What To Look For When Buying Fruit Seedlings? Choice Of Stock. Photo

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What To Look For When Buying Fruit Seedlings? Choice Of Stock. Photo
What To Look For When Buying Fruit Seedlings? Choice Of Stock. Photo

Video: What To Look For When Buying Fruit Seedlings? Choice Of Stock. Photo

Video: What To Look For When Buying Fruit Seedlings? Choice Of Stock. Photo
Video: How to Grow Lettuce From Seed Indoors & Harvest in One Month! | LucasGrowsBest 2024, March
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Fruit trees are perennial crops and the quality of the future garden, its longevity, the cost of care and processing, and, ultimately, the quantity and quality of the harvest, depend on the correctly selected planting material.

Young apple tree
Young apple tree

What needs to be done before buying seedlings?

Before planting or rejuvenating garden plantings, we advise you to do some preparatory work.

Write down in the garden diary which seedlings of which crops, varieties and ripening times you need to buy. Their number, in order to draw a planting scheme in the diary in advance, and prepare planting holes on the site.

Establish the height of the standing groundwater, the depth of the fertile and underlying layer, which is especially important if the site is located in former quarries and other inconveniences.

Typically, the garden is planted with grafted seedlings. And it will depend on the depth of the groundwater with which stock to buy seedlings.

Selection of seedling stock

When choosing a seedling, be sure to pay attention to the stock. The "health" of the future garden depends on the correctly chosen type of rootstock, and hence the quality of the future harvest.

The dwarf (dwarf) rootstock is distinguished by a superficial root system, is subject to weather disasters, and is short-lived.

Seed (tall) stock, more durable and resistant to bad environmental conditions.

If the summer cottage is large enough, located on a flat surface with a low (deep) occurrence of groundwater, then you can buy seedlings on a vigorous seed stock. The root system of crops with such a rootstock is pivotal and penetrates into the soil up to 3-4 m. The root "anchor" will hold the tree well in the soil during various climatic cataclysms (strong, hurricane winds, floods, etc.). But it must be remembered that on strong rootstocks, trees reach 9-15 m in height, which makes it difficult to care for such a crop.

If the plot is small, located in a lowland, the fertile layer does not exceed 50-60 cm, groundwater lies close to the surface (high), then it is more practical to buy seedlings on a dwarf or semi-dwarf rootstock. To preserve stunted stature, trees on a dwarf rootstock, like tall ones, must be pruned.

Experienced gardeners prefer vigorous rootstocks as they are more resistant to weather and soil disasters and are more durable. On dwarf rootstocks, crops bear fruit up to 15-20 years, and on seed vigorous ones they can grow up to 80-100.

Grafting site on the seedling
Grafting site on the seedling

How to distinguish the type of rootstock when buying a seedling?

Having opted for a particular type of seedling suitable for your garden conditions, first examine its root system.

Dwarf rootstock

All rootstock roots extend from the root collar, they are uniform in thickness and length. The type of root system is fibrous, has small suction roots.

Vigorous (seed) stock

The root of the stock is pivotal, straight. Lateral thinner roots extend from the central core. In relation to the central rod, they are almost horizontal, overgrown with sparse, smaller roots.

Sapling selection rules

1. The presence of the tag

The seedling must have a tag on which the following information will be indicated:

  • type of culture (apple, pear, quince, etc.),
  • variety name,
  • zoning (local, other region, country); it is always better to buy varieties of local zoning,
  • ripening period (early, middle, late),
  • rootstock type,
  • the age of the seedling.

2. The age of the seedling

1-2 year old seedlings are the best for planting. They quickly adapt to new conditions. 4-5 year olds 3-4 years old take root in a new place, quite painfully tolerate a transplant. Compared to 1-2 year old seedlings, 5-year-olds are always late with the formation of the first harvest (delicate crops - by 2-3 years).

In terms of external parameters, the seedling should have standard dimensions.

  • 1-year-old seedling: stem height 0.7-1.0 meters, stem diameter 1.0-1.2-1.3 cm. Root system length 25-35 cm. The aboveground part (scion) of the seedling has no lateral branches.
  • 2-year-old seedling: the height of the seedling is 1.4-1.5 m, the stem diameter is up to 2.0 cm. The length of the roots is from 30 cm. The above-ground part may have 1-2 lateral branches.
  • A 2-3 year old seedling has a clearly defined central conductor (trunk) and 3-5 lateral branches (future skeletal). Side shoots (branches) should move away from the trunk at an angle of 45 … 90 degrees. Branches located at an acute angle in an adult tree can break off later under the load of the crop. In a pear, the angle of deflection can be sharp (a feature of this culture), it is increased by bending during the formation of the crown.

3. Root system

The roots should be healthy, smooth, without growths and ulcerations. The exception is sea buckthorn and other crops, which have nitrogen-fixing bacteria on the roots in the nodules.

When cut, a healthy root has a light color, shiny with moisture. Dark color on the cut - it is possible that the seedling is frozen. Dry - the root system is dried, the seedling will take root for a very long time and, most likely, will die. The root system must have suction roots. The roots and roots must be firm. Bare dry roots will not come to life!

4. External condition of the seedling

The stem of the seedling should be straight. The bark is smooth, without dark spots or dots. Dark spots are future places of gum outpouring (the embryonic state of gum flow, especially in peaches, apricots, cherries). The living bark on the scraping is slightly greenish, light. A shriveled bark and under it a brown dry layer of wood is a sign of a long-term presence of the seedling outside the soil (the seedling has dried out, has lost its internal moisture and may not be viable).

It is not recommended to buy seedlings with leaves, especially those that have lost their turgor, drooping. Such seedlings were dug up too early, the wood was not ripe and the trees would easily die from frost.

Fruit tree seedling with open root system
Fruit tree seedling with open root system

5. Vaccination status

If the seedling is grafted, carefully inspect the graft site. Sometimes there is a graft, but it is accompanied by thorns or thorny outgrowths on the scion (especially in plums, apricots, peaches, pears). This means that they vaccinated the wild on the wild, counting on an inexperienced buyer. A real graft has a thornless graft.

6. Seedlings of columnar varieties

An annual seedling of columnar fruit crops outwardly differs from ordinary annuals in a thicker central conductor (future trunk), from 1.5 cm or more. In 2-3 year old seedlings of columnar crops, the central shoot / trunk has practically no lateral branches. By this age, ordinary seedlings have already formed lateral shoots (2-3-5 pieces).

How to preserve a seedling before planting?

The purchased seedling must be packed immediately so that during transportation it does not break off the graft and does not dry out the roots. You must have a damp cloth, burlap and a tall bag with you. Wrap the roots of the seedling with a damp rag, carefully pull it with twine, put it in a damp burlap and only then in a plastic bag. Such a seedling will not lose moisture during transportation and will not be damaged.

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