Top dressing of apple trees in spring

Fertilizing apple trees: briefly about the importance and why they are needed

Top dressing of apple trees is very important in the spring, because with the arrival of this period, all living things wake up. It is at this time that apple trees are in dire need of micronutrients, macronutrients and nutrients. All this is necessary for healthy and abundant fruiting. All these substances of the culture are obtained in particular from the soil, through the root system.

Top dressing of apple trees in spring: key principles

Young seedlings that are planted in rich soil will not require additional feeding during the first three years. But if the trees were planted in clay and poor soil, then in the first couple of years, the space around the plant should be sprinkled with organic compost or rotted manure. It turns to full-fledged fertilizers, it is possible only after three years of the seedling's life.

Top dressing of apple trees: when to apply

During the spring period, fertilizing is applied three times: 1) Before flowering; 2) At the time of flowering; 3) During the budding period.

Top dressing of apple trees: how to apply fertilizers correctly

If you add top dressing or fertilizer to the still cold soil, then it will lose its positive properties. If the spring period was too dry and hot, then the best solution would be to add nutrient mixtures, and it is not recommended to use dry solutions. Also in the spring, organic fertilizers should be applied sparingly so as not to develop the risk of fungal disease. Both dry and nutrient solutions must be applied strictly to moist soil. Therefore, the day before fertilization, the seedling should be watered.

This is done due to the fact that a dry root system is easy to burn with fertilizers. Nutrient mixtures need to be applied not only to the soil under the culture, but also around it by fifty centimeters.
When foliage appears, foliar fertilizers can also be used. But it is important that their solution is fifty percent less concentrated than those fertilizers that can be applied directly to the soil. After mixing, it is better to test it on one shoot, if in a day everything is fine with it, then it is prepared correctly and can be used on the whole plant.

For young plants, for those who have not yet turned three years after planting, it is recommended to sow green manure. They will help to saturate the soil with useful trace elements.
Those fertilizers in which nitrogen predominates are best used only in the spring. For they help the plant grow shoots and foliage. If you use nitrogenous fertilizers in the summer, then flowering may not be expected, or it will be extremely invisible. It should be remembered that organic fertilizing contains a lot of nitrogenous elements.

What and how to feed immediately before flowering

At a time when its first buds are already beginning to bloom on the tree, you need to start making the first top dressing. The best option for this process would be: rotted manure. One adult specimen will need about five buckets of top dressing. Sprinkle them around the stem of the plant. If there is no rotted manure, then you can apply a mixture of complex mineral fertilizing, namely: ammonium sulfate, or ammonium nitrate.They need to be bred strictly in accordance with the attached instructions.
Young apple trees from three years old, before the beginning of the flowering period, can be fed with a solution from a rotted mullein, in proportions of one in ten, before using it, it must be insisted.
In the southern regions of the country, the first top dressing is applied on the tenth or twentieth of the first month of spring. In the northern regions of the country, it is recommended to apply fertilizers in the tenth or twentieth of April.

What and how to feed during the flowering period

During this period, phosphorus and potassium are very important to plants. But due to the fact that shoots and foliage also grow, nitrogenous elements must be present
Suitable formulation for the mixture: 1) Twenty-five grams of urea; 2) Forty grams - potassium sulfate; 3) Fifty grams - superphosphate; 4) Five hundred grams - mullein. These proportions are enough for ten liters of water. If there is no mullein, then you can replace it with bird droppings, took two hundred and fifty grams. You need to insist such a solution for seven days. Once infused, you can use it. For each adult specimen, you need to allocate four buckets of solution.
Young specimens in the spring, the second time you need to feed on the twentieth of May. You need to apply foliar fertilizer in the form of a urea solution; for about five liters of liquid, you need to add ten grams of top dressing.

How and how to feed the culture after it fades

After the plant has bloomed, apples are set on it. It was at this time that the third feeding should be made. For this purpose, you can apply an infusion of weed crops, or immediately ready-made fertilizers. It is important to use foliar dressing after flowering.

How to prepare and use infusion of weed crops, ready-made fertilizers

Chopped weed grass, you need to pour boiling water, in a ratio of one in ten. You need to insist for about twenty days. After the solution is infused under each seedling, you need to make about a couple of buckets. You can also make a solution from ready-made fertilizers. For this you need: 1) Ten liters of water; 2) Fifty grams of nitrophoska; 3) One gram of sodium humate.

Solution recipe

First recipe

Wood ash infusion. For it, you need to take five liters of water and one hundred grams of wood ash. Let it brew for about a day, then strain and use as directed. It is important that the ash is from pure wood, which has not been previously painted, varnished or exposed to glue.

Second recipe

Infusion with urea. To prepare it, you need to take five liters of water and twenty-five grams of urea.

Conclusion

You need to spray in the evening. It is necessary to spray the mixture not only on the foliage, but also on the shoots of the tree. Top dressing and fertilizers are the key to a tasty and bountiful harvest.