PLANT YOUNG APPLE TREES RIGHT SO THEY WILL LIVE AND GROW 



C.J 

 Professor of 



Gilgut 

 Plant Pathology 



There is more to planting young apple trees than just getting 

 the roots into the ground. They need understanding and tender 

 love and care at planting time and afterward. The following two 

 cases i 1 1 ustrate why . 



Case No . 1 - One year whips on MM- 

 on sloping land near the top of a hill 

 and others were dying on June 8. 



106 rootstock were planted 

 in April. Many were dead 



When the plants were dug up, all the bark on the underground 

 part of the stem, beginning at the soil line, was dead, foul-smell- 

 ing, slimy and sloughed off to the touch. The wood beneath was 

 discolored, black and watersoaked. All the roots were black and 

 dead . 



The trees were planted in straight-sided holes, made with a 

 tractor-driven post-hole auger in heavy, hard, compacted clay soil. 

 The soil out of the hole was used to fill in around the roots and 

 stem and was hard, lumpy, and wet. The trees were planted deep - 

 at least 8 inches of stem below the soil surface - in an effort to 

 compensate for the poorer root system of dwarf trees. There was a 

 deep depression around the base of the plant that caused water to 

 run into the straight-sided hole and the water stayed in the poorly 

 drained soil to create a waterlogged condition which kept out air 

 which the roots and stem need. 



(1) if 

 soil i 

 chance 



if 



St 



of 

 an 

 la 



(2) 

 and 

 out 

 ter 

 and 

 trees 

 or 1 OS 

 the tr 

 son , b 

 1 ocati 

 around 

 feel s 



he trees would have had a better chance of living and growing 



the planting hole had been dug wider and the compacted heavy 

 n the bottom had been broken up so excess water would have a 



to drain out and not be trapped around the roots and stem. 



loamy field soil had been brought in to fill around the roots 

 em instead of the hard, lumpy waterlogging clay soil that came 



the hole. The loamy field soil is more likely to drain bet- 

 d less likely to waterlog. Admittedly, it takes some time 

 bor to bring it in but no more than it does to dig out dead 

 and replant. Besides, one does not have the cost of new trees 

 s of a growing season. (3) a deep well around the base of 

 ee may be alright in a sandy, well-drained soil in a dry sea- 

 ut it is not alright in a poorly drained soil, or in a swampy 

 on, especially in a wet season. It is better to have the soil 



the base of the tree level or even slightly mounded. If one 

 there should be a well, it should be reasonably shallow. 



The roots and stem which is under the ground is as much 

 ing part of the tree as that which is above ground. And, as 



a 1 i V - 

 all 



