How to Start an Apple Orchard

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How to Start an Apple Orchard

How to Start an Apple Orchard

There are many things you need to consider before starting an apple orchard in your garden. You’ll need to plan the types of apples you will choose to grow, the size and placement of trees, the water system, and the control of pests and diseases. In this article, we will cover how to start an apple orchard in your garden. The key to a successful apple orchard is quite a bit of planning and research, research, and more research.

To find out what types of apples grow best in your area, you can refer to the USDA Plant Hardiness Zones web page. Also, check with the County Extension office in your area as to what types of apples are the best to grow where you live. Apples vary in color, size, taste, harvest season, uses storage, and other characteristics. These are all factors to consider when planning your orchard.

Another key aspect to consider is pollination. Each variety of apple tree has a certain pollinator that must grow within proximity to one another. Again, you can contact your local County Extension Office to find out what type of trees will pollinate each other. There are also self-pollinating trees available that have multiple grafts on a single rootstock.

How to Start an Orchard

Tree Size

The rootstock is the part of the tree that is underground. Rootstocks determine the size of the fully grown tree and are available in standard size, semi-dwarf, and dwarf. The scion or cultivar is the part of the tree that is above ground. They are grafted onto the rootstock and determine the type of apples that the tree will produce.

Both semi-dwarf and dwarf-sized apple trees will produce full-sized apples. You can consult a local nursery for prices and availability or you can order your trees from an online nursery but always keep in mind the above considerations. Sprouting apple trees from seeds is another option, but it requires skills and knowledge too involved to go into here.

Design the Layout

The size and shape of the area in which you wish to grow your orchard will influence the size and placement of the trees. Do you have a lot of room to grow trees and their appropriate pollinators or will space limit the number of trees making self-pollinating trees your best choice?

The size of adult trees determines the amount of spacing required for each tree. Dwarf trees need at least 12 feet between each other, semi-dwarf trees need at least 20 feet and full-sized trees require at least 30 feet of spacing between them. Before your shovel even touches the ground, you should have a diagram of the exact layout of your orchard.

If the space available is extremely limited you can still enjoy apple-picking trees by planting dwarf-sized trees in large pots. This will save room and also enable you to take advantage of the available sunlight. Apple trees require at least 5 hours of full sunlight each day to thrive.

For moderately sized areas you can plant a row of trees along the border of your yard or garden. Apple trees can be trained to grow to fit into a particular area by using wires to control the direction of their new growth. But if you’re planning to start a farm of apple orchard that require hectares of land, you can purchase land with the help of experts in Mossy Oak Properties.

Watering System

The most common cause of failure is improper watering. Either too much or not enough water will affect the tree‘s success. A proper water delivery system is a must and should be planned for in the design layout of the orchard.

drip irrigation system is one type of watering system that works well and is inexpensive and easy to install during the planting of your trees. Some research into different types of the watering can be useful at this point in planning.

Soil and Fertilizers

An absolute must is healthy soil and a good fertilizer. You can have your soil tested for its ph and nutrient levels. This small investment is the only way to guarantee that you have healthy soil. You can purchase a soil testing kit but why not get it professionally done for a few more dollars?

Although apple trees are very hardy they are still susceptible to diseases and pests. Educate yourself about the symptoms, causes, and treatments of the most common problems associated with growing apple trees.

It cannot be said enough that the key to a successful apple orchard is in the research and the planning. Good luck with planting your apple orchard!

Fertilizing Newly Planted Apple Trees

Newly planted apple trees require special attention where nitrogenous fertilizers are concerned. Lack of application, improper placement, or high rates can seriously damage young trees. Incorporating fertilizer into the hole at planting is not recommended because this practice can kill trees by burning young roots.

Failure to apply nitrogen after planting can result in less-than-ideal growth. The rule of thumb when fertilizing new trees is to apply 0.02 pounds of actual nitrogen per year in the orchard for the first 3 years. After this period, nitrogen application should be based on leaf analysis results and shoot growth. Any phosphorus or potassium as recommended by a soil test should have been applied to the field before planting and incorporated.

Follow the suggestions below for newly planted apple trees:

  • Apply all fertilizer on undisturbed soil and keep the material 12 inches away from any disturbed soil (for trees planted by either an auger or tree planter).
  • If the nitrogen source is not critical, use whatever material is cheapest per unit of nitrogen. The table lists the amounts of various nitrogen sources to be applied per tree to achieve the required 0.04 pounds of actual nitrogen per year. If you use a source other than those listed, calculate the amount of material needed in the following fashion. First, multiply 0.02 by 1 (for a result in pounds per tree); by 16 (for ounces per tree); or by 454 (for grams per tree). Divide the result by the decimal equivalent of the percentage of nitrogen in the material.

    Example: You have a material with a nitrogen content of 46 percent. You wish to find out how many ounces to apply per tree before the beginning of the second growing season.

0.02 x 16 oz = 0.32 oz
0.32 oz / 0.46 = 0.7 oz
0.7 oz x 2 years = 1.4 oz per tree at the beginning of the second year

How to Grow an Apple Orchard

How to grow an apple orchard? Well, it is a long-term project and could take up to 40 years to approach maturity. Having said that, presuming you’re not looking to grow a commercial apple orchard – if you have a young family or grandchildren; by planting an orchard you could get all the family involved in helping with the development of it, rather than just passively watching it grow. As such it could become a real focus for family life for years to come.

Basics for How to Grow an Apple Orchard

Whilst you could grow apple trees from your apple seeds, a more realistic option is to grow the apple orchard from saplings or even young trees that could be bearing fruit within a few years of planting them. However, to feel you’re the one responsible for growing your apple orchard start with 2 or 3-year-old trees, which will be about 4 or 5 feet tall.

In commercial orchards, since apples do not grow true to their seeds, young trees that have been grown in a nursery from cuttings are transplanted to the orchard site. These trees have a desired fruit variety grafted onto a rootstock selected for characteristics of size and vigor. Some apple trees planted today are on dwarf stock, allowing for more efficient use of valuable land and labor.

Apples do require a certain type of climate. Apples prefer warm days and cool nights. They also like to have full sun. Apples are known as deciduous trees and they require that dormant season in the winter where they sleep. During this time, it is best if the temperatures get below 45 degrees Fahrenheit. The specifics will depend on the particular variety of apple trees you decide on growing.

How big they then grow, and indeed the shape they grow into, will depend on how you prune them in the years to come and the variety of apples you choose. As a rule of thumb allow for each apple tree to grow to a diameter of about 8 feet and leave about the same distance between each plant.

The average apple tree will bear fruit in three years, with full production coming in eight to ten years. A fully-producing apple tree may grow up to 20-bushel boxes of apples a year. The dwarf trees have a shorter bearing season.

Gardening Tips for Planting an Apple Tree

You should plant your new apple trees between December and April, as at this time of year the plants are at their most dormant and will be less stressed by being uprooted and re-planted. Earth preparation shouldn’t be too much of an issue as being trees they’ll be getting their moisture and nutrients from deep down.

However, to give the plants a good start plowing over the earth where they’ll be planted and spreading mulch will be a good idea. The mulch will help to keep moisture in the earth but at the same time inhibit weeds from growing and competing with your new trees. Before ordering your apple trees consult with the supplier to check on ideal growing environments for the variety of apples you want.

As another rule of thumb, apple trees like sandy-clay or sandy-loam earth with a pH of around 6.5. At least during their first years of growth, the trees will need extra watering, so make sure your earth drains well too.

Apple Cultivars

The term cultivar means ‘cultivated variety’; which in turn means a variety of a plant that has been made by propagating it from another. When selecting the apple trees to grow in your orchard you need to buy at least two varieties, unless you are fortunate enough to have another orchard next to yours, with a different variety of apple trees planted in it. In this respect, most people opt for cultivars propagated from a common variety.

The reason you need cultivars of apple trees is that they are not compatible with one another. So what – you might well think. Well, this incompatibility means that trees of the same variety can’t fertilize each other to produce fruits. So, to successfully grow apples not only will you need birds and bees around to do the pollinating – but you’ll also need to have at least two varieties of apple trees that are compatible cultivars.

One of the problems that apple growers have is choosing rootstocks that can generate a good quality tree yielding high, early production. Finished tree quality for an apple tree is usually defined by tree caliper but the number of feathers and the angle of the feathers are also important criteria in evaluating tree quality.

Read More: The Latest Farming Tips That You Should Start Using Right Away

Techniques and Tips for Pest Control

Like most crops, apples have to be watched to make sure bugs and pests don’t damage the fruit. In spring, commercial growers use a type of pest prevention called Integrated Pest Management. This is when growers monitor the weather while hanging various insect traps around the orchard to collect data for the annual spray program. Temperature, humidity, and rainfall are recorded in orchard weather stations to predict disease outbreaks and identify effective management tools. Both harmful and beneficial insects are counted to determine spray schedules.

When used, spraying is done to protect apples from insects and disease. For example, one insect, the Light Brown Apple Moth, lays egg masses containing 20-50 eggs on the upper leaf surface or fruit. Damage to the fruit happens as surface feeding by the larvae and causes millions of dollars in lost crops in Australia alone. Agricultural research is ongoing to find more effective and insecticide-free ways of controlling crop damage.

Pruning Apple Trees

Fiskars All Steel Bypass Pruning Shears

The health, location, and value of an apple tree should be determined before pruning is done. If the trunk is rotten and appears to be split or if there are only one or two healthy branches, the tree may not be worth saving. Trees that are successful in producing fruit are exposed to the sun all day long. Disease and insects are more likely to affect trees located in shady, damp area.

First efforts should be aimed at clearing around the tree so that the leaves and fruit get plenty of exposure to sunlight. In a situation where the tree has grown in a competitive forest, the apple tree should be pruned before competing trees are cleared from the area. Trees growing under these circumstances usually have shallow root systems and are easily windblown.

Pruning should be done in late winter or early spring before the leaves begin to appear. When there are no leaves on the branches, it is easier to see the structure of the tree and what cuts are necessary. By late winter, the tree is fully dormant and less susceptible to injury. Also, it has a chance to form a protective barrier behind the pruning cuts before insects and disease organisms become active.

Up to one-third of the live wood on an apple tree can be removed each year. If a tree has been abandoned for a long time, cut only diseased and damaged branches before removing one-third of the olive wood. In a situation where the whole top needs to be cut off, the tree will be highly stressed and may not produce apples for a few years.

Fruit Trees Pruning Guidelines

The following pruning rules will help improve the vigor and productivity of an old apple tree.

Remove all dead wood and diseased branches. All diseased and insect-infested wood should be burned to prevent re-infestation. Coat cutting tools with bleach between cuttings to help prevent reinfestations.
Prune more heavily in the upper part of the tree than in the lower. Sunlight will spread more evenly throughout the tree, helping to maintain the productivity of the lower limbs.
• Take out branches that grow toward the center of the tree. This also allows sunlight to reach the fruit.
Cut out branches with narrow crotches. Narrow crotches are weak, causing branches heavy with fruit to split.
Remove all vertical growth. Upright branches do not produce fruit. Cut out water sprouts; these are fast-growing, unbranching upright shoots.
Encourage horizontal branches since they tend to bear more fruit. Branches at a 45 or 90-degree angle are the most desirable.
Eliminate branches that hang below or across one another. A branch shaded by an upper one is not likely to be productive.
Cut back drooping branches. Cutting a branch will strengthen it by encouraging growth further back along the branch.

Apple Orchard Irrigation

Somehow growing your fruit and vegetables has become increasingly fashionable these days. Aside from being able to save homeowners a lot of money given the fact that the cost of living is continually rising, producing fruit is turning into quite a profitable business for some with apple orchards being the favorite.

However, whether you want to grow an apple orchard for commercial purposes or for your use, you will need the right equipment in place to make sure that your apples are healthy. Like apple orchard irrigation. Firstly we will look at the need for apple orchard irrigation and then how to install a good system.

Benefits of Orchard Irrigation

Drip Irrigation the Bottom Line in Landscaping

Having a comprehensive apple orchard irrigation system in place is essential if you want to grow fruit that is of high quality and a good enough size for use. After all, the fruit has to be healthy if you are to use it. You do have to make sure that you use the right amount of water though because failing to do so could leave you with poor fruits.

Having proper apple orchard irrigation can help your trees no end and can boost growth because it encourages the uptake of nitrogen, boron, calcium, phosphorus, and various other nutrients that are needed. A good water supply that is correct in terms of the level of water will help the development of the root system as well.

You need to plan out your apple orchard irrigation system to make sure that it covers the entire surface area of your orchard. After all, you do not want any section of your orchard to perform poorly because your irrigation system has come up short.

Installing Your Irrigation System

Believe it or not, apple orchard irrigation systems are not that difficult to install. Providing that you have the correct equipment, you can install a good system within a day. Of course, this also depends on the area of your apple orchard. If it covers a large area then you will find that it takes much longer.

You will be able to get a good idea of how long it is going to take you to install apple orchard irrigation by plotting the land after measuring your garden and working out where the system needs to go. Planning is key because you need to make sure that you are fully aware of where it is all going.

Whether you have saplings planted or not, you can install an apple orchard irrigation system by undertaking the following steps:

1. First things first, lay out your system above ground the make sure that you have enough materials to be able to complete the circuit. Your apple orchard irrigation system should be placed below ground when you are satisfied so begin to dig a trench around the area that is a foot deep and at least a foot wide to give you enough room to work with.

2. Lay your apple orchard irrigation system below ground and then go back to the water source and start to put the system together from there. Make sure that the drip holes in the hose are clear so that there will be no blockages.

3. Attach the end of the hose to the tap when you have finished laying it, clearing blockages, and are ready to bury it. Go along the hose to make sure that water is coming out of all holes before starting to cover it loosely in the dirt.

4. Pack the dirt down after you have finished covering the hose completely and then work out a schedule for when you will turn the system on and off. Make sure that you do not overdo the picking apple orchard irrigation or risk losing it entirely.

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