Apple tree management techniques in January

It is January now, and it is still a cold winter. In winter, apple trees require relatively less water, but still need a certain amount of water supply . In addition, pest and disease control , winter fertilization, winter pruning, etc. are also crucial to the apple tree's yield next year. Let’s learn together the key points of apple tree management techniques in January.

1. Plastic surgery

Newly planted apple trees need to be trimmed and pruned to develop a good tree shape. For young trees less than 3 years old, they should be pruned to bare stems without branches to increase the grade difference.

The pruning of mature trees (large trees in the peak fruit-bearing period) is mainly thinning, without shortening, and continuous growth, single-axis extension, timely retraction, and three-dimensional fruiting.

2. Whitewash the tree trunk

Before the soil freezes, prepare a whitewash and apply it to the tree trunks and main branches to reduce or avoid sunburn and frost damage to fruit trees, while also eliminating overwintering pests. The preparation ratio of the whitewash agent is: 5 kg of quicklime , 1 kg of salt, 0.15 kg of animal oil, 0.5 kg of lime sulfur solution, and 12.5 kg of water.

3. Winter garden cleaning

Remove diseased and dead fruits from the trees in a timely manner, and clean out fallen leaves, diseased and insect-infested branches, dry branches, weeds, waste, etc. from the orchard , and burn or bury them in a concentrated manner to eliminate overwintering dormant pests and diseases.

4. Scrape the old and warped skin

The trunk, branches and old bark of the tree are the overwintering places for pests and diseases, and they hide many kinds of pests and diseases. When scraping off the bark, be thorough and leave no gaps. After scraping, whitewash the trunk.

5. Cut off diseased and insect-infested branches

Combined with winter pruning, cutting off dry branches and diseased and insect-infested branches, taking them out of the orchard and burning them in a centralized manner can prevent a variety of diseases and pests, reduce the base number of diseases and pests, and mitigate the damage in the coming year.

6. Fertilization

Winter is the dormant period for apple trees. Fertilization should be mainly organic fertilizer , such as decomposed sheep manure and cow manure, to provide sufficient nutrition for apple trees to overwinter and improve the fruit setting rate and apple taste.

7. Watering

Water your apple trees before winter to ensure they have enough water to survive the winter.

8. Pest and disease control

When pruning in winter, the cuts and saw cuts should be smooth, without leaving stumps or splits, and healing agents should be applied to all cuts and saw cuts in a timely manner to reduce the risk of disease infection.

In short, through the above measures, we can ensure that the apple trees are properly managed in January, improve the apple trees' ability to survive the winter, and lay a good foundation for their growth, development and yield in the coming year.