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With good care, you can reap a good harvest from one apple tree. And if there are several trees, then you can provide the whole family with environmentally friendly fruits for the winter. But often there is a need to transplant plants to a new place. There are many reasons for this action. This may be due to improper planting of the apple tree in the spring, when the neck was buried. Sometimes you have to move a fruit tree because the location was initially chosen incorrectly.
We will try to tell you in more detail about the rules and features of transplanting an apple tree to a new place in the fall, taking into account the requests of gardeners. After all, even minor mistakes affect not only future fruiting, but can also cause the death of the tree. To the question whether it is possible to replant an apple tree in the fall, we will answer unequivocally: yes.
Questions regarding the choice of time of year for transplanting apple trees of different ages to another location concern not only novice gardeners. Even experienced garden owners sometimes doubt the correctness of the upcoming work. First of all, when is it better to replant – in spring or autumn.
Experts believe that autumn transplanting fruit trees to a new location is the most successful time, since the plant, being in a dormant period, receives less stress and injury.But it is necessary to take into account the climatic features of the territory.
Gardeners wonder when to replant an apple tree in the fall. As a rule, 30 days before the onset of persistent frosts. And this is in central Russia mid-September, end of October. The background temperature at this time is still positive during the day, and night frosts are still insignificant.
So, what conditions need to be taken into account:
Autumn should be rainy.
- Transplanting apple trees to a new place in the fall is carried out with the onset of dormancy, the signal for this is the falling of leaves. Sometimes a tree does not have time to shed all its foliage, then it needs to be torn off.
- Night temperatures at the time of transplantation should not be below minus six degrees.
- It is better to replant apple trees in the evening.
General principles of transplantation
If you want to know how to transplant an apple tree to a new location in the fall, try to carefully read some of the recommendations. Moreover, they are common for trees that are 1, 3, 5 years old or older.
Transplant principles:
- If you plan to replant apple trees, then you need to take care of a new place in advance. We'll have to dig a hole in the fall. Moreover, its dimensions must be large so that the roots of the relocated tree are located in it freely both from below and from the sides. In general, in order for the tree to thrive, we dig a hole for the apple tree in a new place one and a half times larger than the previous one.
- A place to transplant an apple tree to a new location in the fall should be well-lit and protected from drafts.
- The place should be at an elevation; lowland is not suitable, because the root system will become very waterlogged during the rainy season, which will negatively affect the development of the tree and fruiting.
- Apple trees love fertile soils rich in microelements, so when replanting apple trees, add humus, compost or mineral fertilizers to the hole (mix with compost and humus). They are placed at the very bottom, then covered with a fertile layer deposited while digging the hole. When transplanting apple trees in the fall or spring, placing roots directly on fertilizer is unacceptable, as this can cause burns.
- Apple trees do not tolerate acidic soils well, so you should add a little dolomite flour.
- The groundwater level in the new location should not be high. If the problem cannot be solved due to the fact that there is no other place on the site, then you will have to take care of the drainage system. You can use crushed stone, brick, stones or chopped boards for drainage. Moreover, this pillow is laid before the compost is added.
- You can correctly replant an apple tree in a new location if you dig it up carefully, leaving the main roots intact. The rest of the root system is carefully examined and audited. Roots with damage or signs of disease and rot should not be left on the tree. They should be ruthlessly removed. The cut areas are sprinkled with wood ash for disinfection.
- When removing a large or small apple tree from an old hole, do not try to specifically shake off the soil. Remember, the larger the lump of earth, the faster the apple tree will take root.
If this is not possible, keep the seedling in water for at least 8-20 hours.
Replanting apple trees of different ages
As we have already said, spring or autumn replanting is possible for apple trees of different ages, but after 15 years such an operation is pointless for two reasons. Firstly, the survival rate in a new place is practically zero. Secondly, the life cycle of fruiting plants is coming to an end. You won’t be able to get a harvest in the new place anyway. Why torture the tree?
Let's look at how to properly transplant fruit trees of different ages to a new location, and find out if there is any particular difference, including for columnar apple trees.
How to replant young trees
If in the spring, when planting an apple tree seedling, an unsuccessful place was chosen, then in the fall you can replant it, and almost painlessly. After all, a young plant that has been growing in its old place for no more than a year does not yet have such a large root system, and the roots themselves have not yet had time to go deep.
Preparing the landing site
We dig a hole a month in advance, fill it with drainage and soil. This procedure is necessary for the earth to settle. In this case, it will not pull down the root collar and the scion site during transplantation.
Preparing the apple tree for transplanting
When the time comes to transplant the apple tree to a new place, the soil around the apple tree is spilled, the apple tree is dug up, going slightly beyond the perimeter of the crown. Carefully dig up the soil, trying not to damage the roots.A tarpaulin or other dense material is spread nearby, the trunk is wrapped in soft cloth and the tree is removed from the hole.
Sometimes they dig up apple trees not on their own site, but far beyond it. For transportation, the dug plants are placed in a bag, and then in large boxes, so as not to damage the roots and not disturb the lump of native soil. The skeletal branches are carefully bent to the trunk and secured with strong twine.
But before you take the apple tree out of the ground by the trunk, you need to make a mark on it in order to be guided by it when moving the plant to a new place.
If all the leaves on the tree have not yet fallen off, it can still be replanted. But in order to stop photosynthesis and the expenditure of the plant’s energy on it, the leaves are removed. In this case, the plant will switch to strengthening the root system and growing new lateral roots.
They make a small mound in the hole and place an apple tree. A strong stake is driven in nearby, to which the tree must be tied. To avoid stripping the bark, place a soft cloth between the twine and the trunk. The twine is tied in a figure-of-eight manner so that it does not dig into the bark of the apple tree when the plant begins to mature.
When an apple tree is replanted, the top fertile layer is thrown over the roots. Having thrown part of the soil, it is necessary to perform the first watering. Its task is to wash the soil down under the roots so that voids do not form. Then we fill the hole again with soil, compact it around the trunk of the apple tree to ensure greater contact between the roots and the soil, and water it. When the tree is transplanted to a new location, you need to pour out 2 buckets of water again.In total, three buckets of water are enough for a young apple tree; older plants need more.
If by chance the trunk or scion site ends up under the ground, you need to carefully pull the apple tree up, then trample the ground again. The soil must be mulched to prevent drying out. The remaining soil is used to make a border around the perimeter of the tree crown for easy watering.
Experienced gardeners, when replanting an apple tree, try not to carry out heavy pruning of branches and shoots in the fall. This operation is left until spring. After all, winter may be too harsh, who knows how many branches will remain intact.
In the video, the gardener talks about the features of transplanting a young apple tree to a new location:
Transplanting adult apple trees
Beginning gardeners are also interested in how to transplant apple trees three years old and older to a new location. It should be noted that there is no big difference in either actions or timing. Although the procedure itself is complicated by the fact that the lump of earth is large and the root system is powerful, it is impossible to cope with the work on your own.
Before replanting adult apple trees in the fall, wait until the leaves turn completely yellow and fall off by 90 percent. Since the crown is already formed on plants aged three years and older, it is necessary to prune before replanting. First of all, remove broken branches, then those that grow incorrectly or are intertwined. By the end of the procedure, the distance between the branches of the crown should be thinned so that sparrows can fly freely between them.
Many gardeners have columnar apple trees growing on their property, which also have to be replanted. Let us immediately note that such plants are compact and short in stature, which greatly facilitates harvesting. Despite the external effect, columnar apple trees have one drawback: they age faster than ordinary vigorous fruit trees.
As for transplanting to a new place, there are no problems. All actions are identical. Apple trees can be transplanted to a new location both in spring and autumn. Since the plants are compact, the root system does not grow much.
And the most interesting thing is that deepening the root collar does not have a negative effect on growth and fruiting. The only thing you need to make sure is that the water does not stagnate, especially if the soil is clay.
Features of transplanting columnar apple trees to a new place in the fall:
Conclusion
As you can see, transplanting apple trees to a new location in autumn is possible for plants no older than 15 years. The main thing is to comply with the requirements and recommendations. The deadlines are the same for everyone: you need to do it before the onset of frost, in the cool ground. Transplanted trees should always be watered abundantly. We hope that you will cope with the work, and the apple trees in the new place will delight you with a bountiful harvest.
