Your Classic Apple Orchard

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During the first season, we check the amount and color of growth to guide us in fertilizing the next year. If leaves are dark green and shoots grow 18 to 36 inches, the fertility level is fine, and we'll apply about the same amount of compost the second spring, soon after budbreak. We'll increase the fertilizer ration to trees that didn't grow enough, and decrease it for trees with excessive growth.

Once apple trees start bearing and fill most of their allotted space, cut down on fertilizer. Branch tips of mature trees should only grow 12 to 16 inches per season. Too much nitrogenous fertilizer induces lush growth that's susceptible to fire blight, winter injury and softer fruit that won't store well and is prone to rot. On our loamy soil, bearing trees get no fertilizer beyond that provided by the mown clover-and-grass ground cover.

Water new trees deeply once a week, unless one inch or more of rain has fallen. Established apples on dwarfing rootstocks also need frequent waterings, every 10 days or so in the absence of at least one inch of rain per week. Many interstem-dwarfed and semidwarf apples, along with standardsize apple trees, are quite drought resistant, and need watering only when no rain has fallen for two or three weeks. Whenever you water, apply enough to wet the soil to a depth of five or six feet, to discourage shallow rooting.

Do not apply fertilizer from late summer until just before leaf fall, and don't water during this time unless the soil becomes very dry, to allow the trees to slow their growth in preparation for winter. Where apple scab is a problem and moderately susceptible varieties are grown, spray a high-nitrogen liquid fertilizer—urea or concentrated fish emulsion—on the leaves about a week before they drop (late fall. This will help the leaves decompose faster and can virtually eliminate in-orchard sources of scab infection come spring.

FRUIT THINNING

Apple trees on dwarfing rootstocks bear fruit at a young age—often just two or three years after planting. This is wonderful, but excess early fruiting reduces root growth, leading to poor anchorage. To avoid this, soon after the natural drop of small fruit begins each May or June (three to five weeks after petals fall) twist off all but one or two fruits from each cluster. Heavy fruiting on the central leader (the extension of the tree's main trunk, which should be kept growing upward) will bend the leader down and ruin the tree's shape. If the leader bends even after you've removed excess fruit, tie a piece of wood to it to hold it upright. Use rag strips or other soft material for tying, and remove the splint right after harvest to avoid girdling the leader.

Continue to thin excess fruit each spring, even after the tree is well established, to increase the size and quality of the remaining fruit and prevent a biennial bearing pattern of huge crops one year and scant crops the next. Once trees get larger, you can expedite this process by gently shaking each branch to dislodge the tiny fruit that would have fallen anyway. Then twist off all but the biggest blemish-free fruit or two in each cluster, carefully removing all fruits showing insect damage, especially the 1/8 inch-long, crescent-shaped, egg-laying scar of the plum curculio. When you've finished thinning, rake up and dispose of all fruit on the ground.

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