Content
- Fertilize your own apple tree properly
- Fertilize freshly planted apple trees
- The efficient fertilization of older apple trees
- The subplantation with green manure
- Tips & Tricks
Fertilize your own apple tree properly
In general, apple trees are among the more easy-care specimens also among the fruit trees. However, you should not forget to provide the tree with sufficient nutrients in view of a rich apple harvest.
Fertilize freshly planted apple trees
Basically, many hobby gardeners are more likely to over-fertilize the fruit trees in the garden as a deficiency supply of these with nutrients. Therefore, all fertilizer should be administered rather sparingly. In the case of a newly planted apple tree, it is generally sufficient for the first two to three years at the new site if the excavation around the tree roots was mixed with compost and stored manure during the planting. Only then should about 10 grams of blue seed per tree around the stem be administered in spring and late summer. Over-fertilization with nitrogen would cause the following dangers with the apple tree:
The efficient fertilization of older apple trees
Depending on their variety and location, older apple trees usually have a slightly higher nutrient requirement than their younger relatives. First of all, a mulch cover should be used to protect against dehydration in summer on a larger tree disk around the tree trunk. Ideally, for large apple trees, you should use a full-bodied potash fertilizer or an organic-mineral fertilizer. Give it twice a year about 60 grams per tree, once in March and once at the middle of May. However, in the presence of fresh compost, you can also distribute about four liters of it in the spring on the tree pulley. After a soil test, you may also be able to supplement it with horn meal and calcium ammonium nitrate.
The subplantation with green manure
The use of chemical fertilizers can be omitted in the apple tree, if in addition to the annual incorporation of compost in the soil in the area of the tree disc also underplantation with a green manure. For this purpose, plants such as the low-ranking nasturtium or lemon balm, which are then incorporated into the soil after the season. This naturally produces decomposable material that protects the delicate root system of the apple tree and supplies it with moderate amounts of nitrogen and other nutrients.
Tips & Tricks
In young apple trees, no freshly chopped wood parts should be introduced into the soil during mulching, otherwise they would extract nitrogen from the soil during the rotting process. Older trees are less sensitive and their tree can also be covered with woody materials. In general, proportionate fertilization should provide a balance between fruit yield and shoot gain. Fertilization should be avoided in late autumn, as otherwise young shoots will not survive the frost temperatures in the spring and early winter.