Autumn is the time for planting seedlings fruit trees. To update garden plot best time The period is considered to be from September to October. It is at this time that the plants are in a state of physiological dormancy and take root in a new place much better.
The main guarantee of further growth and fruiting is right choice fruit tree seedling. Note that for autumn planting Almost all trees are suitable, with the exception of overly sensitive varieties that do not tolerate winter well. Such species are peach, apricot, chestnut, cherry, walnut and some varieties of southern plum.
Also, you should not plant fruit trees brought from other climatic zones in the fall.
What fruit trees can be planted in autumn?
Best of all, autumn planting is tolerated by apple trees, pears, cherries, cherry plums, most varieties of plums, mountain ash and mulberry. By the way, many gardeners note an important pattern: trees planted in autumn have more juicy and larger fruits.
How to choose seedlings?
When choosing a seedling with an open root system, it is worth Special attention give to the roots.
The quality of a seedling with a closed horse system is determined by the condition of the leaves and trunk.
The trunk must be lignified by at least 2/3 of its height, must be solid. A sign that the seedling is ready for winter is the shoots that have finished growing, lignified along the entire length.
Only the crown should be green, in the event that the entire seedling is grassy and green, you should refuse to buy, as it will hurt for a long time and may not take root at all.
The leaves should be without burns and lesions, shiny and leathery, have a dark green color.
The seedling just taken from the greenhouse is more pampered, it will have to be shaded and protected from the wind for about a week.
Buying planting material, pay special attention to the degree of maturation of increments. If the seedlings that you purchase in September have young leaves, then such a seedling was brought from the southern regions, or from abroad, or grown in a greenhouse. It is also possible that the planting material was overfed with nitrogen. Such seedlings do not winter well (the ends of the shoots and whole growths freeze slightly).
It is desirable that the lateral branches of fruit tree seedlings be distributed in different directions, without forming a "one-sided" plant.
The height of the seedlings is also important.
So, an apple tree seedling should not be shorter than 60 cm. There are no such standards for berry bushes, but pay attention to their shoots. The shoots must be dense, the trunk and twigs, like those of tree seedlings, must be at least 2/3 lignified.
On the leaves of shrub seedlings there should be no traces of diseases, pests and suspicious spots. Only a small amount is allowed mechanical damage leaflets.
When buying seedlings, pay attention to the fact that the earth in the bag (or container) is wet.
After buying a seedling, so that the branches do not suffer during transportation, it is worth pulling them closer to the trunk, securing them in this position with twine
If it is not possible to plant a seedling immediately upon arrival at your site, dig it in an inclined position, so that the roots must be in moist soil. Also, the seedling can be additionally watered for reliability.
Which seedlings are better - imported or local?
Fruit and berry seedlings should be taken only locally! Experts have repeatedly proved that planting material brought to us from warmer regions, at best, will not live very long, and at worst, it will infect all the surroundings of the next dangerous disease fruit. Moreover, this fate does not escape even the material from conscientious producers who grew not “their”, but “our” varieties.
Are pots required?
For autumn planting, fruit planting material does not have to be with a closed root system. Moreover, at this time, experts even prefer fruit and berry seedlings with open roots, as this allows you to properly examine the underground part of the plants and select specimens with a lush, branched and healthy root system.
How old should plants be?
Despite the fashion for adult seedlings that has lingered among our summer residents, the optimal age of fruit trees for planting is 1-2 years. The same applies to all berry bushes, except for raspberries and blackberries - they are only annuals.
What is a rootstock?
Usually fruit trees consist of two fused parts. The roots and the base of the stem belong to the stock, and the entire crown is the variety declared during the sale.
A lot can depend on the stock: the strength of the tree's growth, its durability and even resistance to certain diseases. The variety of rootstock plants is a separate issue. If you do not go into it, then in our time in most cases it makes sense to take apple trees on medium-sized rootstocks - such trees are less capricious and more winter-hardy compared to dwarf ones. A normal cherry can be grafted onto a cherry seedling or clonal rootstock. But the cherry on the so-called antipka is not suitable for the middle lane. The most durable Central Russian pears are obtained on seed rootstocks: on quince or mountain ash, a pear tree will not live very long.
Photo: From the personal archive / Elena Popleva
What to look for when choosing seedlings?
Look out for plants that look peppy, with firm bark, unshrunken buds, and lush, branched root systems. The stem and main branches must not be dry, bruised, peeled or broken. At the same time, the height of the aerial part is not of fundamental importance: fruit seedlings 1 m high, and berry plants 40 cm high - already a variant of the norm.
Signs of Illness
How to calculate hidden infections in fruit trees?
When choosing a seedling, always meticulously inspect the stem from all sides. Ulcers, cracks or seemingly drilled holes on the barrel, drops of hardened resin are a good reason to refuse a purchase. The bark should be evenly colored, without spots. You can wipe the barrel with a damp cloth - if it remains solid, then everything is fine.
A healthy bark looks like this. Photo: From the personal archive / Elena Popleva
From the stem, look at the crown. Seeing the drying and bent tips of the branches, refuse to buy.
The leaves of plants with an open root system may be slightly wilted - this is not a crime. But in no case should they be darkened and twisted.
Round formations on the roots are normal for sea buckthorn. But swellings on the roots of an apple tree or pear should make you take a closer look at them. If a cone is found on a thin side root of an apple or pear tree, then it can be cut, destroyed, and the seedling can be safely planted in the garden. But do not take plants with volumetric formations near the root collar.
What is suspicious about gooseberries and currants?
You should not buy seedlings with a powdery coating on the leaves (see photo), with ugly twisted tops - this indicates a disease powdery mildew. If you see that the tops have been cut off and then branched out, this indicates the same problem. Leaves densely covered with spots are also a bad sign.
Powdery mildew on currants. Photo: From the personal archive / Elena Popleva
The most fatal purchase will be black currant with strangely vertically elongated leaves of Gothic outlines. In such cases, infection with terry, which is not treated at all, can be suspected.
Dry branches of currants or gooseberries may indicate infection with a glass case. It happens that in the bush there is a stump stained with earth, by the appearance of which it is impossible to understand whether it is dry or not. Ask the seller to cut it. If opened dark core- Do not take this seedling.
To many buyers, gooseberry seedlings seem too low, and redcurrant bark looks suspiciously flaky. But both are normal.
Shaggy bark is the norm for red currants. Photo: From the personal archive / Elena Popleva
Do I need raspberries?
When choosing planting material, do not take seedlings with purple spots on the stem, cracks or peeling of the bark (such plants are sick with didimella). Cones-bloatings on the trunk indicate the population of the pest - stem gall midge, and on the roots or in the basal part of the stem - about root cancer. Any of these signs is a good reason to refuse a purchase.
Raspberry with stem gall midge. Photo: From the personal archive / Natalya Belyavskaya
Spring is the time to buy seedlings. We recommend that you follow the basic rules when choosing them, and fruit trees will bring a good harvest.
The seedling must be fresh, not dried. On his body there should be no traces of pests, no foci of disease. Be sure to attach a tag to the seedling indicating the breeder-manufacturer, variety, breed and zone for the favorable cultivation of this particular variety.
If seedlings are sold with open roots, then the roots must be intact. Roots healthy tree always light both outside and on the cut, and they should not have any brown or white spots, or any growths.
The fibrous root system should have at least 5 main roots, the tap root system should have at least three, and their length should be about 30 centimeters.
You should not buy seedlings with open roots and foliage.
Although such a plant has a more attractive appearance, the leaves continue to intensively evaporate moisture and dry the seedling. At high temperatures in late summer and early autumn, it is difficult to save even roots carefully wrapped in a bag. If they were completely open, within 1-1.5 months, such a tree simply will not survive.
The condition of young trees largely depends on the conditions in which they developed.
The height of annual pome seedlings should be 1.2-1.3 m, stone fruit - 1.4-1.5 m.
If the plant is smaller, it means that it was not taken care of enough: it was watered incorrectly, it was not fed, or it was affected by diseases, etc.
Often small size They try to justify seedlings with a weakly growing stock, but in the nursery this does not matter much. Only later, in the garden, trees on low-growing rootstocks enter fruiting time much earlier, their growth slows down.
On the other hand, if the seedlings are too high, the technology of their cultivation could be violated. For example, mineral fertilizers were applied with a delay, as a result, the plants stretched out, but did not have time to go through all the necessary development phases. Such trees grow grassy shoots that will freeze easily in winter.
It is necessary to take into account the growth zone and variety.
The taste qualities of fruits and berries largely depend on the compliance of agro-climatic conditions with the requirements of the variety, breed and species. This is especially important when it comes to apple and pear trees of the winter ripening period.
With a strong discrepancy between the conditions, the variety may not bear fruit at all. There are many reasons - the lack of heat during the growing season does not allow the formation of full-fledged flower buds, or they cannot withstand the cold, or the flowers are not pollinated due to spring dry winds, etc.
For container plants, it is important that the earth ball is braided with roots. If the earth falls off the coma, the seedling was transplanted before selling
It is advisable to buy young, 1-2-year-old trees.
Even if the seedling was dug out very carefully, it loses some of the roots, as a result, the ratio of the root system and the potential number of leaves is disturbed. This is a strong stress for the plant, and it will spend part of the energy on restoration. Young trees tolerate transplanting more easily than older ones.
Immediately after acquiring a seedling, open roots should be placed in a plastic bag, add a little water there and planted in the ground as soon as possible. Plants can be stored for a short time, up to 7-11 days, and only at a low temperature - up to + 10 ° C.
Practical Tips:
Annual seedlings do not have a crown. If the plant is older, choose specimens with shoots evenly distributed in all directions;
The best place to buy seedlings is the organizations that grow them. If young trees are sold at an exhibition, market or garden center, the nursery must be indicated on the label and its coordinates given;
You can protect the roots from drying out by sprinkling them with water and wrapping them in a film. If they are still dried up, it is necessary to immerse the roots for a day in water before planting.
2018-01-25 Igor Novitsky 
It's hard to imagine country cottage area, where at least one fruit tree cannot be found or berry bush. We plant them not only in order to provide ourselves with tasty and healthy fruits. Spring flowering of apple trees, cherries, plums gives us joy, we admire the beauty of our garden! But he is handsome and prolific when he is healthy.
The health of the orchard is laid from the moment the seedlings are planted. Their quality determines the state of trees for several decades to come. That is why a conscious approach to their choice is so important.
The right choice of fruit seedlings
The orchard, from my point of view, should be rationally “staffed” different types trees and shrubs. This is especially true for small gardens, in which it is impossible to place all the fruit and berry curiosities in the world. Do you want to have fresh and varied fruits from your garden on the table all summer long and until late autumn? Then plant some fruit trees, but with different terms ripening and storage of fruits.
To choose them correctly, you need special knowledge. Many of you without a clue knowledgeable people will not work in this case. Follow the advice of experts or experienced gardeners. Acquire planting material without haste, having learned to thoroughly understand the varieties. Find out from the sellers in which nursery the seedlings were grown. It is better when it is located in an area similar in climatic conditions to the one where your dacha is located.
In the central non-chernozem regions, planting material of fruit trees goes on sale mainly in two stages - autumn and spring. This corresponds to the biologically based planting dates. Autumn sale of seedlings begins in the middle - the end of September, and spring - in the middle - the end of April. These are mainly seedlings with an open root.
Choosing the right seedlings for your garden is not an easy task. But now we will learn how to solve it.
- Sometimes, when buying, an inexperienced gardener can slip a wild, that is, an ungrafted plant. How not to succumb to deception? The most important part of the cultivated seedling is the graft. Planting material for fruit trees is grown different ways, but most often grafted in summer budding. We carefully examine the seedling. Its lower part - the stem of the rootstock, growing directly from the root, 10-15 cm long - should be thicker than the scion - the upper part of the plant above the rootstock. At the place of their closure, an overgrown cut formed by grafting and a slight curvature of the trunk should be visible. If we saw all this, it means that before us cultivated plant, not wild.
- It is better to choose two-year-old seedlings.
One-year-olds are too weak, and three-year-olds take root worse. A two-year-old can be identified by a crown that is beginning to form with a diameter of 40-50 cm and the presence of 3-7 well-developed branches with large buds. In order not to run into a wild, remember: there are much more branches on it, and undeveloped buds look like thorns. - The lower part of the cultivated seedling should be dark, and the upper part should be lighter than the bottom.
a green tree is better than acquiring a bare seedling. However, a plant with blossoming leaves will most likely not live long. - Seedlings should not have leaves. It seems that buying a small green tree is better than buying a bare seedling. However, a plant with blossoming leaves will most likely not live long.
- The roots of a healthy rootstock look fresh and resilient.
- The bark of a good seedling is elastic, without damage. Shtambs (boles - part of the tree trunk from the roots to the first branch from the bottom of the lower tier of the crown) with damage to the branches and bark should be rejected immediately - they take root unimportantly.
Features of buying seedlings
Interestingly, by the color of the bark on the stem of a seedling, you can determine what color the fruits will be on a tree that has grown from it. If the stem and branches of a two-year-old seedling are green or gray with yellowness, then the fruits are either green or yellow. If the bark is dark red, reddish, dark brown with a reddish tinge, then the fruit is either red or with a red blush.
When you go shopping for seedlings, take a wide piece with you. polyethylene film, rope, burlap, if there is wet moss. Also paper and pencil. After purchasing the plants, immediately attach labels to them with the name of the variety. The roots of the seedlings need to be moistened, wrapped with wet moss, then with wet burlap and, last of all, with a film. Under polyethylene, the burlap will stay moist longer. To prevent damage to the branches during transportation, carefully press them to the trunk with a winding.
And now a few "ifs"
If you missed the deadline for planting seedlings ...
Then get seedlings with a closed root system, that is, in a pot. You can safely buy such plants, even if they have leaves. However, be very careful: often sellers raise the price of ordinary seedlings by simply transplanting them into a pot. It is not difficult to check such a forgery: try to lift the tree by the trunk. If it easily comes out of the pot, and in the pot there is clay or black earth instead of light soil, then most likely you are being deceived. If you were able to raise the seedling along with the pot or the roots of the tree sprouted through the bottom - the seedling is of high quality and was grown in a pot.
If you brought seedlings to the country, and planned planting in a few days ...
In this case, dig the plants in a place protected from the sun. Or place in a cool cellar, basement. At the same time, remove the film from them and cover the roots with sawdust or moss soaked in water; V last resort wrap with damp cloth or soft paper.
If you purchased seedlings late autumn…
They cannot be planted, but must be stored in a dig until spring. Before digging, the roots of the seedlings are placed in water for two days. Choose the highest place for digging, where stagnant water is impossible. Dig a groove 50 cm deep so that it runs from west to east. Make its south side flat, and the north - vertical. Spread the seedlings in the groove one at a time in an inclined position at an angle of 45 degrees with the apex to the south. Cover the roots and half of the trunk with loose soil and water well so that the moistened soil penetrates into all the voids between the roots. After that, pour the earth again. So that the roots of dug seedlings do not freeze, cover their location with peat, fallen leaves. And if you cover it with spruce branches or juniper branches, you will provide excellent protection against mice for the roots. In winter, cover the formed embankment with snow.
In this form, your young will successfully overwinter.
If, when planting or digging, you find that the roots are damaged ...
They need to be cut. Remember that the crown is cut only in the spring, but the roots in the fall.
This is due to the fact that during the winter on the surface of the cuts, callus influxes form - a tissue that promotes wound healing. If you find a root injury in the fall, then do not wait with corrective pruning until the summer. Usually, not only damaged roots are cut, but both the one that is directed at an angle upwards and the one that goes to the center of the root system are shortened. When pruning, try to make the cut as small as possible. If a tear of the roots is noticed near the root neck, then wash the torn parts from the ground and carefully connect them, tightly tying them with paper or hemp twine. In the future, it will not interfere with the development of the roots, because it will simply rot in the ground.
The shopaholic syndrome has not bypassed sober-minded summer residents. As a result, everything is swept away from the places of sale of seeds, seedlings, seedlings and moves to live in gardens and orchards. So over time, the plots begin to resemble a wardrobe stuffed to capacity, with the only difference being that instead of rags they are filled with plants.
With a list in hand
How to resist the variety of varieties and not succumb to the charm of sellers promising paradise? How to choose the right planting material so that the garden pleases with flowering and healthy fruits?
When heading to country stores and markets, the first thing to do is make a list of plants that you would like to purchase. And do not forget for a minute that your garden is not rubber, and you yourself are not a superman who does not know you are tired. Each plant will require a lot of attention, time and effort from you. Well, tune in to a careful choice, since only high-quality seedlings will eventually give beautiful trees and shrubs.
When choosing a fruit tree seedling, we must first of all decide on the variety. All varieties of domestic selection of fruit and berry crops are listed in the State Register, where there is a description of them.
Southern will not take root
No matter how attractive the variety we have chosen, it should be primarily winter-hardy in our area. And this property of the variety determines its regionalization. Moscow and the Moscow region belong to the Central region, therefore, you need to choose from those varieties that are zoned in it. Plants brought from more southern regions are unsuitable for planting in the Moscow region.
Rootstock question
Often when buying apple tree seedlings, the question of a stock arises. Rootstocks for apple trees are of two types: seed and clonal.
Seed rootstocks are obtained by sowing seeds. Plants grafted onto such a stock are vigorous and without annual pruning can reach 5 m and above. As a rule, they begin to bear fruit after five to seven years, although these terms also depend on the variety. A seedling on a seed rootstock is easily recognizable by its powerful root system with a pronounced main tap root. old orchards in the Moscow region, as a rule, consist of just such plants.
Clonal rootstocks receive vegetative propagation mother plant. They can be dwarf or semi-dwarf.
IMPORTANT! All "dwarfs" in our zone are not winter-hardy. Minimum temperature, which they can withstand, -12 ... -13 ° С.
Semi-dwarf rootstocks have a number of winter-hardy forms, for example 54-118, 48-118 and so on, all of them are derived from the Nedzwiecki apple tree, from which they inherited the reddish hue of the bark and wood. Thanks to this, they are easy to distinguish from other rootstocks. Another one distinguishing feature"Semi-dwarfs" - fibrous root system, there is no pronounced main root, there are many roots, and they are flexible.
Varieties grafted onto "semi-dwarfs" grow smaller, their height without pruning does not exceed 2.5-3 meters, and they enter the fruiting period earlier. However, they are still less stable than their seed counterparts, and their bark is prone to decay at the base, so free trunk circle must be maintained throughout the life of the plant.
Dissolved leaves - not suitable
As a rule, fruit tree seedlings are sold in spring and autumn terms with an open root system, which allows you to check the roots for various diseases. But this method of sale imposes a certain time frame: from the moment the soil thaws to the beginning of bud break. A seedling whose buds have hatched is no longer desirable for planting, and one whose leaves have blossomed is not suitable at all. Don't waste your time and money on them.
Closed-rooted plants are ready to plant throughout the season, but they are more expensive, and before buying such a seedling, you should make sure that the seedling has actually grown for some time in a container. In such a plant, the roots are evenly braided with an earthen lump, and only young roots are visible from the drainage holes. Otherwise, it may turn out that the plant was planted in a container either very recently, or a very long time ago. However, when choosing such a seedling in a container, we lose the opportunity to inspect the root system for diseases and other damage.
The older, the worse it will take root
Separately, it should be said about the age of the purchased plant. Usually seedlings of fruit trees are sold at the age of one to three years(this age is considered from the moment of inoculation, that is, the term "two-year-old" means that the plant was grafted two years ago). The three-year-old, of course, looks bigger and more powerful, it seems that during the fruiting period such mature plant will enter much faster, but it is not. Do not chase the size of the seedling. How more plant, the larger its root system, and therefore, it suffered more during digging. It will be much more difficult for such a seedling to take root in a new place, and it may enter the fruiting period later than, for example, a two-year-old seedling planted simultaneously with it.
A one-year-old and a two-year-old in this sense are more optimal for planting in a personal plot.
Also pay attention to last year's seedling growth: if its length exceeds 1 m (for a pear) or 60 cm (for an apple tree), then you should not take such a seedling, because in middle lane shoots of this length could not grow in a two-year-old, much less a one-year-old.
After the purchase, the root system of the seedling should immediately be wrapped with a damp cloth and transported to the planting site as soon as possible. Before planting, the seedling must be placed at least for several hours in a container of water.
Diseases and terms of maturation
Be sure to pay attention to the resistance of the plant to diseases and pests, the timing of fruit ripening and the timing of entry into fruiting.
Look at the root
When buying a seedling, carefully inspect the selected plant, its roots should be free of swelling and damage, slightly cut the bark - it should be healthy green and white, without brownish layers, indicating freezing or other damage.
Where to buy
Sometimes even specialists do not distinguish fruit varieties from each other, especially in a leafless state. Therefore, it is better to buy seedlings in nurseries or breeding institutes, where each variety is identified.
Do not buy seedlings on the road or at retail outlets where the plants are not in the dig. They are weakened and will either be sick for a long time before they give their first harvest, or they will die. In addition, sellers can give out one variety after another or sell an unregistered seedling. It happens that such seedlings take root and even grow well, but you are unlikely to get a harvest from them - their flower buds will freeze over and over again in our winter conditions. Do not waste space in the garden and years in anticipation of fruiting on such a plant! A huge number of varieties have been bred that yield a crop in the third or fifth year after planting.
