When planning your own garden, fruit trees often play a big role. If you make the right decisions regarding location and variety selection for an apple tree during the planning phase, you can often harvest sweet apples just a few years later.
Which location should you choose for an apple tree?
The ideal location for an apple tree is a sunny spot with good air circulation to prevent fungal diseases. Apple trees can also thrive in partial shade, but waterlogging should be avoided. Keep your distance from buildings, walls and paths, as apple trees have shallow roots.
Sweet fruits ripen in sun or partial shade
In contrast to other fruit trees, apple trees are not particularly demanding on their location. This means that good results can still be achieved even in partial shade with smaller apple trees as bushes or half-trunks. Since shading also carries the risk of too much waterlogging, moisture and fungal infestation, a sunny location is preferable. If a tree that has been grafted onto the growth base as a standard tree is planted in a garden surrounded by hedges, the leaves are still well ventilated by the wind and are therefore better protected against fungal diseases.
Estimate the distances between walls and paths generously
Sometimes apple trees are sold with the suggestion that they can be shaped into any shape you want with appropriate pruning. Although a lot can be steered and corrected with winter pruning and summer pruning, the dimensions of an apple tree are fundamentally determined by genetics and grafting. That's why an apple tree should generally never be too close to buildings or walls. Since the apple tree has shallow roots, the roots can lift the stones of nearby paving paths out of position.
The whole range of possibilities
A tall apple tree in a classic shape is still suitable as a central source of shade in a garden. In addition, apples can also be grown in a narrow row of trellises, which can be painstakingly created in a small space. The apple tree in the pot on the balcony will not produce a very large harvest. But it can bring you a lot of joy if you pull it from a core yourself. To do this you need the cores:
- place between damp kitchen paper
- place in a sealable plastic container
- stratify in the refrigerator for at least two weeks
Tips & Tricks
Apple trees do not tolerate waterlogging well, so they should not be planted in locations that are too wet. If a seedling is in a pot, it should have a drainage layer and drainage holes.
