measurements, the land was bulldozed and then limed at the rate of 

 3 tons per acre. A stone rake was used and then the area was fer- 

 tilized with 500 lbs. of 10-20-20 applied as a broadcast applica- 

 tion. The area was again smoothed with a stone rake and the trees 

 planted. Topsoil that has been bulldozed off the area in the pro- 

 cess of clearing the land was used in the planting holes. After 

 planting, 3 or 4 forksfull of cow manure was spread around each 

 tree. A mixture of grass seed and oats was sown. During the sum- 

 mer, oats sown in the soring were cut and raked around the trees 

 for mulch. 



Tab! e 1 . Growth the Year 

 on EM VII , 1962 



of Planting of Mcintosh and Red Delicious 



Vari ety 



Avg . number 

 of terminals 



Avg . i nches of 

 growth/terminal 



Avg. total 

 growth (inches) 



McI ntosh 



Red Delicious 



10.9 

 6.8 



15 

 23 



170 

 161 



Since the article on "Growing Young Apple Trees" was published 

 in the 1963 issue of Fruit Notes , several recent findings and ob- 

 servations in respect to fertilization, mulching and chemical weed 

 control and plantings on size-controlling rootstocks are of inter- 

 est. These are discussed below. 



Fertilization 



I 

 i ng ap 

 or i ts 

 For ex 

 actual 

 actual 

 by Dr . 

 about 

 Carol i 

 (0.67 

 Gol den 

 season 

 amount 

 amount 

 in e X c 

 as com 

 compar 

 cl e on 

 Wester 

 time 1 

 amount 

 theref 

 f e r t i 1 



n the 



pie t 



egui 



ampl e 



N) a 



N) 



Norm 



f e r t i 



na gr 



lb N) 



Deli 



than 



on 2 



of N 



ess 



pared 



ed to 



grow 



n New 



/2 lb 



i s a 



ore , 



i z i n g 



past, the rul e-of-thumb for fertilization of non-bear- 

 rees was the application of 1/4 pound of sodium nitrate 

 valent of nitrogen for each year of age of the tree. 

 , a two-year-old tree would receive 1/2 pound (0.08 lb 

 nd a five-year-old 1 1/4 pounds of sodium nitrate (0.20 lb 

 r its equivalent. It was of interest to read a comment 

 an Childers in the Autumn, 1967, issue of HORT SCIENCE 

 lizer practices in North Carolina. He stated that North 

 owers were using 2 pounds of ammonium nitrate per tree 

 , hand applied, under 2-year-old Spur Delicious and 

 cious. Although North Carolina has much longer growing 



Massachusetts, some of our growers are using half this 

 -year-old trees (0.33 lb N) plus mulch and an equivalent 



on 4-year-old trees (0.67 lb N). These amounts are far 

 f that if the rul e-of-thumb were followed 0.08 lb N 



to 0.33 lb N under 2-year-old trees and 0.16 lb N as 



0.67 lb N under 4-year-old trees. Norton, in his arti- 

 ing young trees, stated that his 2-year-old trees in 



York are fertilized twice in the soring, using each 



of nitrate of soda-potash fertilizer (15-0-14 analysis. This 

 pproximately 2 times the rule-of-thumb. It appears, 

 that in an attempt to grow young trees fast, growers are 



at rates in an excess to the old rule-of-thumb. Since 



