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BETTER FRUIT 



Page 21 



Soil Treatments for Mature Apple Orchards 



By B. S. Pickett, Chief in Pomology of the Illinois Agricultural Experiment Station 



ALTHOUGH cultivation is especially 

 beneficial in young orchards, it 

 often produces marked results in old 

 orchards. Orchards which have stood 

 several years in sod, even when they 

 have begun to decline in vigor, are often 

 stimulated to new production by tillage. 

 If the soil is naturally fertile and there 

 is no special local reason for not culti- 

 vating, such as danger of washing on 

 steep slopes, cultivation may be ex- 

 pected to stimulate fruiting of the trees. 

 Cultivation should consist in plowing 

 either in the fall or early spring to a 

 depth of four or five inches at the point 

 farthest from the trees, running some- 

 what shallower close to the trees; or 

 disking may be substituted for plowing, 

 especially where tractors are used. 

 Plowing should be followed by spring 

 cultivation with disks and harrows to 

 work the ground to a smooth, well- 

 pulverized condition. Two or three 

 successive cultivations sufficiently thor- 

 ough to keep down weeds and maintain 

 tilth should be given at intervals of 

 about two weeks. Cultivation should 

 cease some time between June 15 and 

 July 1, depending on latitude and local 

 conditions; after which the weeds and 

 natural grass should be allowed to 

 grow unchecked in order to shade the 

 ground and form a cover crop for win- 

 ter. To facilitate the securing of the 

 crop, this wild growth should be mown 

 just before harvest. 



Mulching 

 Mulching will successfully take the 

 place of cultivation in bearing orchards, 

 where sufficient suitable material can 

 be brought in to make a covering deep 

 enough to conserve soil moisture and 

 protect the rootlets and root hairs, 

 which work close to the surface of the 

 soil in a mulched orchard and are en- 

 dangered by intense heat in midsum- 

 mer. Eight to ten inches of loose straw, 

 waste or damaged hay, leaves, shredded 

 corn stalks, shredded weeds, or other 

 suitable waste materials such as shred- 

 ded brush, which later will compact to 

 a depth of one and one-half to three 

 inches, will provide a suitable mulch. 

 The grass and weeds already growing 

 in a sod orchard provide some mulch- 

 ing material if, when mown, they are 



raked under the trees or allowed to lie 

 where Ihey fall. In only rare cases, 

 however, where this growth is unusu- 

 ally heavy, does this mulch provide 

 sufficient covering for the purpose. 



Mulching is advised where steepness 

 of slope makes cultivation impracti- 

 cable; in thin soils, where root growth 

 is close to the surface and it would be 

 seriously injured by cultivation; or 

 where, for various local reasons, the 

 grower prefers to use it instead of cul- 

 tivation. If a mulching system is to be 

 practiced, precautions against injury 

 from mice and fire must be taken. 



Fertilizing 



Neither cultivation nor mulching will 

 render an orchard productive if the 

 soil supplies an inadequate amount of 

 plant food to the trees. It is necessary, 

 therefore, that the fruit grower deter- 

 mine, without delay, whether or not his 

 trees need plant food in order that he 

 may obtain the desired results quickly. 



It has been amply demonstrated that 

 nitrogen is usually the controlling ele- 

 ment in apple production. If the trees 

 in an orchard are growing rapidly and 

 bearing poorly, the orchard is almost 

 certainly oversupplied with nitrogen. 

 Steps should be taken, therefore, to 

 check the supply by seeding the orchard 

 to grass, thus providing an intercrop 

 which will divert some of the nitrogen 

 that would otherwise go to the trees. 

 On the other hand, if the trees are 

 growing slowly and producing small 

 leaves which yellow or fall early, and 

 are bearing poorly, they are almost 

 certainly inadequately supplied with 

 nitrogen. 



A deficiency in nitrogen may be made 

 up in several ways, among the most im- 

 portant of which are, first, the libera- 

 tion of the unavailable nitrogen present 

 in the organic matter of the soil through 

 the improvement of soil conditions by 

 drainage and cultivation; and, second, 

 the addition of fertilizers carrying 

 nitrogen. Stable manure supplies from 

 10 to 15 pounds of slowly available 

 nitrogen per ton, depending on its kind, 

 moisture content, amount of litter 

 present, and other conditions. Legumi- 

 nous green manures supply from 8 to 11 

 pounds of slowly available nitrogen 



per ton of green crop. Dried blood sup- 

 plies from 200 to 280 pounds of quickly 

 available nitrogen per ton. Sulfate of 

 ammonia supplies from 390 to 420 

 pounds of very quickly available nitro- 

 gen per ton. Nitrate of soda supplies 

 from 300 to 320 pounds of immediately 

 available nitrogen per ton. 



Of the fertilizers above mentioned, 

 stable manure is especially valuable in 

 building up orchard soils depleted in 

 organic matter and general fertility and 

 in stimulating a rapid growth in young 

 orchards. Leguminous green manures 

 are most useful in orchards where the 

 trees are still small enough to give 

 room for a good growth of the crop 

 used. Like stable manure, they add 

 organic matter to the soil and improve 

 its general fertility. 



Among the more strictly commercial 

 fertilizers mentioned, nitrate of soda 

 has come into the widest use for 

 orchard purposes and has sufficiently 

 proved its value in many experimental 

 and commercial orchards to warrant a 

 rather general recommendation of its 

 use in unproductive apple orchards in 

 this state. On this account and because 

 of the widespread interest in its effects, 

 somewhat detailed instructions for its 

 use are given herewith. 



Nitrate of Soda as a Fertilizer for Apple 

 Orchards 



Quantity to apply: 



Trees to ten years old, growing well, 

 none. 



Trees five to ten years old, growing 

 poorly, half to two pounds per tree. 



Trees ten to fifteen years old, grow- 

 ing well, none. 



Trees ten to fifteen years old, grow- 

 ing poorly, two to three pounds per 

 tree. 



Trees fifteen to twenty years old, 

 growing well, none. 



Trees fifteen to twenty years old, 

 growing poorly, five to six pounds per 

 tree. 



Old trees persistently unproductive, 

 fifteen to twenty pounds per tree. 



Old trees declining in productivity, 

 five to ten pounds per tree. 



The quantity should vary from year 

 to year, depending on the response 

 obtained, more being used if the trees 

 show a definite but insufficient increase 

 in productiveness, less being used if, 

 after obtaining a definite increase, a 



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