How to take care of your tree
After the correct planting, here are some tips to take care of your tree
WATERING: Sufficient watering. Extensive watering during dry periods
FERTILIZING: The leafs should have a lush green. If they look pale or yellow you want to add further nutrition. We recommend for e.g. composted horse manure and chalk (to absorb the nutritions). For a small tree, up to 150 cm we recommend 500 g of chalk and 5kg of horse manure. For bigger trees use the double amount. Plums are an exception and should have 50% less chalk.
WEEDING: Keep a bigger circle around your tree weed-free
PRUNING AND SHAPING: If you would like your tree to have a certain size or shape, remember to prune or shape it in Spring.
DISEASE AND PEST: check your tree regularly to prevent bigger harm from diseases or pests. Most of the time you can find organic measures to help you out without using chemicals.
SUCKERS: Remove suckers from the roots of grafted trees to keep your tree healthy
LOVING AND ENJOYING: Last but not least our recommendation to enjoy your tree in all it‘s beauty during all seasons ♥
Planting
Dig a 150l hole in the soil with 10kg compost and 2kg lime. Fill the hole with 100l of water before planting and tread to the soil thoroughly around the tree after planting. Water once a week and keep the soil around the tree clear of weeds and parasites.
Planting and planning service
If you are insecure or don’t have the possibilty to plant or plan yourself, we are happy to help. We offer a planning and planting service for your orchard.
Removing Suckers
You must remove all below-the-graft-union shoots to preserve the health of your grafted tree. It is easiest to remove suckers when they are young, and less than one-fourth inch in diameter. Early in the growing season you can grab a young sucker and yank it sideways to tear it off at the growing point. To remove older, thicker suckers, you need to use pruning shears or the sharp blade of a hoe. Always cut off a sucker as close to the point of origin as possible. If you leave sucker stubs, new suckers grow from the bases of the old ones.
You can find the graft union on a tree by looking for a diagonal scar on the tree’s trunk between six and 12 inches above the ground. Every part of the tree below the graft union comes from the rootstock tree; the trunk, branches and fruit emerge from the scion cultivar. When root suckers appear beneath the graft union, the growth comes from the rootstock tree, not the cultivar. If you allow that shoot growth to develop into a tree, it will have the characteristics of the rootstock tree, not the cultivar.
A TREE TO BE FORMED
We recommend that you shape the tree and prune it to keep a low height (max. 3 meters), as it has a natural tendency to become very large (5-10 m high depending on the apple variety grafted onto the rootstock).
Pruning guide: Fruit trees grafted on a wild trunk or Antonovka become very tall, up to 10 meters. It is important to prune them so that they have a low, wide crown. Prune them in the spring when the frost is gone. We recommend that you keep them at a height of 3 meters.
Blekinge Fruktträd Plantskola 