Planted 2 apple trees at the weekend, following the instructions from Ken Muir.
But the instructions didn't say to water them in, so we didn't. But should we have done?
Does anyone have any idea?
Thanks,
Sarah.
Well done Sarah, I planted 3 of his last year and hope to have a few apples this.
Good question. Thinking about it, I don't think that I watered mine in, the soil's heavy and this time of year it's pretty damp and the plants are dormant. I've been reading up a bit lately for some more I'm going to plant when they arrive, and don't recall anything about watering them in for winter planting. Frankly I'm more worried about water-logging.
They do need lots in the spring/summer especially through the first year.
Jeremy
Thanks for the advice Jeremy!
So is it alright to pick the apples in the first year? Or should we stop them?
Sarah.
I've read that you should pick off all the fruitlets in the first year so the tree puts all it's energy into getting established. But could you really do that? I didn't!
Call me a goody-two-shoes, but I did remove all but one fruitlet/blossom. Young daughter got rid of that with a 'what's this daddy?..........oops'.
Just try and think of them as spring flowers for the first year, rather than fruit trees :)
Jeremy
ooooh - it's going to be tough. Not sure I will have enough will power...
Watering in is normally considered to be done to settle the soil in and around the roots. So if your trees were container grown, at this time of year watering would not be necessary.
Generally speaking you would not really need to remove fruitlets in the first year after planting as the tree would drop them anyway. When they do start producing fruit, you may find it necessary to thin out the clusters after the June drop if the tree looks to be producing more apples than you think it can support.
The trees arrived bare-rooted - should I whip down the plot later with watering can??
no-as long as you planted them properly watering at this time is not needed.
I am a cruel so and so-apples never get to see their first born.
Let the trees mature a bit-it`s worth a couple of years waiting.
Stephan