If you’ve been “mulling” over whether or not to grow apple trees in your yard, read on to find out all you need to know to help you decide!
Types of Apples
There are literally thousands of apple varieties to explore – more than 8,000 known cultivars (cultivated varieties) to be exact! To put that into perspective, if you ate a different variety of apple every single day, it would take you almost 22 years before you’d repeat one. That’s a lot of apples! Popular apple varieties include Gala, Honeycrisp, Red Delicious, and Granny Smith—each offering unique flavors, textures, and uses.
Getting Started
Before planting apple trees, it’s essential to select the right apple variety—not just based on taste preferences, but also according to your climate. Each cultivar requires a certain number of chill hours (the number of hours between 32°F and 45°F / 0–7°C) to successfully bear fruit. Most apple trees sold for home growing are grafted onto dwarfing rootstocks, semi-dwarf, or full-size root systems, which determines the tree’s size and how soon it will produce fruit.
If you are curious about starting apples from seed, try the paper towel method: wrap apple seeds in a moist paper towel, place them in a plastic bag, and refrigerate for several weeks until they germinate. But remember, while many apples grow readily from apple seeds, the resulting fruit is often very different from the parent tree, and frequently lacks desirable characteristics (including taste) so if you want to grow a tree in your yard, it is recommended that you start with a rootstock.
Where Best to Plant
Next up, location, location, location – it’s really important to pick the right spot for your fruit tree! Apple trees grow best in full-sun (6 or more hours of direct summer sun daily), but the location needs to have good air circulation and be protected from cold winds – ideally with north exposure, preferably avoiding low-lying areas. Apple trees prefer moist, well-drained soil with a slightly acidic soil pH of 6.0 to 6.5. If you’re unsure, a soil test can help determine whether amendments are needed.
Since apples require cross-pollination—meaning they need pollen from a different, compatible variety in order to produce fruit—you’ll need to plant two trees if there isn’t another apple or crabapple within 100 feet (35 metres). If you do end up having to plant two trees, keep in mind they must be different cultivars but also must flower at the same time and remember: pollination depends heavily on bees, so “bee” kind to pollinators!
Once you’ve figured all that out, spring is the best time to plant, especially in cooler climates. When planting apple trees, dig a planting hole approximately twice the diameter of the root system and 2 feet (61 cm) deep. Loosen the surrounding soil so roots can spread easily and avoid air pockets and spread the roots so they are not twisted or crowded. If you’re planting bare-root trees, soak the roots in water for a few hours before planting.
Apple trees are typically a graft on a hardy root stock so make sure to keep the graft union (where the scion is joined to the rootstock) about 2 to 4 inches (5 to 10 cm) above the soil level. When you fill in the soil, add organic compost for nutrients to help support fruit production and healthy root growth. Make sure to add mulch as well. Not only will mulch help keep the roots cool, retain moisture, and improve organic content, it also keeps weeds under control. A good rule of thumb is to add mulch 4 to 6 inches (10 to 15 cm) deep to a radius of 40 inches (1 m) from the base of new trees but make sure it isn’t covering the tree trunk so as not to promote rotting. Plant dwarf apple trees 10 to 12 feet apart, semi-dwarf trees 15 to 18 feet apart, and full-size trees 20 to 25 feet apart.
Caring for Young Apple Trees
For the first year and a half, support young apple trees with wooden stakes on either side, secured with strong twine, maintaining enough slack to allow trees to move in the wind. Once roots are established, this can be removed. New trees need consistent daily watering throughout the growing season (May to October) with extra water required during dry spells. Deep watering at the base of the tree is ideal. Seasonal application of organic fertilizer is a good idea as well.
Apple trees need annual pruning to maintain size and form once they are bearing fruit. Make sure to prune mature trees when they are dormant. Remove misplaced, broken, or dead branches, weak twigs, overly vigorous upright stems, and shorten stems that become too droopy. In addition, it’s helpful to thin out apples to one fruit per cluster or about 6 to 8 inches (15 to 20 cm) between fruit. This should be done about 4 to 6 weeks after bloom to prevent a heavy crop from breaking limbs and to ensure better-tasting, larger apples.
Pests & Diseases
Apple trees are one of the most pest-susceptible fruits. There are many bacterial and fungal diseases and pests that attack apples (which is why the use of pesticides is so prevalent). Growing apples organically is a challenge and will require lots of research and persistence.
Common diseases include apple scab, fire blight, powdery mildew, black spot, Gymnosporangium, and cedar apple rust. Pests include apple maggot, apple clearwing moth larvae, codling moth, aphids, plum curculios, green fruit worms, mites, mice and deer that feed on young bark. Some varieties are disease-resistant, which is your best bet if you want to avoid pesticides.
Harvest Time
Depending on variety and rootstock, cultivated apple trees generally reach 6 to 15 feet tall (2 to 4.5 m) but in the wild can reach 30 ft (9 m) high. If you’re short on space dwarf apple tree varieties are available. Mature trees can bear up to 90 to 440 lb (40 to 200 kg) of apples each year, though productivity can be non-existent in poor years. But remember, patience is required. It will be 3 to 8 years before you’ll be able to harvest large quantities of fruit though it will be worth the wait! You’ll know apples are ripe when a gentle twist easily separates them from the branch.
Even if you have an apple tree at home, there are extensive benefits to be gained from incorporating different varieties of apples into our diets. One (fun) way to make this happen is to visit local apple orchards to pick your own delicious apples (way more fun than a trip to the grocery store!). Every year our family takes a day to drive up to the foothills of the North Georgia Mountains to an apple orchard to enjoy a picnic and pick apples right off the trees together as a family. There’s something so magical about these family day trips and it’s a wonderful way for us to mark the coming of Autumn, plus the apples taste amazing!
Grow Your Own Garden
If you’re looking for help on how to grow other foods check out these posts!
