Start an apple tree

Apple Tree Rooting: Learn About Planting Apple Tree Cuttings

If you’re new (or even not so new) to the gardening game, you might wonder how apple trees are propagated. Apples are usually grafted onto hardier rootstocks, but what about planting apple tree cuttings? Can you root apple tree cuttings? Starting apple tree cuttings is possible; however, you may not end up with the exact characteristics of the parent plant. Read on to learn more.

Can You Root Apple Tree Cuttings?

Apples can be started from seed, but it’s a little like spinning a roulette wheel; you never know exactly what you’ll get. The rootstocks of most popular apple varieties tend to be susceptible to disease and are grafted onto hardier rootstock.

Another method of propagation is planting apple tree cuttings. This is a fairly straightforward method of propagation but, as with propagation from seed, it’s a bit of a mystery as to what you will end up with, and apple tree rooting isn’t always successful.

Starting Apple Tree Cuttings

Start an apple tree from cuttings in the winter or early spring when the tree is dormant. With sharp pruning shears, cut a portion of a branch that is 6-15 inches (15-38 cm.) from the tip of the branch.

Store the cutting, cut end down in moist sawdust or vermiculite for 3-4 weeks in a cool basement, cellar or refrigerator.

At the end of this chilling period, a callus will have formed over the cut end. Dust this callused end with rooting powder and then stick the dusted end in a container of moist peat soil. Keep the soil consistently moist. Place the container in a warm area of partial to dappled sunlight.

Planting Apple Tree Cuttings

After a few weeks, you should see leaves begin to emerge, which also means that roots are growing. At this time, give them a light application of liquid fertilizer or manure water.

Transplant at this juncture or keep the cutting in the container for the next year until the seedling has established roots and then transplant it the following spring.

Dig a hole that is large enough to accommodate the apple tree rooting. Settle the seedling apple tree into the hole and fill in around the roots with soil. Gently tamp out any air bubbles and water the plant in well.

If it is still fairly cool outside, you may need to cover the trees for added protection but remove the covers once it’s warmed back up.

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Pruning Apple Trees

Pruning is a very important part of proper apple tree care and maintenance; however, many people think the task overwhelming. It doesn’t have to be! Keep these things in mind when approaching pruning your apple trees:

• Have confidence in knowing that not everyone will prune the exact same way – including the experts.
• In the best interest of your tree, it is preferable to do some pruning versus no pruning.
• If an apple tree is left unpruned, it may not become fruitful, it will not grow as well, and – in some cases – it may not be encouraged to grow at all.
• There are three main reasons you should prune your apple tree: its survival, stimulation, and shaping.

NOTE: This is part 8 in a series of 11 articles. For a complete background on how to grow apple trees , we recommend starting from the beginning.

Survival

When your apple tree is dug up from our fields to be shipped to you, and any time a tree is transplanted, the root ball loses many of its fine feeder roots. These hairlike, delicate roots are important to the process of absorbing moisture and nutrients in the soil. Pruning, in this instance, helps balance the top growth of your tree with the root system, giving the roots time to re-establish in your yard to support existing top growth and new growth.

When your bare-root apple tree arrives from Stark Bro’s, our professionals have already pre-pruned your tree for you. Because of this, you do not need to prune them again at planting time. The only pruning necessary at planting time would be to remove any broken or damaged branches and roots.

Plan to prune your apple trees every year during their dormant season. In Zone 6 and north, you should wait until late winter. A good reference book, such as Pruning Made Easy, can be invaluable for providing additional visuals and answering questions you may have during the pruning process.

Stimulation

In addition to the survival benefits, pruning an apple tree stimulates stronger, more vigorous growth from the remaining buds. After a single growing season, an apple tree you prune will be bigger with stronger branching than a matching, unpruned apple tree.

Shape and Structure

Equally as important to the benefits above, your apple tree needs to be pruned to provide a strongly structured shape. The natural shape an apple tree takes on is not always the best for its maximum fruit production. Stark Bro’s apple trees are pruned in the nursery row for proper shaping to get you started and corrective pruning must continue at home. If you keep up with your pruning and shaping each year, it will be a reasonable task mostly involving small, easy-to-heal cuts.

Pruning Tips

Pruning angles

Narrow, V-shape crotch angles in the limbs are an open invitation to disastrous splitting later on, particularly when your apple tree is supporting a large fruit crop. For your tree’s branches, choose wide 10 o’clock and 2 o’clock angles.

Pruning to a bud

Make sharp, clean cuts close enough (about 1/4 inch away from the next outward-pointing bud) so you won’t leave a clumsy stub that’s hard to heal over. Stay far enough above the bud so it won’t die back. Slant the cuts and the new growth will develop beautifully.

Every branch has buds pointed in various directions. Since you want vigorous new growth to spread out and away from the center of the tree, make you cut above a bud that’s aimed outward. These are usually located on the underside of the branch. This helps your apple tree take on a more spreading shape, keeping it open to light and air circulation.

Prune for Success

Apple trees develop better if they’re pruned in a timely manner and with a bit of care and consideration. Here’s how:

Help the tree form a strong framework. This is what you should aim for when pruning:

• Remove weak, diseased, injured, or narrow-angle branches.
• Remove the weaker of any crossing or interfering branches, and one branch of forked limbs.
• Remove upright branches and any that sweep back inward toward the center of tree.

The purpose is to keep your apple tree’s canopy from becoming too thick and crowded, so some thinning is necessary to permit light to enter the tree and also to keep its height reasonable. All these objectives promote the improved bearing and fruit quality of your apple tree – you’ll be pleased with the results!

Prune apple trees to a “Central Leader” shape.

Apple trees are productive and strong when pruned and trained to a central leader (or main leader) structure. This type of structure has a pyramidal shape with a single upright leader limb as its highest point. This central leader is the newest extension of a long, upright growing trunk from which all lateral branches arise.

As with all strong-growing branches, the leader should be headed (pruned back) at approximately 24- to 30-inches above the highest set of its surrounding “scaffold” branches. The uppermost remaining bud on the leader will then produce a vigorous new leader, and no other shoot should be allowed to grow taller.

Lateral limbs should be selected from shoots growing out from the central leader. These should be spaced vertically about 4- to 6-inches apart. They should also have growth that is more horizontal than vertical, and point in different compass directions from the trunk – thus creating a “scaffold” of branches. Any unbranched lateral branches should be headed back to the next ideal bud to encourage side branches and to stiffen long, lateral branches. All laterals should exhibit the stronger wide angles discussed above.

Pruning Whips (Unbranched Trees)

Whips are unbranched trees. Unbranched apple trees are ideal if you want more control over which branches are allowed to develop – as you might in certain artful pruning styles like espalier. Prune whips back to 28- to 36-inches above the ground at planting time. After the new branches have grown 3- to 5-inches in length, select a shoot to become the leader and the rest become the tree’s scaffold limbs.

Off-season pruning

Sometimes pruning needs to be done even when the season isn’t ideal. If a branch is broken by the wind or by a heavy load of fruit, emergency treatment is necessary. When taking action due to injury, prune to clean up any ragged edges; making a smooth cut that leaves no stubby stump.

It does not benefit the apple tree to wait until dormancy to prune damaged, dead, or diseased limbs or to remove unwanted growth like suckers and watersprouts. Fast-growing tree suckers and watersprouts should be completely removed as soon as you see them.

Spur pruning

You should not prune a spur-type apple tree as aggressively as you would a partial-tip or tip-bearing apple tree. Spur-bearing apple trees are naturally less vigorous than the others and do not require it. In apple trees with a spur-bearing habit, fruit develops on each limb and from the trunk out. They develop many small spurs rather than long shoots, so fewer should be removed. On the other hand, sometimes too many fruit spurs grow along a branch and may need to be thinned out to encourage bigger and better fruit on what remains.

Fruit Thinning

There are several reasons to thin fruit:

• To reduce limb breakage
• Increase fruit size
• Improve fruit color and quality
• Stimulate floral initiation for next year’s crop

Home gardeners are able to effectively thin apple trees by hand. During May and June in most areas, many apple trees will start to drop or abort underripe fruit. This is a natural process that allows the tree to mature the remaining crop load. If not corrected through thinning, apple trees may bear biennially (fruits only every other year) or bear heavily one year, then bear a comparatively light crop the next year. Thinning may seem counterproductive in theory, but it really is a benefit to your apple harvest in the end.

The best time to thin apple trees is within 20 to 40 days of full bloom. Thin so that each remaining apple is spaced 6 to 8 inches apart on the branch. In clusters, leave the king bloom (the center bloom in the cluster of five flowers) as it will develop into the largest fruit. On spur-type apple varieties, many fruit spurs grow along a branch and will need to be thinned out to encourage bigger and better fruit on what remains.

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Planting Apple Trees

Successfully establishing a young apple tree in your yard starts with your planting site and planting method. Once an apple tree is established, it needs little assistance to grow and bear fruit, but you’ll first need to make sure you give your trees a strong foundation.

NOTE: This is part 4 in a series of 11 articles. For a complete background on how to grow apple trees , we recommend starting from the beginning.

Apple trees require fertile soil for good growth, so, before you plant, test the soil where your trees will be planted – including a test of the soil pH. Refer back to the section on Soil Preparation for tips on testing your soil.

If the soil pH where you plan to plant your tree is 6.0-7.0, you’re in good shape – this is an ideal range for apple trees. Take a look at the established trees and plants around the site. Check to see that they look healthy and are growing well. This will help give you an idea of the success of new plantings in the area. Remember to steer clear of soils that are extremely heavy or poorly drained.

Apple trees may be planted even when temperatures are quite cool, especially if they arrive bareroot and dormant. If a hard frost is expected, it is advisable to delay planting for a while until temperatures become more moderate. Do not expose roots to temperatures that are freezing or below. Generally, as long as your soil is workable, it is fine to plant.

Planting Steps

• Before planting: soak the apple tree’s roots in a bucket or large tub of water for one to two hours. This helps keep the roots from drying out while you dig the planting hole. Avoid soaking roots for more than six hours. Remember: do not expose roots to freezing temperatures (or below) prior to planting.

• Dig the planting hole deep and wide enough so the root system has plenty of room and room to spread and grow. When digging the planting hole, make sure it is deep and wide enough so the apple tree’s root system has plenty of room to easily expand. Keep the more-nutritious topsoil in a separate pile so you can put it in the bottom of the hole, where it’ll do the most good.
• To loosen the soil, mix aged/rotted manure, garden compost, coir or peat moss (up to 1/3 concentration) into your pile of topsoil. The peat moss you get should either be baled sphagnum or granular peat. Note: Peat has a low pH, so if you use this rather than neutral coir, it may affect the soil pH around the roots. Coir, like our Coco-Fiber Growing Medium, can be added instead of peat – or just evenly work in 2 or more inches of organic material with the existing soil.
• Place the apple tree in the center of the planting hole with its roots down and spread out. Holding onto the trunk to keep it vertical, backfill the hole, putting the topsoil back in first. You can avoid creating air pockets by working the soil carefully around the roots and tamping down firmly as you refill the planting hole around your apple tree.
• Especially if you’re planting on a slope, create a rim of soil around the planting hole about two inches above ground level. This is called a “berm” and it works to catch water so that it can soak in rather than running off and causing soil erosion. Spread soil evenly around tree and mulch to prevent damage from water pooling and injury from freezing around the apple tree’s trunk in fall going into winter.

Post-Planting

Thoroughly water your newly planted apple tree. A deep soaking with about a gallon of water is best. If you need to fertilize your apple trees at planting time, you can water them in with a water-soluble solution like Stark® Tre-Pep® Fertilizer. If planting in the fall, wait until spring instead to make any fertilizer applications. After watering, if soil appears to settle and sinks into the planting hole, just add more soil – enough to fill the hole to ground level again.

Apply a layer of organic material like wood mulch (rather than inorganic material like rocks), about 2-3 inches thick, around the root zone of your apple tree. Mulching helps discourage weeds while also keeping water from quickly evaporating away from the root zone. In the fall, double the mulch layer or add a layer of straw for winter protection.

Note: Rodents and other small gnawing critters could take advantage of mulch that is applied too thickly, and they may chew the tree’s bark for sustenance – a type of injury that can be fatal, especially to new apple trees.

Planting Budded and Grafted Apple Trees

All Stark Bro’s apple trees are grafted or budded to ensure growth of true-to-name planting stock. You can see where the fruiting variety on top is joined to the root variety on the bottom by a bump in the lower trunk, by a change in the bark color, or by a slightly offset angle in the tree.

Grafted apple trees need special planting attention. For most apple trees, especially dwarf apple trees, it’s very important to keep the graft above the soil level; otherwise, roots could develop from above the graft and your apple tree could grow to its full size by bypassing its dwarfing parts. Budded apple trees are manually fitted to specially selected clonal rootstocks.

For dwarf, semi-dwarf, and columnar apple trees, the bud union should be planted 2- to 3-inches above the soil line. For ideal anchorage, standard-size apple trees, as well as our Stark® Custom Graft® trees, like the Stark® Double Delicious® apple tree, should be planted 1- to 2-inches deeper than the visible soil lines from when they grew in our nursery rows.

Planting Potted Apple Trees

Apple trees that are grown and shipped in our Stark® EZ Start® bottomless pots are part of our continuing quest for producing better and stronger trees for the home grower. By following these simple instructions, you will be assured of getting your new potted apple tree off to the best possible start.

• Before planting: When your apple tree arrives, carefully take it out of the package. Rest assured, your potted tree has been watered prior to shipment and should arrive with damp soil around the roots; however, it does need another drink when it arrives at your home. Be sure the water reaches the entirety of the roots within the container. If you can’t plant your tree immediately upon arrival, keep the roots hydrated until you can plant, and keep the tree in a sheltered location. Do not place your potted apple tree in a bucket of water. This could cause the roots to rot and weaken or even kill your apple tree.
• Your potted apple tree is ready for planting as soon as it arrives. To remove the tree from its temporary container, simply grasp the sides of the pot and carefully slide the tree out. Note: If the tree’s roots do not easily slide out of the container, you may need to gently pry the inside edges of the container away from the root system, and loosen it until the roots slide freely from the pot.
• While some might shake loose, most of the potting soil should remain around the apple tree’s roots. Gently separate, untangle, and spread out the tree’s roots and place it, soil and all, into the prepared planting hole. Backfill the hole with top soil, same as you would a bare-root apple tree (see above), and water thoroughly.
• Your potted apple tree may have come with a bamboo stake, which helped straighten the tree as it grew in its pot. We recommend that you keep the tree staked when you plant, since all new trees can benefit from staking in their first years. You may remove the bamboo stake and replace it with a different tree stake if you prefer.

Note: At planting time, do not plant the Stark® EZ Start® bottomless pot in the ground. It is not intended to break down over time as your apple tree grows, and it will cause root restriction, injury, and may even be fatal to the apple tree. The pot your apple tree arrives in is intended to be a temporary container only.

One final point: Please be sure to remove the name tag from your apple tree. As the tree grows, this small piece of plastic can choke off its circulation, causing damage like girdling and even tree death. If you’d like to keep the tag on your tree, retie it loosely with soft twine and be sure to keep it from becoming restricted as the tree grows.

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