Interesting "paper" on fertilizing apple trees...

[wiscwhip]

I found this yesterday while perusing some info on fertilizer.

http://www.spectrumanalytic.com/support/library/pdf/fertilizing_apple_trees.pdf

Probably old news to the apple gurus on here, but it looked like a good read for the novices like myself. A lot of it seems to be geared towards commercial growers and backyard trees, but the basics should apply equally as well to food plot orchards.

 

[Ben.MN/WI]

Nice article.

I've sent in soil samples for my apple plot to the U of MN and I believe they could recommend fertilizer additions specifically for apple orchards - that was a relatively cheap way for me to find out the status of my soils when I started my orchard. I've also read or heard that using 1 pound of 10-10-10 fertilizer per year of tree age is a good plan, so that's what I've been using. I don't even remember where I initially heard that, but so far the results have been decent. I will say that my growth rates are typically in the 12" per year range and I wonder if bumping up the fertilizer amount would help me or hurt me. I think I would get more annual growth, but I'm always a little worried if that added growth will cause more problems with winter injury if they grow longer rather than hardening off for the winter.

Michael Phillips has written a couple of good books about apple trees and also fruit trees that I really liked. His books are geared toward organic orchards, and a lot of his recommendations revolve around building up the soil which in turns helps the apple trees. I tend to use a combination of what is found in the article you posted and Phillips' books. I use mulch, leaves, rotten hay, etc. to build the soil and smother weeds and I also use synthetic fertilizers.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Thanks Whip, for posting the link on fertilization. By reading thru this paper, I learned the importance of pre-planting soil amendments to greater depths. This year we'll have a member using his small backhoe to do the digging, so we should be able to get the soil profile in good shape to a greater depth. We'll add lots of aged mushroom compost to the holes and mix it in, lime, etc. Good info.