How to care for an apple tree in the summer by months

When starting to plant an apple orchard, every summer resident hopes for a bountiful harvest of tasty fruits. For these hopes to come true, you need to know how to care for an apple tree from the moment the seedling is planted.

What garden tool is needed to care for an apple tree

The main care of an apple tree is pruning. It is carried out using:

• secateurs;
• lopper with long handles;
• garden saw.

The well-kept garden bears fruit annually

Plastic scrapers and hard brushes are used to clean the dead bark. Whitewashing on trees is applied with a brush or spray gun.

It is necessary to purchase a garden sprayer (backpack is convenient) with a long retractable handle. It will be needed for processing the crown from pests and diseases, foliar feeding. When the trees enter the fruiting period, a fruit picker will come in handy for picking apples from the upper branches.

Features of caring for seedlings in the first year of planting

Caring for apple seedlings consists of regular watering, not as abundant as in adult trees, but more frequent. The root system of the tree has not yet penetrated deep into the soil and cannot fully absorb moisture. Watering a young garden in the summer is necessary at least 2 times a month.

If the planting pit was filled with highly nutritious soil, then feeding the tree in the first year is not needed. Otherwise, it is necessary to apply nitrogen fertilizer 3 weeks after planting (solution of urea, ammonium nitrate or manure infusion). At the end of summer, the seedlings should be watered with a solution of superphosphate and potassium salt.

Spring care principles

At this time of the year, it is important to help the tree emerge from its hibernation without loss:

• Remove the shelter, if any, remove the old mulch and burn. This should be done when the daytime temperature rises to +10 degrees.
• Clean the crown. Whitewash the trunk and skeletal branches with lime mixed with PVA glue (this way the whitewash lasts longer).
• Feed the garden with nitrogen fertilizers.

Whitewashing protects wood from sunburn and pests

How to protect an apple tree from recurrent frost

In the Moscow region and other regions with a similar climate, frost threats often threaten flowering apple trees. If the air temperature during the flowering period drops to -2 degrees, the fruits will not set.

How to properly care for an apple tree in bloom if frosts are expected:

• The crown of the tree should be watered abundantly with water from a hose every 3-4 hours. The water, freezing on the flowers, will prevent frost from destroying the reproductive organs of the plant.
• On the eve and immediately after freezing, trees should be sprayed with Epin solution. The biological stimulant helps the plant cope with stress and increases its resistance to cold.
• In the garden between the trees, light grass or rotten hay fires. The smoke screen that envelops the garden will be a barrier to the cold.

Corrective pruning of apple trees in spring

In spring, mature trees need sanitary pruning.Broken, frost-damaged branches must be removed.

In the care of young apple trees in spring and summer, there is also corrective pruning, aimed at building the correct crown. For a fruit tree, a cup-shaped shape is convenient, when the central conductor is shortened, and the lateral branches form a circle. For apple trees, a pyramid-shaped tiered crown is popular. Which of the types of pruning to choose is up to the owner of the cottage.

Correct shaping of the tree is the key to abundant fruiting

Summer care features

Caring for an apple tree in summer is simple and easy. A child can handle watering trees on a hot day. It is enough to throw the hose into the near-barrel circle, where pits have been drilled in advance, with a depth of 30-40 cm.

Garden feeding schedule:

• In June, after flowering, trees should be sprayed with a composition containing trace elements (magnesium, boron, zinc). The drugs "MagBor", "Plodovit", "Alliance" are used. It is useful to treat the foliage with a urea solution (1 tablespoon per bucket of water).
• In July, the ovary is actively growing, so the tree needs a balanced diet. Watering with a solution of a complex mineral fertilizer ("Hera", "Fertika") is used.

How to care for a young apple tree that does not bear fruit:

• water regularly, keeping the soil in a moderately moist state;
• spray from pests.

Autumn care of the apple tree

At this time of the year, the trees are harvested. Along the way, damaged fruits are removed so that they do not attract pests.

After leaf fall, apple trees are fed with superphosphate (40 g per 10 l of water) and potassium sulfate (20 g for the same volume).

The crown should be cleaned of excess branches and sprayed with Bordeaux mixture to protect against fungal infections.

Pruning damaged branches

All shoots that have dried up, have sores and wounds on the bark are subject to removal. They are cut back to healthy wood, leaving no stumps on the trunk.

This work on the site is carried out in early spring (March) or at the end of summer, in the fall. During the period of active sap flow, pruning is not performed.

Loosening the soil in the trunk circle

To enrich the soil with oxygen, it is useful to shallow soil loosening. It is enough to immerse the rake by 5-7 cm, no more.

Mulching and sodding

More and more gardeners are practicing "natural" cultivation of apple trees when there is no bare soil in the garden. The space under the trees is sown with herbs (clover, phacelia, alfalfa, bluegrass, bent grass) or covered with straw, mown hay.

Under the mulch, worms actively reproduce, which loosen the soil. At the same time, the roots of the tree are well protected from the summer heat.

Removal of moss, lichens, processing of bark, sealing of hollows

Old tree trunks need to be cleaned regularly in the fall. For this, scrapers and brushes are used. Wash the barrels with soapy water or salt solution (1 glass per bucket of water). After cleaning, the bark must be whitened by adding clay and medicines to the solution.

Hollows are cleaned of dead wood and filled with cement mortar, polyurethane foam or clay and manure talker.

It is convenient to make a filling on a hollow from cement or clay

Protection from pests and diseases

Apple trees are threatened by aphids, moths, spider mites. Trees suffer from scab, fruit rot, cancer. Good care and timely prevention will minimize the manifestations of disease.

Starting from the moment of budding and until late autumn, the garden should be treated with insecticides and fungicides, alternating preparations. From pests, "Inta-Vir", "Actellik", "Fufanon", "Decis" are used. For diseases use Bordeaux mixture, Fitoverm, Bitobaxicillin.

Common mistakes and tips from gardeners

The main mistake of novice gardeners is the belief that the tree will yield a harvest even without leaving. A young seedling is able to bear fruit for several years without human help, but the harvest will shrink from year to year.

It is impossible to know everything about apple trees, but these points must be well remembered:

• in the first year after planting, the seedlings should be watered frequently;
• feed trees in early summer, during the growth of the ovary;
• in the fall, carry out pruning and processing from fungi;
• do not leave plant debris in the garden.

Proper care of the fruit garden in the open field will allow you to get a harvest of delicious apples every year.