Apple

Category: fruit-trees

Growing

  • 📍 Zone: 3-8 (choose 7a/7b chilling requirement varieties)
  • 🌞 Sun: Full sun
  • 💧 Water: Medium
  • 🌱 Soil: Deep, fertile, well-drained; frost resistant soils preferred (high clay or sand); hilltop or slope ideal

Planting

  • 📏 Height: 8 (dwarf) - 25 (standard) feet
  • 📏 Spacing: 10 (dwarf) - 20 feet apart, with at least one other apple tree variety within 60 feet for pollination
  • 📅 When To Plant: Plant rootstock during dormant season
  • 🌱 Propagation: Graft onto rootstock
  • ⬇️ Depth: Deep planting depth
  • 🤝 Companion:
    • 0: At least one other apple species
    • 1: Chamomile
    • 2: Coriander
    • 3: Basil
    • 4: Chives
    • 5: Fennel
    • 6: Lemongrass
    • 7: Yarrow
    • 8: Mint
  • 🚫 Avoid Planting Near:
    • 0: Grasses and herbaceous plants
    • 1: Potatoes
    • 2: Tomatoes
    • 3: Peppers

Care & Maintenance

  • ✂️ Pruning:
    • 0: Classic bush tree pruning during winter
    • 1: Remove weak, diseased, or injured branches
    • 2: Remove inward, crossing, or upright branches
    • 3: Remove one branch from a fork of two
  • Thinning: Keep apples about 8 inches apart

Harvesting & Usage

  • ⏰ When To Harvest: Fall, depending on species

Ecological Info

  • 🐝 Pollinators:
    • 0: Bees
    • 1: Butterflies
    • 2: Birds
  • Notes: Require another variety of apple nearby for effective pollination
  • Pests:
    • 0: Watch for leaf pests
    • 1: Mildew
    • 2: Fungi
    • 3: Fireblight