Digging a Pit for Planting an Apple Tree
Once bare rooted apple trees for a new orchard have arrived wholesale from a certified tree nursery, it is important to get them into the ground as soon as possible. Ideally, this should be in a prepared pit of cultivated soil on the site of the apple orchard with its gentle slope or terrace and south facing. The tree should have a visible nursery mark showing how far up the trunk it had been planted into substrate in the nursery. This is a valuable guide for the orchardist to ensure that the tree is not planted too deep by avoiding covering this nursery mark.
Once the bare roots have been spread out with gloved hands, then a pit can be marked out in the soil as 15 centimeters wider than the furthest root. For a tree, like the Herefordshire Russet that had been organically grown and grown for 4 years on a fruit tree nursery, the pit is going to have diameter of over one and half meters. The apple tree needs to be planted in the centre of the pit eventually.
Preparations for planting the apple tree in the pit require straight sides with a sturdy spade to be dug down. Then excavations of the top soil begin. This top soil should be piled up nearby, ready for refilling, but not so near that it is compacted down during the positioning of the tree and filling in part. Then once the digging hits the sub soil of the pit, a new pile of sub soil should be started and kept separate from the top soil. As the depth goes beyond 30 centimeters, it is a good time to move the apple tree into position and measure where the nursery mark is. Use the tree stake or the handle of the spade to line up across the pit. Continue digging the sub soil out until an adequate depth is achieved.
As a final preparation of the pit, use a fork to pierce the floor and the sides of the circular pit.
Positioning and Planting an Apple Tree in a New Orchard
Depending on the choice of site, the prevailing wind and the quality and age of your apple tree, staking a fruit tree can either be done with a straight stake method or an oblique stake method. In exposed areas, an oblique stake offers the newly planted apple tree greater security against the wind if the stake is hammered into the ground and outwardly pointing towards the wind. As the gusts of wind blow the tree, the stake will be driven further into the ground, theoretically. An alternative is using a straight stake, although there can be disadvantages linked to trunk damage due to rubbing and the need to prune away more of the branches to ensure a tight fix to the stake. A straight stake should be offset to the prevailing wind.
Once the stake has been hammered in, return the apple tree to the pit and place it near the stake. Start to fill in around the bare roots with the top soil returning to the base of the pit. Continue planting the tree using the sub soil. Once all the soil has been replaced, tread the soil in firmly around the tree and the stake.
If soil is allowed to settle or is pushed up around the stem, this can cause rotting and damage to the newly planted tree. The tree can be mulched later on in the horticultural year so the heaping up of soil at the planting stage should be avoided. Finally fork over the circular pit to improve the new top soil structure, which may be compacted around by human movement while planting the apple tree.
Securing an Apple Tree and Protection in a New Apple Orchard
Buckle and spacer belt tree ties with a long length for the tie are ideal to secure the young apple tree to the oblique or the straight stake. The spacer will prevent rubbing and the tree tie needs to be as high up as possible on a straight stake. Warming a tree tie in your pocket while the digging is taking place can only increase its flexibility before its use. Two ties will be ample for any maiden apple tree or young apple tree of three to four years old. In areas where there are deer and rabbits, guards should be coiled around the apple tree trunk at the planting stage. As the new apple orchard matures, the ties should be checked annually and the circular pit top cleared of weeds and grasses for the first three years.
Resource
Cubison, Stella (2009) Organic Fruit Production and Viticulture A Complete Guide. UK: Crowood Press.
Susan Morris - Susan Morris, Scottish food and drink business manager, organic gardener, author and editor
