Apples

How to grow Apples in your garden

1. Choose a sunny spot with well drained soil. Enrich the soil with Yates Dynamic Lifter Organic Plant Food. If the soil is clay based, add gypsum and fork in well. 
2. Dig the planting hole twice as wide and to the same depth as the root-ball. Remove the plant from the container, gently tease the roots and cut away any circled or tangled roots.
3. Position in hole and backfill, gently firming down. Form a raised ring around the plant, creating a well so that water will go where it’s needed most. Water in well. 
4. Mulch around the base with an organic mulch like woodchip or pea straw, keeping it away from the trunk.
5. Water deeply, once or twice a week, depending on weather conditions.
6. Feed with Yates Thrive Citrus & Fruit Granular Plant Food in early spring and late summer. When in flower, feed weekly with Yates Thrive Fish Blood & Bone Plant Food Concentrate to help promote more flowering and fruiting.
   
    

How to grow Apples in a pot

Apples can be grown in pots, but look for the dwarf/miniature varieties such 'Blush Babe' or 'Little Rascal'. 

1. Choose a pot at least 600mm wide. Position in full sun and fill with quality potting mix, such as Yates Premium Potting Mix.
2. Remove the plant from the container, gently tease the roots and cut away any circled or tangled roots.
3. Position in hole and backfill, gently firming down. Water in well.
4. Water deeply, once or twice a week, depending on weather conditions.
5. During the growing and flowering/fruiting season, apply Yates Thrive Citrus Liquid Plant Food. Also try Yates Thrive Natural Fish & Seaweed+ Plant Food Concentrate throughout the year.
    

Growing tips

• Apples are best planted in late autumn or winter, but they can be planted in other seasons.

• Apple trees come in a variety of sizes, from dwarf trees that can be grown in large pots, all the way up to large 5m tall trees that need a lot of space around them. Check the fully-grown height of the variety and visualise it in your space to make sure it’ll be a good fit.

• Most apple trees will be grafted on to rootstock. Because the rootstock controls how large the tree can grow, there’s a coding system that tells you the mature size of the tree you’re looking at – examples are M9 (dwarf apples), M27 (extra-dwarf petite apples for pots) or MM111 (large home orchard-sized tree). Your apple tree nursery can advise which code you need to go for, to fit your intended space.

• For maximum fruiting, apples must have another variety that flowers at the same time and is within bee-travelling distance. This needn't discourage you if you're space-challenged; you can solve it by selecting a double or triple-grafted tree (which has two or three different varieties on the one set of roots) or by planting two small growing trees very close to each other.

• Apples need cool-to-cold winters for fruit development – chilling hours (the number of hours a fruit tree needs to be exposed to effective winter temperatures for flower buds to break dormancy) vary between varieties, so check your climate and area before purchasing.

• Picking up fallen fruit is critical to help prevent pests and diseases. Prune trees to encourage an open-centred 'vase' shape – this allows for better air and light circulation.

• Fruit develops on branches that are two years old (or older), so take care when pruning or you might affect your next harvest.

• Early flowering and fruiting varieties include, ‘Gala’, ‘Early McIntosh’ and ‘Red Gravenstein’.

• Late flowering and fruiting varieties include, ‘Delicious’, ‘Pink Lady’, ‘Jonathan’ and ‘Granny Smith’.

• Pre-spring application of copper-based products, such as Yates Copper Oxychloride Fungicide or Yates Liquid Copper Fungicide will help control some common diseases.