7 Tips For Faster Growing Apple Trees This Season :-Do you want to get the most apples this season? You can do a few things to get your apple trees to grow a little faster, but most of them will grow in the usual way.
This piece by gardening expert Meredith Cohrs walks you through her best ways to help apple trees grow faster!
7 Tips For Faster Growing Apple Trees This Season
Choose a Tree For Your Climate :
When picking a tree, the first thing you should think about is the weather where you live. Variety is the key to success with apple trees; there are types that do well in almost any climate in the country.
Chill Hours :
When picking a tree that will grow well in your area, you need to think about the chill hours. For apple trees to grow well and make fruit, the temperature needs to be between 32 and 45 degrees.
This time frame lasts for hundreds of hours each season. In the winter, if a tree doesn’t get enough chill hours, it might not grow or make any leaves.
When choosing a tree, if you don’t think about the weather where you live, you might choose a type that doesn’t do well there. The tree will grow very slowly and might never bear fruit again if that happens.
Plant a Tree That’s at Least Two Years Old :
If you want your tree to grow as quickly as possible, you should avoid the young plants and look for one that is at least two years old.
You will still have to wait for your tree to hit its harvest age, but it will take only two years instead of four.
In the beginning, taller, more mature trees will cost a little more, but you’ll be able to gather much faster.
Choose a Fast-Growing Variety :
There are types of apple trees that grow faster than others. If you pick one of these, you’ll get to the fruit production step quickly.
Consider Planting a Dwarf Variety :
If you want to get fruit faster, you might want to plant a small apple tree. Many people find dwarf fruit trees easier to care for at home because they don’t grow very tall. They can grow a lot of fruit in a small area.
Standard varieties can take up to eight years to bear fruit, but most small varieties bear fruit in just two to three years!
Columnar apple trees are great for yards in the suburbs and for people who live in apartments. The trees are 8 to 10 feet tall and only 2 feet across. What’s even better about these trees is that you can pick apples from them the first year you plant them.
Another great dwarf type to plant is AD Cameron Select, but this one does better in a bigger backyard. These are some of the strongest and most productive apple trees you can plant.
They grow to be 8 to 10 feet tall and wide. You should be able to eat this Honeycrisp-like fruit two to three years after growing it.
Plant in The Spring :
When it comes to gardening, you know that some plants do better in certain times of the year. But even within broad seasonal groups like “warm season crops,” different flowers, trees, and veggies need to be planted at different times.
Some can handle a light cold, while others need the soil to be warmer than 60 degrees.
Apple trees need to be planted in a certain way, just like any other tree. It won’t do well if you put it in the summer or the middle of winter. Even if you do everything right, this one thing will make your tree grow badly and maybe even die.
Spring is the best time to plant in most of the country. As long as you live in a warm area (USDA zones 7 and above), you can probably plant it in the autumn. If you live somewhere where it won’t get below freezing in the winter, November can be a good time to plant.
Be Consistent With Maintenance & Care :
Your apple tree will do better and grow faster if you take good care of it, just like any other live thing. If you don’t water your tree regularly or fertilize it, it will grow more slowly than a tree that has a watering bag and is fertilized regularly.
Watering :
If you don’t live in a very warm area, trees that are old and have deep roots will usually get enough water from rain and runoff. They need about an inch of water a week, which is easy to give them in the summer if they need it.
Young plants, on the other hand, need more water all week because their roots are smaller and less deep. A good rule of thumb is to give young trees two inches of water every week.
Giving them one deep watering is better than giving them several light waterings. If you plant a lot of trees, a drip watering system might be a good idea. You could also use a water bag, which is better if you only need to take care of a few trees.
Once a week, or maybe twice if your summers are very hot and dry, fill up the water bag and let the water slowly drain out during the day.
