4 Essential Apple Orchard Watering Tips to Get a Good Apple Harvest
To produce a bountiful harvest, plants must receive the required amount of water. Experienced gardeners emphasize that the key is not the frequency of watering, but its timing. Beginner gardeners usually do the opposite: watering apple trees sparingly but frequently. This produces little benefit.
When to water apple trees
In fact, apple trees should be thoroughly watered four times per season. This procedure should be performed at specific times during the trees' growing season:
- The first time is watered in early spring before the buds open.
- The next time the soil is moistened is 14-21 days after the end of the flowering period.
- The third watering is done approximately a couple of weeks before harvesting.
- The final procedure is performed in mid-autumn. Moistening the soil in October will prevent the wood from drying out during dry spells and freezing during the winter.
Watering can be done in three different ways:
- Surface. Water flows either through furrows made between rows or in a circular pattern. In the latter case, the furrows should be equal to the diameter of the crown.
- Sprinkler irrigation. This is done using sprinklers. These come in pistol, fan, and impulse types.
- Drip irrigation. This method requires a system of small-diameter pipes and hoses.
By setting up drip irrigation, gardeners benefit twice: plants receive not only moisture but also essential nutrients. This combination produces excellent results: a high percentage of seedlings survive.
By properly organizing irrigation, crop yields can be increased by more than a quarter.
How many buckets of water are needed to moisten one apple tree:
- for a tree up to 12 months old - about three;
- apple trees up to 5 years old - from 5 to 8;
- trees up to 10 years old - from 12 to 15.
Gardeners often rely on folk wisdom, which states that the number of buckets of water should equal the number of years. Each person decides for themselves which principles to follow. The main thing is that after watering, the moisture penetrates to a depth of 80 centimeters.
