Fertilizing Apple trees?

I need help on how do I fertilize my apple trees (8). I would like to try to stay organic. Thanks for any help.

Richard

A top dressing of something like PlantTone (sp?) is good, or just mulch with compost (or compost under mulch). Other than that, top dressings (under mulch) of greensand and rock phosphate will give slow-release K and P.

Traditionally, people have had chickens in their orchards, and I suppose that's another natural fertilizer (doesn't burn by the time it filters down to the roots) w/ weed and bug control.

Thank you Zeppy for the help. How far out from the trunk do I put the fertilizer?

Richard

Richard,

Start about a foot out from the trunk and spread out to the drip edge of the tree line.

Steelhead, Good name for someone who lives on the coast. Haven't been in your area for quite some time. Welcome to DG

My husband and I had 80 acres of apple orchard here in the Okanogan Valley, from early 40s to the 80s. We lived in the house in the orchard until he died in 1994 , just a month short of our 50th wedding anniversary.

Over those years we used different fertilizers, and grew great apples. Sure wish I still had our great Jonathan apple tree, but now I live 9 miles away up on beginnings of Cascade mts, no orchard within a mile or so.

Now I am pretty much organic. I do have 2 peach trees, 2 apricot trees, 2 cherriy trees, and various other fruits. I use Planters 2 and compost and shreds from my prunings and old plant material. We used Planters 2 for a few years when it first became available in the orchard. It is a trace mineral product mined in Colorado. I use about 1/2 ton of it on my I think more than 2 acres of garden. It has just been spread around the garden on nearly everything. Here is one view of my garden, everything new since 1995.

Goodness, rutholive, you've been busy! Lovely!

I use Planters II as well, just on the vegetable garden right now. If I understand correctly, it shouldn't need to be added very often, right? It's slow release minerals, so (I was told) it sticks around for quite a while.

Zeppy, I think they are recommending use of Planters 2 once a year. I applied twice a year until this year but think there is plenty in the soil now. i also use Natures Way 9-3-4, which is mixed/mined?? at the Calcium plant about 15 miles from here. Altho I am not sure I can get it this year , they are really wholesale and may not want to let me have any this year, am planning to drive by their office today.

DonnaS

My fruit trees (including apples) are just starting to get buds & leaves... Is this the time to fertilize?

critter, you have a wonderful resource right in your backyard. Across the county line in Wash. Co. is one of the real good research stations in the East. They hold talks and meetings all the time to announce results of field trials, etc. Some of the addresses are in the links I have here. The MD research farm is in Keedeysville, but they work closely with the WV people too.

If you overfertilize apple and pear trees in the East you will improve the conditions for fireblight considerably. Lots of lush growth is not what you want for apples. Save your nitrogen for the peaches unless your ground is real poor. Western growers can afford more growth because the climate is dry and they control the water. The WA fruit belt gets what? about 8 inches of rain? Fungal sprays used to be uneeded for the most part, even now spraying for fungul problems is seldom. And the variety of insect genera that we 'enjoy' here in the mid-Atlantic are rare in E. Washington. Spraying less means that they can grow the trees right up against the front door of the house.

So, we have better and more insects than them. We can grow Pink Ladies (don't think they can), but their scenery is also of real mtns., not the low forested hills that we call mountains. Before I rattle on and cause sleepiness, here are 2 links. Good luck with your trees.

http://www.wvu.edu/~agexten/orchardmon/om020204.htm
http://www.agnr.umd.edu/users/wmrec/

Penn_pete, yes there a few acres of Pink Ladies planted in the Okanogan Valley now. I love them. And you are right, somewhere around 8" of rainfall including snow is about normal except for past four drought years. And now this year we are catching up some with the lack of rainfrall. Didn't have much of any snow down here in the low hills and valley but we have had more than normal rainfall. It is trying to rain right now.

But I do have to disagree with you about the spraying less, and growing trees right up to the door. Most orchardists are not organic, and do use very bad for people sprays. The sprays are changing all the time. I am very glad to be out of the orchard business.

DonnaS

Thanks for the links, Pete!

I'm thinking that as long as I don't use a quick-release, high N fertilizer that will push lots of new growth, my fruit trees would probably appreciate a little fertilizer. I did have a bunch of compost plowed into the mini orchard area when we first moved in, and this will be the trees' fourth summer. They were planted with fertilizer tabs that Starks said would be good for 2-3 years, so perhaps they should have been fertilized toward the end of last summer?

Fortunately, I have a friend whose dad is my local orchard guru... I will call him and get my "schedule" for caring for the fruit trees this summer.