Feeding Apples Trees

[Digeroo]

I came across this when looking for something else.

http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/Profile.aspx?pid=539

I was always very aware that somehow I expected the apples to produce without putting anything back in.    My best tree has a compost bin, which I hope drips goodness out of the bottom.

Do other people feed their apple trees?

[Digeroo]

[Susiebelle]

I was a little too generous with the manure when feeding my apple trees and last year got lots of lush leaf growth at expense of little fruit - the suppliers suggested laying off the manure and feeding with high potash.  I used comfry and fingers crossed this year my stepovers look as if they will produce the biggest harvest to date.

[goodlife]

Do other people feed their apple trees?

I feed all my 'little' apple trees every year in spring, but I've got couple of BIG trees too that only get fed if I have bag end or surplus feed to get rid of. They are old 'girls' and their roots cover BIG area..they must be able to get what they need as they don't fail to crop unless weather play havoc during pollination time.

[Digeroo]

Comfrey leaves underneath sounds like a good idea.

[pigeonseed]

I've been putting manure down round them in sping and feeding once or twice during summer with blood fish and bone or liquid tomato feed, but this is just my haphazard care not expert and carefully-timed.

Watering is important too in their early years. I neglected that in the first year after planting. Trying to do better now!

This year is my best crop too, but might be down to weather. 

[ed dibbles]

Sorry to be a killjoy but if a fruit tree is growing well producing healthy growth and crops why would you need to keep feeding it. Surely all that will do is produce more lush growth at the expense of fruit. This is particularly true of manures that contain a lot of nitrogen.

A newly planted tree, however, would certainly benefit from an organic mulch in its first year or two to get it established but eventually the roots, even on a small tree, will go down quite a way finding moisture and nutrients from way down in the soil.

Potassium feeds, of which comfrey is a good example, can encourage fruit buds to form and also make for better apples. If they help keep pests at bay then all the more reason for using them. (many of the fruit bushes/grapes we grow got a dressing of bonfire ash last winter)

But again if a tree is fruiting well and is healthy what's the point of extra feed?

You will only need to have read some of my other posts to know that proper pruning is the single most important thing you can do to get large healthy crops of fruit.

Boasting I know but this year I will get about 15lbs of redcurrants from just two bushes and 20-30lb of blackcurrants, again from two bushes- the reward for proper pruning.