The apple tree (Malus domestica) is one of the most popular fruit trees. In addition to the fact that it delivers good yields and is quite easy to cultivate, its various stem forms, which determine the height, certainly contribute to this.
What stem forms are there in the apple tree?
Aapple standard tree is suitable as a house tree,whose sprawling crown provides wonderfully cool shade. Half-trunk, bush treeorApple column are ideal for smaller gardens and are also suitable if you want to cultivate several apple trees where space is limited.
What does a standard apple tree look like?
These apple trees form a trunk up to250 centimeters high as well as an attractive tree crown that can be up to ten meters in diameter. The area under the treetop of the standard apple tree can be used wonderfully as a shaded seating area.
They are refined on a strong growing base. Only this makes the trunk diameter of over 25 centimeters possible, which is required to support the foliage and the many fruits.
What is meant by an apple half-trunk?
The growth of the half-trunk is similar to that of the standard apple tree trunk, but thetrunk heightis only about 120 centimeters. This is the crown easier to reach, making tree care easier. By cutting back the lower crown branches, a half-stem apple tree can be trained into a standard tree over the course of a few years.
How does an apple bush tree and a columnar tree grow?
Apple tree bush trees have amaximum trunk lengthof80 centimeters and are therefore very suitable for the allotment garden. The columnar apple, on the other hand, grows slenderly in height and forms the fruits directly on the trunk.
This makes these two variants ideal when space is at a premium. They can also be cultivated wonderfully in a pot on a balcony or terrace.
Are there diseases that only affect the trunk of the apple tree?
Althoughthere arethere arediseases,themainlythetribeof the apple treeinfested. But the supply of the other parts of the tree also suffers, so that a trunk disease has a massive impact on the vitality of the fruit tree.
Typical fruit tree diseases that almost always first appear on the trunk of the apple tree are, for example:
- Collar rot,
- Fruit tree cancer,
- Black bark burn.
Tip
When the apple tree bears for the first time depends on the trunk shape
High-stems and half-stems bear for the first time after about five years. With some varieties such as Boskoop, Roter Eiser and Jakob Fischer, it can even take up to ten years before you can harvest apples. Bush and columnar apples take less time and you can expect yields in the second or third year.