If the apple tree does not bear fruit

If the apple tree does not enter into fruiting for a long time, there may be several reasons.

Winter apple varieties generally begin to bear fruit much later than autumn and, especially, summer varieties. This can happen even in the seventh year after planting a one-year-old or two-year-old seedling. But, if all the terms have passed, and the apple tree does not want to bear fruit, check to see if the stem has been cut too far when planted. The tree will have to be lifted or unearthed. The root collar does not penetrate the soil when planting apples. Let it be better slightly above the surface of the soil.

Another reason is that the branches grow vertically or almost vertically upwards. They should be bent almost to the horizontal position. Only on horizontal branches is fruiting. Branches should be bent gradually, for this they make a cuff of dense material, which is freely grasped by a branch. Then, the cuff is tied over the cuff without tightening the cuff. The end of the rope is tied to the peg, driven into the soil from the side where you are going to deflect the branch. The peg is driven in obliquely from the tree. Now you start to wind up the rope to the count. During the summer, gradually slightly bend the branch and let it in this position overwinter. Next summer, push it back to an almost horizontal position. Usually, after the branch deviates into a horizontal position, the so-called tops( vertically growing young shoots) immediately appear on it. They either need to be cut right away to the very horizontal branch on which they grew, or they also gradually move to the horizontal position, pointing them to where there is no suitable branch.

But sometimes the branches are arranged horizontally and the landing is done correctly, but the apple tree does not bear fruit. This can be caused by a lack of iron. There is an ancient folk remedy: hammer into the trunk of an apple-tree two medium-sized rusty nails. You can, of course, do this and not so drastically, just bury a few rusty metal objects under the apple tree or sprinkle during the season 2-3 times with a 0.1% solution of ferrous sulfate( 1 tsp of vitriol for 8-10 liters of water).There is an excellent preparation "Ferovit".Sprinkle a couple of times in the spring and at the beginning of summer, the leaves of the solution are 4 drops per liter of water. But keep in mind that it stimulates the growth of the plant.

You can simply bury a few metal cans around the perimeter of the tree crown( empty, of course).Since banks are now anodized aluminum, not rusting in the soil, banks should be burned in the fire, then flatten them, and then dig in.

In addition, it is necessary to reduce the root system, because it stimulates the growth of the trunk and branches, but inhibits the laying on them of short fruit branches - the fruit pads. To do this, in 1.5 m from the trunk dig a tree with a ring groove to the depth of the roots and cut the roots! Do not be afraid, the tree will not perish, but will begin to supply less food to the growing branches, and this will cause the buds to grow up and move into growth, giving the fruit on which fruits are formed.

In general, a tree has two tasks: the capture of the living space and the care of preserving the species, that is, the creation of seeds( but not flesh around them - the fruits in which we are interested, and not the fruit tree).Roots usually do not extend far beyond the perimeter of the tree crown. The above-ground part tends to grow upward to take its place under the sun. While at the ends of the branches there is an annual large increase( about one meter), all the juices from the roots are expended by the tree on it and do not lay small overgrown twigs - fruit pads, because there is no food for awakening these kidneys.

If you stop the supply of nutrients to the vertically growing branches, then for the kidneys that give the pads, something falls and they wake up. For this purpose, we must either reduce the volume of the root system to reduce the nutrition of the growth buds, or cut out a narrow, only 2 mm, strip of bark with a cambium approximately 3-4 cm long under the unfruitful branch, or bend to the horizontal position of the branch( then headthe juice is less, and the growth at the ends of the branches slows down, and the kidneys of the fruit pads begin to awaken).But at the same time on the bent branches may appear tops( growing vertically up branches).They must either be cut without leaving the stumps, or be turned to the horizontal position, if an additional branch is required.

With normal growth( about 45 cm), the growth and laying of fruit buds go evenly, and nothing to do is necessary. But, when the tree grows to 2 m, it should regularly shorten the central trunk, not allowing the tree to grow vertically up. Pruning is done directly above the kidney, so that a dry stump does not appear later. All other branches should also be shortened by about 15 cm less than the central conductor. Pruning should be carried out over the kidney, which "looks" outside the crown. It is necessary to remove branches growing inside the crown, and the earlier, the better. The branches rubbing against each other, located close to each other, thicken the crown. The thinner the crown, the better it will be illuminated by the sun. Apples will be smaller, but they will be much larger. Enlargement of the fruit is also facilitated by partial pruning of overgrown fetuses. These short fruiting branches, on which flower buds develop, eventually grow too large. In addition, they grow old. All this leads first to the grinding of the fruit, and then, in 12 to 15 years, and to the cessation of fruiting.

If the increments are small( 5-25 cm), then such branches should be greatly shortened or even completely cut if there are no fruits on them. Usually they are located in the lower tier of old trees.

ADD TO NOTE

Beware of the purchase of columnar apple trees that are widely and completely groundlessly advertised in the North-West region, simply because of larger southern and unrealized planting material. After all, they manage to sell even five-year-old apple trees with a height of more than 2-3 m almost without a root system, the absence of which is explained by its compactness. There are cranks who buy them for a lot of money. The main rate in advertising is that these trees require a small area. But it's not just about lighting, it's also about the area of ​​power needed for the root system. Therefore, all the talk about the fact that it is possible to fit almost four trees per square meter to a columnar plant, I consider it a great exaggeration. They are generally bad in the Northwest, and even more so in thickened plantings, which contribute to the appearance of all sorts of fungal diseases on them. Often in the young trees, the apex point of growth is frozen, and this is the end of the growth of the tree. Will you gather a lot of fruits from such a dwarf? Therefore, I want to warn you against a typical mistake. In autumn, planted columnar apples and pears should be wrapped with polypropylene sackcloth from sugar or other products, naturally, without film inserts. This is necessary so that the apple tree does not freeze in winter, the rodents do not damage the cortex, spring sunburn of the cortex does not appear. But the top of the apple tree can not be packed into this dernuga. The harness should be on top, above the trunk, but remain open, otherwise you will not escape the tip of the apex bud. Her death causes a strong thickening of the crown with growing short branches, but there is no fruitage on them. The fetuses are located only on the trunk. The point here is also in the other. Columnoid apple tree is just one fruit tree. Fruits( fruit twigs) on it, as well as on an ordinary apple tree, live and bear fruit for 12-15 years. In a typical apple tree, they are replaced by more highly developed branches, in addition, regular pruning of the ends of old branches causes their fouling by young branches of the second order, and the fruiting commences on them. So the harvest from each columnar apple tree corresponds to a crop from one branch of a common apple tree, that is, very small. But business is curious, so perspire yourself and buy one apple-tree, watch it for about 5-6 years, and then decide if you need to replace your garden with a columnar one. These trees, of course, have a future, because they, as a rule, quickly enter into fruiting. If you have sufficient funds, then, of course, you can afford to have such a garden, which will need to be renewed every 5-10 years, gradually replacing the aging trees.