful substances and well-protected externally.

What are the fertilizer choices for apple trees in the fall? How to calculate the dose

For fertilizing apple trees in autumn it is best to use both types of dressings - organic and mineral.

To calculate the dose required for each particular tree, you need to know and consider not only the climatic conditions, but also the age of the plant, its level of fruiting in the past season. After all, the more the harvest was, the more the tree spent the useful substances, and the more it needs to fill them. Still need to take into account the area of growth of its roots, approximately this will be the size of the tree trunk. The whiplash circle is determined by the size of the shadow of the tree crown on a summer day. A perennial plant can have a radical circle up to 50 square meters. Meters. Evaluating all these indicators, you can easily calculate the dose of organic and mineral fertilizing.

Fertilizing with mineral fertilizers

Simple potash, phosphoric and nitrogen fertilizers for apple trees are introduced in the following dosage:

1. Potassium fertilizers - up to 20 grams per square meter of the near-barrel circle.
2. Phosphoric - up to 35 g per square meter. This is the norm for the middle band, slightly higher for the southern edges - up to 60 g per square meter.
3. Nitrogen - 20 grams per 1 square meter of the near-barrel circle.

When applying mineral fertilizers it is best to dissolve them in water and to water the tree.

Modern gardening successfully uses complex fertilizers, which include several nutritional elements at once. To such combined preparations first of all are:

1. "Nitrofoska" is potassium-nitrogen-phosphorous fertilizing, it contains potassium - not less than 11%, nitrogen - not less than 11%, easily soluble phosphorus - not less than 11%. The number of constituent components may vary, as indicated by the labeling "Nitrofoski" (mark A, B, etc.). The average application rate is 50-70 g per 1 m.
2. "Nitroammophoska" - in the composition contains nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus 17% each. Under each fruit-bearing apple should be added from 200 to 400 g of fertilizer.
3. "Ammophos" - contains at least 10% nitrogen and at least 40% phosphorus. It is successfully applied as an autumn dressing of a garden on chernozems.

Top dressing of apple-trees with organic

What fertilizers for apple trees fall in addition to mineral fertilizers? This, of course, is organic. It is best to use humus or humus for these purposes. The amount of humus applied depends also on the age of the apple and the area of growth of the roots. On average, on a young tree up to 4 years of age it is necessary to make about 10-20 kg of humus, for a tree from 10 years and older, up to 45-55 kg of fertilizer is applied. These rates are suitable for places with a temperate climate, for southern regions, the amount of fertilizers applied can be increased by 20%, since in the autumn the cold comes later, the tree has time to digest all the useful substances and complete its preparation for the winter.

Organic fertilizers are introduced by dropping or loosening the soil.

In time, the well-fed apple trees will have time to assimilate all the useful substances that make up fertilizers, and will be better prepared for the difficult wintering conditions.