Planting an apple tree in the garden is a responsible business for a novice gardener, requiring not so much the investment of physical labor and certain skills as knowledge and understanding of the importance of one or another action. Many questions arise, and among them an important one - when planting an apple tree, where should the vaccine look?

What is a vaccine for? The fact is that a plant that fully inherits the characteristics of the variety cannot be grown from an apple seed, because anything can grow from an apple seed with any characteristics, size and taste. It will be possible to find out about this only in a few years, when a seedling of an unknown breed begins to bear fruit in an apple orchard.

Therefore, varietal apple trees are grafted with a twig taken from the mother plant on a wild, one-year or two-year-old seedling.

Vaccination can solve two problems at once:

  • The crown of a grafted seedling will inherit all the characteristics of the ancestor of the variety, because in fact it will be a branch of this tree that has grown into a whole tree.
  • Grafting will increase the winter hardiness of the new plant and its resistance to weather troubles.

Saplings of the first or second year of life

Thus, a varietal seedling is always a hybrid, with the properties of the root system of one plant, and the crown - the branches and fruits of another plant.

Saplings of the first or second year of life

How to plant a grafted apple tree in spring? How to plant an apple tree correctly, grafting to the north or south, in order to get an early harvest and not ruin the seedling? You need to start thinking about this and preparing for planting in the fall.

The seedling must be purchased from a trusted manufacturer or agree to purchase such a seedling in the spring for spring planting.

A sapling purchased in the fall, which is 1-2 years old, must be dug in your garden in order to preserve it until spring. Planting is best done in spring, so that the tree has enough time to settle down and go into winter with a supply of the necessary strength.

Digging is carried out in a groove, to a depth of about 20-30 centimeters, in an area where there is enough snow in winter, and in spring it quickly disappears and there is no stagnation of spring waters. The seedling is located lying down, the root system should be under a layer of compacted and abundantly watered soil, and everything above the root collar should be above the ground.

A planting pit for the future apple tree is also prepared in the fall, given the size of the tree that will grow in this place. In order to properly plant a grafted apple tree, you need to know how to create good conditions for it and provide a supply of nutrients for successful growth in the first years of life.

Important! When dropping seedlings on the site from the fall, it is necessary to water them with a weak solution of potassium permanganate in order to protect them from fungal root diseases and rot accompanying this process. The root collar and stem should not be covered with earth, they should just lie on the soil surface.

Many amateurs ask questions - when planting an apple tree, where should the graft look or how to plant an apple tree correctly, grafting to the south or north? You can immediately answer such a question - for seedlings of the first year of life, this, in principle, does not matter, since they have not yet begun to form their crown in accordance with the cardinal points.

In nurseries, grafting with a bud on the bark during the summer sap flow is widely used, and these seedlings go on sale a year later. Vaccination is always carried out from the north side - this is necessary so that the kidney does not dry out.

Therefore, if the gardener wants to orient the seedling the way it grew in the nursery and for an amateur it is fundamentally important in which direction to plant the apple tree with the graft, then it should be positioned so that the graft looks to the north.

Experienced gardeners give different answers to the question of where the apple tree grafting should be directed when planting. Many are inclined to believe that when budding it is better if the graft looks to the east, so it will not be dried out by the sun on the south side and the cold north winds will not damage it.

Young apple trees, third or fourth year of life

Young apple trees

Saplings that are 3-4 years old will better endure the autumn planting. Such young trees already need to be oriented to the cardinal points.

It is worth buying plants of this age only in a nursery, where it is possible to mark the side facing south with a dot on the root collar in order to be able to plant the plant correctly and thereby not delay its entry into fruiting.

Important! It is good if such a tree is grown in a container, which will greatly facilitate its survival in a new place.

Growing such seedlings is a more laborious process, because it is difficult for matured trees to take root in new conditions. Therefore, you need to try to preserve their usual position as much as possible in order to achieve high yields and the fastest possible entry into fruiting.

Step-by-step instruction for planting a young apple tree

Instructions for planting a young apple tree

Apple tree seedlings

A wooden stake is driven into a planting hole prepared in advance, with drainage, humus, compost, organic matter or peat in the middle, leaving about 60 centimeters above the ground. In a month or in spring it will be possible to plant the plant:

  1. A hole is dug in the prepared hole so that the stake is in the center, but with an offset to the south.
  2. A layer of black soil is laid out at the bottom of the hole, which will allow the roots of the apple tree to avoid direct contact with nutrients.
  3. The seedling is placed to the peg from the north side, the root collar should be located five centimeters above the ground. You need to look carefully and take into account the subsidence of the soil so that the planting does not turn out to be too shallow or too deep.
  4. The roots are straightened to the sides, directed downward at an angle of 45 degrees and covered with fertile soil.
  5. The soil is compacted and an irrigation hole is formed.
  6. Then pour plenty of water into the hole.
  7. It is necessary to mulch the trunk circle to retain moisture in the soil and to prevent weed growth.

Attention! After planting a seedling of the first year of life, the crown is cut off at a height of 60-70 centimeters, this is necessary for the correct formation of the crown. In two-year-olds, side branches are also pruned. The apple tree is tied to a peg with a free eight in two places.

Care in the future consists in regular loosening of the trunk circle and periodic watering, visual examinations and preventive spraying from diseases and pests.

For columnar apple trees and apple trees on a dwarf rootstock, the planting pit can be dug in a smaller size, since these plants are compact and require less nutrients.

It is much easier to plant an apple tree if it was grown in a container and sold with a closed root system. Such a plant will not hurt during transplantation and will better take root in a new place.

You can try to graft several other varieties on your own on an adult apple tree, then planting is more economical and several types of apples of different ripening periods and colors ripen on one tree.