Our Fall Commitment to the Apple Tree
Apple tree care in autumn and preparation for winter
Inexperienced gardeners often think that with the onset of autumn cold weather, you can not take care of your garden at all. This is a huge mistake, because in order to get a harvest of large sweet apples in the summer, you need to start preparing already in the fall.
The first question that a “beginner” gardener will ask: “Why do you need to spray a tree in cold weather, if it does not spend energy at all on growing apples, as it happens in summer?”. The thing is that before the onset of cold weather, you need to help the apple tree "warm up" so that it can easily survive severe frosts and in the summer gave delicious apples.
The best time for spraying is the end of September, however, it is possible to carry out work on preparing a fruit tree for winter before the onset of permanent frosts.
So, what does apple tree care include in the fall? First you need to get rid of pests, then identify and eliminate all kinds of fungal diseases that can be infected with a tree. Among other things, it is necessary to protect the apple tree from too low temperatures, sudden changes in temperature, and of course from rodents. Whitewashing the plant will help for these purposes, but spraying is considered the most effective remedy.
How to protect an apple tree from pests?
With the onset of cold weather, various beetles and spiders look for a place for hibernation, and the best places for them are trunk circles and shelter under the bark of trees. This is why it is so important to process the apple tree in the fall. Moreover, you can get rid of pests in a fairly simple way. It is enough just to dig up the trunks and once to carry out a sanitary pruning. And in order to remove the pests located under the bark of the tree, it is necessary to whitewash the trunks.
A full range of operations for processing an apple tree trunk in the fall includes cleaning boles from old sections of bark (this can be done with a special metal brush or an ordinary scraper), puttying large cracks on the trunk with special means (they can be purchased at any store that sells garden fertilizers ), as well as whitewashing (to make whitewashing even more effective, you can add insecticides to it, poisonous chemicals designed specifically to eliminate harmful insects)
Apple tree care in autumn: how to protect an apple tree from fungal diseases?
In order to prevent various microorganisms from disturbing the apple tree in the cold season, the plant must be sprayed with fungicides. Fungicides are also plant protection chemicals but are used to combat fungal diseases.
The most sensitive place for any tree is the bole. It is enough for the trunk to undergo severe frostbite, the tree may not survive until spring. One of the most effective ways to insulate your tree is to wrap the trunk with roofing felt or tar paper. The height of the insulation should be about one meter. And if winters are very harsh in the area where your garden is located, then it is necessary to lay a layer of burlap or straw between the trunk and roofing felt. So you can be sure that the apple tree will survive even in the worst frosts.
Apple tree care in autumn: pruning
Another item in the complex of works to prepare the apple tree for the cold is the processing of the tree trunk. First you need to cleanse the tree from various pests and microorganisms. To do this, you need to carefully examine the tree with all the trunk, perhaps you will see moss or lichen, which you can get rid of by carefully scraping them from the bark, trying not to damage the trunk itself.When cleaning, do not use metal scrapers, as they are tough in texture and can disrupt the structure of the apple tree trunk. Then you can cover the root zone of the tree with a film or other dense material that does not allow harmful microorganisms to pass through.
Sanitary pruning of an apple tree as care in the fall includes the removal of broken or diseased branches and saturation of the cutting sites with garden pitch.
How to whiten the barrel correctly?
Only after carrying out all of the above activities can you start whitewashing the trunk. Whitewashing is necessary so that the sun, which has the property of reflecting from the snow-white snow, does not burn the delicate bark of the apple tree. Also whitewash is additional protection from rodents. All the lower branches and the bottom of the tree trunk should be treated with lime. Also in stores there are different types of special solutions for whitewashing trees. To increase protection against whitewashing, you can wrap the plant with plain paper.
Apple tree care in autumn: How to treat the root zone?
When the trunk and branches are processed and prepared for the winter, you should not think that you are done with preparing the apple tree for the cold weather. Now you need to start putting things in order in the root zone. But first you need to collect all the fallen leaves and fruits around the tree. If you leave them lying on the ground, thinking that their weight will be equally covered with snow, soon harmful insects will appear near the tree, followed by various fungal diseases. This means that all your previous efforts to destroy them will be in vain.
Next, you need to move on to digging the soil. Experienced gardeners are advised to keep the shovel parallel to the ground and grab a maximum of ten centimeters of soil, and if possible, use a pitchfork at all. Such special conditions and rules for digging are needed in order not to injure the root system.
In the process of digging the soil, it will be useful to additionally feed the plant with wood ash or potassium chloride. It is better to sprinkle a garden tree with compost, and in no case use organic fertilizers for this. The use of organic fertilizers can burn the root system of the tree.
During the onset of severe frosts, you can also bandage the trunk with branches of coniferous trees. This will give extra warmth to the apple tree.
What should NOT be used to process an apple tree?
The assortment in specialized stores dedicated to garden products is expanding and expanding every year. Therefore, in any of them it will not be difficult to find a special tool for spraying apple trees in the fall. But experienced gardeners know that it is possible to process a tree equally effectively with the help of folk remedies.
One of the most effective means for treating apple trees is urea. It will help not only get rid of fungal diseases, but also burn the future offspring of harmful insects. BUT! It is dangerous to use urea in the autumn, since this solution, in addition to nutrients, supplies nitrogen to the tree, and in cold weather this can contribute to the development of vegetation processes. Because of this, the tree will not be able to fully prepare for the winter and will die.
For this reason, urea can only be used until mid-July!
Observing the complex of all the above measures to prepare the apple tree for the cold weather, you can be sure that in the summer the tree will thank you for its care and attention, and will give a rich harvest of tasty and juicy apples to your family table.
