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Please help me help my apple tree
Posted: Thu Apr 09, 2015 10:03 pm
by michaelmastronardi
Re: Please help me help my apple tree
Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2015 8:21 pm
by Becks
Hi Michael.
How are they doing? Fingers crossed. I'm so late to the apple tree party. They might be a bit shocked but hopefully they recover. A root booster maybe-a 10-52-10...?
Soil and Water Requirements:
"Apples trees can grow in a wide range of soils from medium textured clays to gravelly sands. However, poor soils will produce poor results and the best crops are found on fertile sandy soils and loams.
Soils should be well drained. Wet soils lead to poor aeration and increased incidence of crown rot in apples (Phytophthora cactorum). Generally, rooting tends to be shallow, and wet soils will restrict development, resulting in poor anchorage of the tree and a reduced area of soil from which nutrients can be extracted.
Soils with high organic matter contents are normally better structured and allow good rooting.
Irrigation is necessary on dry soils, particularly when establishing and growing young orchards. Trickle irrigation and fertigation are increasingly used. In young orchards fertigation helps increase early tree growth and brings trees into bearing earlier. Sprinkler irrigation can be used to protect the tree buds and fruitlets against frost damage.
Apples prefer a slightly acidic to neutral soil (pH between 5.8 and 7.0). Extreme soil pH values result in nutrient tie-up or toxicity and poor tree and fruit development. It is important to amend the pH in acidic soils by incorporating lime before planting."
Source:
http://www.yara.us/agriculture/crops/ap ... rinciples/
Your post really touched me because it reminded me of my apple tree. Apple symbolism is huge. There is the tradition of burying apples for loved ones and spirits at Samhain. A few short days after my Dad died I was eating an apple and out of my mouth came a seed that had already begun to sprout. I was just 14 and in the face of death I was treasuring anything vital. I put the seed into the soil of another plant and took a "wait and see" approach. It grew. People told me it would never produce. Well I hauled that thing around with me, eventually planting it, and 22 years later it gives us enough tiny apples to make an apple jelly that is sacred and much loved. I remember the first time I saw a bud....and then just a few tiny apples...It is a gnarly tree, but it is my supernatural apple tree and I love it. It reminds me of the connection with my Dad, and there is fruit on the tree each Samhain. I sincerely hope your little guys flourish just the same.