Tree Planting and Care

Planting

Spring and fall are good times to plant. I generally prefer planting in the fall as it gives the tree a better start prior to placing it in the cold ground, but sometimes there are other considerations that make spring the more logical time to plant.  If you wait until fall, it is best to plant when the leaves are falling so your tree doesn't go into another growth spurt. In the spring, plant early, before the leaves are out if possible. If you don't want to do a lot of pruning to keep your trees small, we recommend planting trees at least 12 feet apart. With more intensive pruning and management they can be planted more closely.

Plant trees in sunny locations in well-drained soil.  Plant the tree in a hole slightly larger than the pot it is in. Plant the same depth the tree is in the pot, making sure the graft is not underground. When planting “unwind” roots and spread them out in the hole.  If a recent graft is on one side of the rootstock, orient that side to the northeast to protect from sunburn. Water well on planting and continue to water frequently until fall.   

Remove any growth below the graft as well as any suckers the roots send up. These are rootstock growth and not the apple variety grafted onto the rootstock. You do not want this to grow as it will grow faster than the grafted variety. It will out-compete the grafted variety, which will  eventually die, so that you will be left with a Siberian crabapple, wondering why you only get small tart crabapples, not the larger more luscious apples you were expecting.

If you don't get to planting the tree by late fall, it is best to overwinter the tree by "planting" it in its pot in a temporary location, so the roots are in the ground and not subjected to the intense cold. Protect the tree as if it were planted and then dig up and plant in the spring after the ground thaws.

Fertilizing and Watering

Fertilize sparingly and never after July 1st. Applying too much fertilizer and too late in the summer does not allow the new growth to become woody and prepare for winter. If they do not set terminal buds, the branch tips will die back in the winter. This can kill young trees. Early in summer apply compost, fishmeal or a balanced fertilizer under the drip line (where the rain will drip out of the outermost leaves of the tree). If your tree is mature and growing a lot, you might want to slow down or even stop the fertilizing - there isn't any sense in encouraging growth that you are just going to prune off the following the spring. 
Fruit trees like a lot of water, especially when fruiting. Rule of thumb is 12" of rainfall a summer, which is about twice the normal summer rainfall in Fairbanks. Water well until August, then reduce watering to encourage the plants to stop growing.  Water well late in the fall to make sure they are well hydrated for winter.

Thinning Your Fruit

Thin fruit to one apple every 4-6 inches and 1 per fruit cluster. Another rule of thumb is that it takes 40 leaves to produce each top quality piece of fruit. This feels like you are removing a LOT of fruit, and it can be hard to be as thorough as you should be. However, it is worth it - so do it even if it is difficult! A tree that has been thinned well will produce larger and higher quality fruit. If fruit is not thinned on apple trees, they will have a tendency to fruit every other year instead of each year. This is because the tree cannot store enough nutrients to allow strong fruiting and growing flower buds. Thin fruit soon after flowering to ensure good fruit-set each year. It is best to do this when apples are about ½” in diameter. Usually by this time you can see which fruit is largest and in the best position to receive sunlight, so keep that in mind when thinning.

The larger the apple, the more important thinning is, but fruit size and quality will improve for all varieties with thinning. 

Pruning and Training

Remove all branches below about 2 feet, This will get the tree out of vole range, allow for easier mowing and also keep fruit off the ground.  Prune to allow light to fully penetrate the tree, this helps the tree fruit fully, and allows sunlight to all fruit which helps ripen it. Prune in late spring, remove inward growing, crossing and drooping branches and thin where branches are dense. Also remove any branches growing straight up.

Removing the terminal bud (the bud at the end of a branch) will stimulate side branches to grow.  Branches that grow with a narrow angle to the main trunk are weak and may snap off under a heavy fruit load. You can use clothes pegs, tooth picks and wood spacers to spread branches away from the trunk. Ideally branches are at 10 and 2 o’clock to the main trunk, with a whorl of branches evenly radiating around the tree and spaced 2-3 feet apart vertically.

The following links have some good information on training and pruning fruit trees, and there are some great videos online. We also like The Pruning Book, by Lee Reich. The Apple Grower by Michael Phillips includes a nice introduction to pruning as well as information on grafting and many other aspects of fruit production.

Here are some notes on Pruning from The Apple Grower:
Three steps: "Framework first, then the thinning, lastly see the fruit and how it grows." Thin from the top down, following the path of sunlight through the tree. The light environment throughout the canopy should be no lower than 30% of ambient light. 

Video, Training and Pruning Fruit trees in North Carolina: http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/hil/ag29.html

Training and Pruning Fruit Trees, from Cornell, 1976: http://ecommons.cornell.edu/handle/1813/17817

Feel free to contact us (Steve and Sarah Masterman) with questions - 457-3792, alaskafruits@gmail.com.