Colon-shaped apple-trees: pruning and care, photo

The choice of varieties of apple trees for your garden is very responsible. Care for cuttings will have for several years, until the first harvest. Therefore, if the selected variety does not meet your requirements, the result is a great disappointment. Agrotechnists constantly bring out new apple trees, so the gardener only needs to monitor the market and acquire seedlings in proven farms. The last point is very important.

Colon-shaped apples spread in domestic gardening swiftly. The imagination of the summer resident simply amazed the opportunity to get about five centners of fruit from one hundred. In addition, the undisputed advantage of the column-shaped form is short stature and compactness. Today we want to consider the care of such plantings in more detail.

Intensive growth

This is both a plus and a minus, which characterizes the columnar apple trees. Pruning and caring for them must match. This is a variety of intensive growth and extreme early fertility. It often happens that the seedlings planted in the spring, already begin to blossom in the summer. This situation is stressful for the plant itself, since it did not manage to settle down in a new place and form a root system.

Therefore, in order not to lose the plant and not break off the buds, it is necessary to carefully prepare the conditions for it, in particular, the soil. Only in the case of proper application of fertilizing can grow and develop colonoid apple trees. Pruning and caring for them at first glance is not difficult, but it has certain pitfalls. Let's talk about this in more detail.

Basic views

In 1964, for the first time, colonoid apple trees were obtained. Pruning and caring for this new species were not yet mastered, but the rules were improved year after year, along with the emergence of new varieties. To date, there are two types of "columns". Each of them has the further division, but more on this later.

The first species is actually coloniform varieties. Plant them on dwarf stocks. The latter are ordinary, modern apple trees, characterized by high productivity and fruit quality, and grafted onto super-dwarf rootstocks and shaped like a column.

They blossom already on 2-3 year of a life, and separate copies still from nursery, already one-year-olds. That is, you do not have to wait long for apples. However, the life of such a garden is very short, each tree pleases the gardener from 5 to 10 years. When growing, you need to comply with certain requirements, otherwise you will have an ordinary apple tree on the site, and you will not be able to change it back to the column.

Choose seedlings

In addition to the fact that the varieties are dwarfish, semi-dwarfish and vigorous, they, in turn, are also divided into species. Summer varieties are characterized by early flowering, the fruits can be taken off in August. The most popular are Medoc and the President. Trees are very compact, suitable for growing in a small garden.

Autumn varieties are the most popular. Fruits ripen during September and October, they are large, sweet and perfectly tolerate frosts. These are Vasyugan, Jin and Titania.

Finally, the latest, winter varieties - Arbat, Bolero, Currency. Very productive, without support, the trunk can even break. Apples are well kept throughout the winter season.

Features of landing

Indeed, it all starts from the moment you bring home the column-shaped apple trees. Cropping and care must be carried out correctly from the first day. If the place of grafting is buried when planting, the graft will give its own roots. Pay special attention to this, since there is no root stock in the clonal stock. In this case, the expected result is a vigorous, root-apple tree.

Colon-shaped varieties differ in small sizes, and extreme fertility. The lack of growth hormone, which is produced in the roots, leads to super-dwarfism. However, this point also has the opposite side.

It is thanks to this feature that flower buds are laid in a huge amount, including on the main trunk. The side branches of the column are completely unnecessary, enough that there is a strong central conductor. As a result, we get the main advantage that colonial apple trees possess . Planting and care (photo of the garden below) are greatly facilitated. The distance between trees is reduced to 0.5 meters. Due to this density, the yield increases.

Preparing the soil

This is a very important point, since without qualitative fertilizer it is not possible to grow columnar apples. Planting and care (photo demonstrates the true dream of a gardener, a neat tree, hung with fruits) must meet certain requirements. A good harvest you will get only when the plant is provided with everything that is necessary for its development.

The landing pit must be prepared in advance. The optimal size is 90 * 90 cm, but 50 * 50 is also acceptable. However, it is very important that the roots are placed freely. It must be fertilized. This is superphosphate (100 g) and potassium (50 g). Be sure to mix them well with the ground, then compact. The next step is the planting of apple trees. Now it will be necessary to water abundantly. If you make organic matter in the pit, you need to separate it from the roots by a layer of earth.

We provide conditions for normal development

Another important point that allows you to grow a column-shaped apple tree. Care in the spring is a high-quality additional dressing. It is very important to water the seedling 3-4 times with slurry. The concentration is 1:10. Suited fermented chicken droppings, but it should be diluted, approximately 1:30.

The next moment is a peculiar pinching of the seedling during the summer. The fact is that the columnar apple tree is characterized by a protracted growth. To accelerate the process of maturation of the apical bud, it is necessary to remove two-thirds of the plate in the four upper leaves. This is done in early August.

What else you need to know by wanting to grow a column-shaped apple tree. Planting and leaving (varieties to date are more promising) will bring the desired effect only if the apex bud survives. This is a weak point. It is prone to freezing. In the event of its death, several vertically growing vertical shoots are formed. They can be left and allow the plant to form two columns.

Trimming

Today we want to offer the gardener a general instruction on how to plant colonial apple trees. Planting and grooming, pruning and growing, the best varieties - all this is important information, which as a result will help to form a dream garden. Above we have already talked a little about the spring works, now we go further. The main secret of growing these unique fruit trees is that the more we cut, the stronger the rest grows. Therefore, you do not need to regret landing, but it is important to know what and when you can delete.

Cutting the branches by 2/3 and leaving four kidneys, you will get 3-4 powerful shoots. In this case, if you decide to "regret" the plant and remove ½ part of the branch, then as a result, grows an average of 5 shoots. Accordingly, if only the apical bud is removed, then a dozen weak branches grow.

There are some other features that a summer resident should know. The closer the branch to the trunk, the stronger it grows, in comparison with the deflected shoots. Therefore, the central conductor should not be cut off, no branching is required from it. With proper care, the annual increment is 10-15 cm.

During the whole season

For the first time in the spring, the column-shaped apple trees are cut. Planting and nursing, reproduction of these yielding varieties are slightly different from tall-growing varieties, and this must be taken into account. Even before the beginning of the sap flow, the lateral branches are shortened to two buds. Due to them the tree acquires two strong shoots for a warm season. In the second year, the one that is closer to the horizontal is left, and the vertical one is shortened again by two kidneys. The first will be fruiting, and the second will give two good shoots. The next year, the twig that gave apples is cut out, and the remaining two are delivered in the same way as in the previous year.

Sometimes the high activity of tree growth leads to the fact that the flower buds embedded in the trunk grow into side shoots. In this case, the tree acquires an interesting external Vedas, like a brush for dishes. And when the harvest ripens, the fruit hangs right on the trunk. By the way, all gardeners note how convenient are the column-shaped apple trees. Care and trimming in the fall is carried out as needed, if you see that during the summer season did not have time to follow the tree.

Top dressing

It is not so simple to grow on your site colonoid apple trees. Planting and care, pruning, everything should be done on time, otherwise you will not see results. Cultivation of such varieties is an intensive technology. Without a constant presence in the garden, their growth and fruiting are impossible.

It is important to remember that they need a lot of nutrients. Therefore, every year you need to make complex fertilizers under the columnar apple trees. Care in the autumn involves the creation of a basal ring. In it, fresh humus is introduced, after which the earth is gently loosened and mulched. Now the tree no longer requires intensive irrigation, as during the summer season.

Rationing of crops

Despite good nutrition and conditions, such a large number of ovaries can not grow even a large tree, not to mention such a miniature plant. In the first year after planting, the flowers are best to pluck, especially if it was performed in the spring. For the second year, be guided by the condition of the seedlings. If he gets well, then you can leave a few apples. For the third year, enjoy the first harvest.

But rationing is very individual. See how your tree grows, what fruits are formed, and, based on this, plan activities for the next year. If you notice that the fruits have become smaller, then you need to reduce the amount of the ovary. This is done as follows. During flowering, 2 bunches are left on each fruit link. Everything else is plucked out. Initially, look at the number of flowers, twice the future harvest. When the ovary appears, half of the bunches are removed. Now you need to wait a bit until the apples become the size of a cherry. Now leave only 2 ovaries in the bouquet. Having grown to the size of the nut, they are again thinned out. Now every fruit link has only one ovary.

Root system

All clonal stock does not have a rod that extends deep into the earth. Their root system is tender and weak, and the more pronounced the dwarfness of the variety, the worse the tree is anchored in the soil. No other garden tree grows that way, so if you first plant a column, pay special attention to this item. The roots extend only 20 cm from the trunk, and are fragile. They can be damaged by trampling down the ground or loosening. Therefore, gardeners use the technique of curing. That is, in the basal circle, cereals are sown and periodically mowed. If there is no time for this, then the soil is mulched.

Watering

As you can see, a little diligence, and on your site will grow colony-shaped apple trees. Planting and care (photo, reviews emphasize that to get a good harvest will have to spend a lot of time) will be justified a hundredfold. Very important and proper watering. It is desirable that it was permanent, drip. If this is not possible, water a little water every 2 days. In both cases, abundant watering is required from time to time. The optimal interval is 14 days, so that the water completely absorbs all layers, and the soil is enriched with oxygen.