Fig. 5. In this orchard, the end posts are stabilized with a 

 wire extending from the posts to an anchor bolt. 



Fig. 6. End post of trellis using monofilament. A hole was 

 bored in the end post for the insertion of the "feed 

 through" device for the monofilament. The "feed 

 through" device secures the monofilament and 

 eliminates the need of stapling the monofilament. 



plastic or nylon ties should be looped in a figure 8 around 

 the tree and post at about 2-foot height to provide tree 

 support. In older plantings, 3 to 5 of these ties are used 

 per post for tree support and to keep the leaders vertical. 



Trellis. Training apple trees to a trellis is quite similar to train- 

 ing grape vines to the Kniffin system. The trees are supported 

 on trellises of 8 to 9-foot long preservative-treated posts set 

 2 to 272 feet in the ground and perhaps spaced 24 feet apart 

 in the row. The end posts are stabilized with a wire extending 

 from about the height of the top wire of the trellis to an 

 anchor bolt (Fig. 5) or to a "dead-man" buried 3V2 to 4 feet 

 deep and 4 to 5 feet from the post. No. 9 galvanized wires 

 or plastic wires stapled to the posts or passed through the 

 interior of the posts complete the trellis (Fig. 6). The bottom 

 wire generally is 2 feet above the ground, while the others 

 are spaced 12 to 18 inches apart above it depending upon 

 the height of the posts (Fig. 7). 



Care of Trees the First Year 



Heading the newly planted tree. It is difficult to find agree- 

 ment on this very important phase of tree training. No. 1 

 trees of non-spur types (standard types) frequently are head- 

 ed at 30 to 36 inches or not at all if planted early. Spur-type 

 trees which don't branch as readily as standard types are 

 generally headed at 28 to 30 inches. Heading spur-type trees 

 rather severely should promote branch development which 

 might otherwise be inadequate in number. (The lower the 

 tree is headed, the greater the number and length of the 

 branches.) Regardless of heading height, both spur and stan- 

 dard types (non-spur) may still fail to produce a sufficient 

 number of branches the first year in the orchard. As long as 

 leaf size and color are good, the trees should develop good 

 lateral branching the second season. 



When newly planted trees are not headed severely enough, 

 they usually develop branches that are too high. The next 

 pruning season, the trees may have to be headed again to 

 induce branching between the height of 20 to 30 inches above 

 ground level (the desired height of the lower permanent 

 branches). Thus a year is lost. 



Pruning in the planting season. As a xu\e, all desirable branch- 

 es on the free afp/anf/nff should be left unpruned. An excep- 

 tion to the rule would be when a tree has one large branch. 

 This should be removed because it may cause one-sided 

 branch development on the tree by inhibiting the growth of 



Fig. 7. Tree being trained on a trellis. In this orchard, the 

 posts are set 22 feet apart. The bottom wire is 2 feet 

 from the ground with 2 wires above spaced 22 to 24 

 inches apart. The depression at the base of the trees 

 should be filled in with soil, sand, or gravel to prevent 

 accumulation of water. 



17 



