Growing the perfect apple isn’t easy

Q. How can I grow a better apple crop? The apples are small, with lots of spots.

Bob from Newton Falls

A. Growing the perfect apple is not easy. But there are some basic things you can do throughout the year to help your trees produce the best fruit possible.

Prune, prune, prune

As the old sayings go, “prune a fruit tree until it looks like you pruned too much – then prune it some more.” The tree should not be beautiful until you see that 5-inch-plus apple a few weeks before harvest. Air and sunlight are the two most important things in producing fruit and decreasing disease pressure in the orchard or within your single fruit tree. Apples should be pruned to the central leader system. The first set of branches should be more than 18 inches off the ground. Each set of branches should be at least 18 inches apart.

Control disease

Does your tree lose lots of leaves every year? Are they covered in spots? Are there spots on the fruit that can be rubbed off? Then you have apple scab. This is the most destructive disease on apple trees.

First, practice good sanitation in the orchard. Clean up branches and dead leaves, falling leaves and such. There should not be any apple leaves left on the ground for winter. The disease survives on those leaves. There are control recommendations, but they take a lot of work. You can refer to OSU Extension Bulletin 780, Controlling Disease and Insects in Home Fruit Planting, for details.

Second, plan before you buy a new tree (or replace your old one). Choose a variety that does not get apple scab. From Pristine to Gold Rush and Enterprise to Crimson Crips, you have lots of options for trees with less disease.

Find more at http://go.osu.edu/noscab.

Eliminate weeds

Trees in the forest don’t have weeds growing at their feet, do they? Thus, your home orchard shouldn’t have grass growing up to the truck.

Use a bark mulch or compost to mulch out to the drip line (the furthest point that the branches are past the trunk). This will help retain moisture and prevent the weeds from stealing moisture and nutrients from the tree.

Putting newspapers under the mulch each spring will eliminate weeds for the entire season.

Fertilize properly

Using compost as your mulch is a good way to add extra nutrients to the soil.

Simply look up the equivalent rates of N-P-K.

If you are using other types of mulch, then fertilizers may be the best option.

There are organic and conventional fertilizers to choose from.

A rule of thumb is to apply a balanced fertilizer with the equivalent of 1/10 pound of actual nitrogen per year of tree age. Apply the fertilizer in early spring.

Eric Barrett is OSU Extension educator for agriculture and natural resources in Mahoning County. Call the office hot line at 330-533-5538 to submit your questions. Regular clinic hours are 9 a.m. to noon Mondays and Thursdays.