How to grow Apple

Where to plant

Plant apples in full sun in fertile, well drained soil, away from low spots where cold air and water collect. Apples need a certain number of winter chill hours to flower, so the right variety depends on where you live.

In the Northeast, the Midwest, the Northern Plains, the Mountain West and Alaska, plant bare root trees in early spring as soon as the soil can be worked, in April or May. Fall planting is not advised in the coldest regions. In the Mid-South, the Mid-Atlantic and the Pacific Northwest, plant in late winter to early spring or in November. In North and Central Florida, the Gulf South, Texas, the desert and Southern California, plant low chill varieties in January or February while they are dormant. South Florida and the Hawaii lowlands do not get enough chill for apples.

Choosing a variety

Two choices decide how your tree grows: the variety (the scion) and the rootstock it is grafted onto. Dwarfing rootstocks keep trees to about 8 to 15 feet tall and bring them into bearing in 2 to 3 years, which suits most gardens. Choose a variety with a chill requirement that matches your winters, and plant two that flower at the same time. A flowering crabapple can be the pollinizer.

How to plant

1. Buy a named variety grafted onto a rootstock, since apples do not come true from seed. One or two year old bare root trees establish well; keep the roots from drying out before planting.
2. Dig a hole large enough that the roots are neither crowded nor bent, and trim any broken or extra long roots.
3. Set the tree at about the same depth it grew in the nursery, with the graft union, the knobby joint near the base, above the soil.
4. Backfill a little at a time, firming the soil around the roots as you go.
5. Make a low ring of soil around the hole and fill it with water to settle the soil. Do not fertilize at planting.
6. Keep a circle about 2 feet (60 cm) out from the trunk free of grass and weeds, and mulch it to hold moisture.

Watering and feeding

Water young trees through dry spells, especially in spring. UF/IFAS suggests wetting the soil under the canopy deeply at each watering, about 5 to 10 gallons (20 to 40 liters) for a young tree and 50 gallons (190 liters) or more for a large one, as often as every 7 to 10 days in very dry weather. Sandy soils need water more often than clay. Trees in the dry West need regular irrigation all summer.

Feed according to growth and a soil test. In Florida, UF/IFAS suggests about 1 pound (450 g) of a balanced fertilizer, with equal parts nitrogen, phosphate and potash, per year of the tree's age, up to 15 pounds, split between January and June. Go easy on nitrogen everywhere: soft, fast growth is more prone to fire blight and gives fewer fruit.

Pruning and care through the year

• Prune in late winter while the tree is dormant. Train young trees to a modified central leader with five or six well spaced scaffold branches set at wide angles, and avoid heavy winter pruning, which forces soft growth.
• Thin the fruit by hand when it is about marble size, after the natural drop, to one or two fruit per cluster or about 4 to 6 inches (10 to 15 cm) apart. Thinning gives larger apples and helps stop the tree cropping only every other year.
• Rake up and remove fallen leaves in autumn and pick up dropped fruit, which cuts down apple scab and fruit pests the following year.
• In Florida, the Gulf South and Texas, low chill apples can bloom in late winter warm spells; watch for late frosts and cover small trees if one is forecast.

Harvesting

Taste an apple once the fruit looks fully colored. If it is still starchy, wait a few days and try again. A ripe apple comes away with a gentle upward twist. In the North, most varieties ripen from August through October. In Florida, Anna, Dorsett Golden and TropicSweet ripen in June or July.

Store apples somewhere cold and humid, such as the fridge. Low chill Florida varieties keep for about six to eight weeks refrigerated; many late northern varieties keep for months.