What to do if a columnar apple tree is frozen. Apple tree frozen, what to do? How to thin out the crown to get large fruits

After cold and snowy winters, gardeners often face such a problem as freezing fruit trees. The apple tree is no exception, especially if the variety is not adapted to harsh climatic conditions and is not frost-resistant.

What to do in such situations, and how to help a frozen apple tree? Much depends on the age of the tree and the degree of injury.

How to find out if an apple tree is frozen or not

If you suspect that the apple tree froze last winter, and you don’t have time to wait for the buds to appear, then you can check this by simply cutting off the small tip of the branch. Look at the cut. The living tissue of an apple tree is white, and the darker it is, the stronger the degree of its freezing.

On a healthy, unfrozen apple branch, the cut should be white. A layer of green cambium is visible under the bark

Light brown or dark beige indicate that the wood, unfortunately, has died. But do not despair. The fact that the ends of the branches died does not mean that it is necessary to put an end to the whole tree. The tips of the branches near the apple tree could not die at all from severe frosts, but because they left dehydrated before winter (if the autumn was dry and there were no autumn water-recharging irrigations), or simply did not have time to ripen over the past season.

Therefore, the control cut should be made on the bark of the tree trunk. If the cambium (the layer of the tree just below the bark, in front of the wood) is green, then it is alive. The wound should be treated immediately. But if it is brown, then, alas, in this case the tree is really gone.

What to do when a young apple tree is frozen

If the tree is still young, at the age of three to five years, and it has frozen to the level of snow (that is, the entire part that was not covered with snow has frozen), then it is necessary to cut it down to healthy wood.

Pay attention to the place of vaccination. If the cut is higher than the scion, then the branches that have grown from it over the summer will belong to the cultivated variety. In the fall, select the strongest and most powerful shoot from them and leave it to form a new crown. The remaining branches can be removed immediately in the fall, or you can leave until spring, and then cut them out.

If new branches grow from the root and onto the stock, then they must be disposed of. This is necessary so that the apple tree does not waste energy on the growth of unnecessary wild shoots.


A slightly frozen branch of an apple tree. Darkening is visible on the cut

If a mature tree is frozen

Mature apple trees that are slightly frozen in winter should be pruned in the spring in the same way as healthy trees. Although the number of pruned branches should be slightly less. It is better to put everything in perfect order in a year, next spring.

Do not rush to pruning branches if the tree has frozen quite hard during the winter. Wait until the buds start growing. Then it will already be clear what will require a complete cutting, and what only a partial one. Somewhere it will be possible to cut off only the tops. In any case, pruning should be done to healthy wood and the place where new shoots appear.

Pruning should be done with a sharp pruner so as not to cause additional injuries to the apple tree. And be sure to cover the place of the cut either with a garden pitch, or with a special paint or Gum, which is perfect for these purposes.


An almost dead thread. Only part of the core remained alive, the rest is brown

Frozen apple tree care

Apple trees frozen in the cold winter require special care.

First, throughout the summer you need to water them regularly. The fact is that they themselves are already poorly coping with the extraction of moisture, and they need help in this. It will be useful to mulch trunk circles to protect the roots from drying out.

Pruning a frozen tree after the start of active life.

It often happens that trees are not pruned for a long time for a variety of reasons. As a result, the trees grow in height and breadth, are exposed in the middle and greatly interfere with other plantings, which makes it difficult to care for them. It also happens that everything seems to be done carefully, correctly and at the right time, but because of winter frost some branches froze and died. Some trees could, due to their age changes, reduce growth, or become small-fruited, or completely lose their fruits. In such situations, a procedure such as restorative pruning.

The main task of restorative pruning is that the tree needs to return the best volume for it, restore growth and replace dead branches. Although the goal is the same, the methods and means of pruning are special for each case.

Pruning of running trees.

A tree at any age can be neglected.

For example, if the tree is young, but you didn’t bother to lay the skeleton of the crown in time, then in the spring you need to establish which of the branches would take on the responsibility of the main conductor, and which branches could become the main ones. You need to coordinate them correctly with each other, cut them so that they are evenly spaced and separate the main conductor so that it is in the center of attention among the rest of the branches.

If necessary, it is best to prune an older bud to a well-placed lateral branch than to prune a bud on a one-year-old branch. It is necessary to ensure that there is no stump left and it does not turn out that the base of the branch on which the transfer is carried out was cut. In this case, it is necessary that during pruning the growth axis of the pruned main branches does not change much. In the future, develop the plant as described earlier.

It is necessary to carefully look after the trees year after year with a saw and pruner, so as not to resort to extreme measures later, such as heavy pruning. Remember that there is nothing good in heavy pruning of young trees, because it delays the start of fruiting. Such pruning for an apple tree is difficult, like severe stress.

There are trees in which the skeleton of the crown is already planted, but at the same time it is very neglected, in this case there is another way of pruning. If the crown has grown the right dimensions, noticeably thickened inside, then you should not take on the restoration of the main conductor and all other branches. Let it be as it is. Cut off all branches that have grown beyond certain boundaries of the crown in the spring after a wellness cleaning. Make cuts on long-term wood at the branch point. At the same time, care must be taken to ensure that the growth axis of new branches does not differ much from the normal one for a given tree. Thin out the crown if it is still too dense.

Pruning mature, neglected trees will take a lot of time. It is necessary to lower the height of the crown after removing diseased, dried and damaged branches. In order for pruning not to bring great losses, it is necessary to reduce the height so that less than a third of all overgrown branches (on which fruits and leaves grow) are removed. This pruning period will be the most difficult, and then everything is much easier.

It is necessary to cut out a part of the main conductor at a height of 50-100 cm below the one you planned. This increases the light in the middle of the crown. Next, at the height that you fixed, cut off all the upper branches. They must be cut under the branch, growing in the direction of the edge of the crown. Those branches that hang down to the ground should be cut back to branches reaching upwards. For all branches in the middle, cut off the ends that have gone beyond the required crown diameter.

Due to the fact that working with running trees need to cut a large number of healthy branches, be careful about pruning, as many serious mistakes can be made. For example, when you begin to cut a huge branch along the annular influx, it can come off much earlier than you cut it to the end. In the end, it will turn out that there will be a serious and long-lasting wound in that place. To prevent this from happening, cut heavy branches into several.

To begin with, step back from the beginning of the branch by 20-25 cm and wash down from below. When the saw gets stuck, stop. This will most likely happen somewhere in the middle of the branch diameter. Then step back from the bottom cut 4-5 cm and start sawing from above. Soon the branch should break off by itself along the upper and lower cuts. Hold the branch with your hand so that it does not harm other lower growing branches with its fall. To facilitate the work, you can cut off all large branches from it in advance.

It remains to cut the stump along the annular influx at the beginning of the branch. If there is no influx, you should rotate the cut plane so that the cut area is the smallest and there is no hemp (protrusion) left either from below or from above.

Usually, after a sufficiently strong pruning, there may be tops, often in the upper part of the crown and in its outback. In summer, when the shoots have grown to a length of 7-10 cm, they need to be broken out.

Pruning frozen trees

If a young two to four year old tree is frozen to the level of snow, in the spring it must be cut to healthy wood. There is no point in restoring them at the expense of not fully preserved branches.

When the cut is above the graft, the resulting branches will be cultivar. Select the strongest shoot among them and leave it to create a new crown. Just break out the rest or leave it for next year, and in the spring cut out all the excess.

It is possible that sprouts will go both from the root and to the rootstock. They need to be disposed of as soon as such sprouts appear. This is necessary so that the tree does not use organic matter for the growth of new, unnecessary shoots, but rather develops the remaining useful branches.

Mature plants that are slightly frozen need to be pruned, as well as healthy ones. Although here the trim level should be a little less. The situation should be improved next year.

No need to rush to pruning if the trees are very cold. It is better to wait a little and wait until the kidneys begin to grow. After that, it will already be clear which branches must be cut out entirely, because they are completely frozen, and which ones have only the tops frozen, and they should be cut to healthy wood, to the point where the shoots appear. Cut very carefully, and then immediately smear with a layer of garden pitch.

What to do if an apple tree is frozen - how to save it? In today's article, we will analyze whether the apple tree really died? What to do if it's cold? Ancient and modern methods of how to revive an apple tree if it is frozen.

Frozen apple tree - what to do?

Apple trees need to be covered for the winter, especially young ones. If protective measures were not provided, the tree may freeze and die. Speaking about the fact that the apple tree froze, we mean that damaged branches, trunk, roots. Freezing can be dried, both at one of the listed levels, and at all. When, if the whole apple tree is frozen, wood, in most cases, do not save. Next, you will find old ways to revive an apple tree, but in this case you cannot fix the situation with standard top dressing.

What to do if the apple tree is frozen?

First of all, we advise you to wait. Perhaps the apple tree will warm up and grow in the coming months. There is also no need to panic if you find a lot of frozen branches - standard sanitary pruning solves the problem with a frozen tree .

Do problems show up right away?

The apple tree may not bloom in the spring if it is frozen, and, accordingly, deprive the ovaries and crop. However, in some cases, the effects appear after a few years - for 4 years after the apple tree has frozen, the condition of the tree can significantly worsen, the leaves are crushed, fruiting will become scarce or disappear altogether. Gardeners can look for the causes of manifestations in the nearest violations, forgetting that a few winters ago the apple tree suffered stress.

What to do if the apple tree is frozen:

  • Trim frozen branches.
  • Process wood, bark.
  • feed.

Sanitary pruning in early spring before bud break, it involves the removal of all branches that are frozen and affected by temperature changes. The cut points are also treated with fungicide powders to prevent decay. . Do not cover the cut areas with garden pitch or paraffin - this will only clog the wound, preventing air from entering. Also distribute the pruning zones so as not to remove too many branches on one side - the wood will dry out intensively. For pruning, choose only sharp tools according to the size of the branch, so as not to injure the apple tree once again.

Nutrition for recovery carried out in warm soil. Organic components effectively affect a damaged or frozen apple tree: chicken manure, manure 1 kg per 6 liters of water - alternate week after week, only 3 top dressing. A frozen apple tree is also helped to recover by mineral components: superphosphate, potassium-containing fertilizers, urea. Apply in combination or separately, in dry or liquid form per well.

Old methods of resuscitation of a frozen apple tree:

  • Pour in boiling water.
  • Drive an iron nail into the barrel.

Not only shrubs are treated with boiling water from pests in the spring - trees can also be disinfected, restored and stimulated hot water. To do this, when there is no snow on the branches, shed 80 ° water on the damaged areas. The apple tree will not so much react to the treatment as it will experience a shock - this is what we need.

The use of an iron nail, as many gardeners note, is another shock procedure for restoring a frozen apple tree. To do this, you need to drive an iron nail into the trunk to “awaken” the tree.

How to check if an apple tree is still alive : cut off a thin layer of bark without going deep into the wood. Assess the condition of the cambium - if green, the apple tree is alive.

Prevention of freezing apple trees : regularly moisten the tree in autumn, using as much water as necessary for a specific crown volume so that the tree does not dry out and freeze in winter. Cover the apple tree - branches and mulch the soil. Close up wounds with brilliant green, garden pitch during autumn pruning. Stimulate the awakening of the roots with top dressing and branches with pruning.

↓ Write in the comments what do you do if the apple tree is frozen?


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Professional gardener and specialist of the Rostov Reference Center of Rosselkhoznadzor Vladimir Ivanovich Kosov tells what you need to know about winter pruning different varieties apple trees

The harvest of horticultural crops and its quality by 50% depends on their correct pruning and the time of its implementation.

From December, you can start pruning pome crops, and from February, stone fruits. In addition, cherries, cherries, Walnut, almonds and some other crops, it is desirable to form in the summer months. And now let's talk about the winter pruning of fruit-bearing crops.

Pruning of different varieties of plums, cherries, cherries, apricots, cherry plums, pears, quince is almost the same. But apple trees have very large differences in pruning of different varieties. It all depends on the type of fruiting, that is, what fruit formations develop in one or another variety. You can group some varieties and recommend pruning methods.

And to make it clear to you how and why to do this, I will first talk about the fruit formations of apple trees of various varieties, and then about the secrets of their pruning. You need to know that fruit formations differ from growth shoots in their small size, low durability, and they never develop into large skeletal branches.

Annual fruit formations of apple trees include ringlets, spears, fruit twigs, and perennial fruit formations - fruit and fruit.

Kolchatka is a twig up to 5 centimeters long with one well-developed apical or mixed bud and underdeveloped lateral buds. The fruit (flower) bud has a semicircular shape and is easy to distinguish from the more elongated ("thin") vegetative buds. In the spring, flowers appear from the fruit buds of the ringlet, and a shoot appears from the vegetative buds, and if it is shortened during the next pruning, then the ringlets will also develop from the lateral buds, and if not shortened, then there may be no fruit buds at all.

Spear is a fruit formation small size(3-12 cm), which usually ends with a flower bud. It differs from the ringlet in a thinner and longer shoot.

A fruit twig is also a spear, only of a longer size (15-25 cm), also with one fruit bud at the top. If, during pruning, shortening is made, then the lateral buds may develop ringlets next year, which means that the crop will be larger.

Fruit - fruit twig, consisting of several rings. Unlike all annual fruit formations, pods are very fragile, so great care must be taken when pruning and harvesting. The life span of the fruits is 5-10 years.

Fruits consist of overgrown fruitlets, the life span of which is more than 10 years.

Pruning of any crops should begin with an assessment of the condition of the tree, and then proceed to the removal of all coppice shoots, which are usually abundant in apple trees grafted onto the rootstock M-104.

If they are not immediately removed, they will overtake the main tree very quickly and you will get the impression of running wild. cultivated plant. Next, tops, diseased, dry, intersecting, thickened branches are removed, and further pruning depends on the variety and type of its fruiting.

Perennial branches must be cut “on a ring”, that is, exactly 90% without leaving a hemp, and then immediately cover the wound with garden pitch, otherwise the cut will begin to crack and rot, which can lead to the death of the whole tree. Also, pruning should be carried out at a temperature of no more than 5 degrees below zero.

The most rapidly thickening and inconvenient pruning varieties are Florina, Jonathan, Slava Pobediteley, all Goldens and Delicious. These varieties mainly bear fruit on kolchatka, spears and fruit twigs, they are strongly thickened, there are many fruits, but small and short-lived in storage. With age, the skeletal branches take on a drooping shape under the weight of the crop, in addition, these varieties have a high shoot-forming ability, overgrowing wood can develop on all perennial shoots. Therefore, pruning trees of these varieties consists in removing at least half of all fruit formations, do not touch the remaining ringlets, and shorten half of the fruit twigs and spears. The process is very laborious, requires great care and time, more than 2 15-year-old trees per day should not be cut.

The second group includes such varieties as Melba, Mekintosh, Spartan, White Bulk, Idared. They have a mixed type of fruiting, fruit formations are evenly distributed along the entire length of strong branches, so their exposure is rare, but these varieties are prone to periodic fruiting. Pruning consists in shortening half of the fruits and part of the shoots with ringlets. Part of the vegetative shoots must be shortened so that they later form annular and other fruit formations.

The third group includes varieties Renet Simirenko, Calvil Snezhny, Gremy Smith, Champion. Fruit buds of these varieties are formed on the growths of the first year, fruitlets and fruitlets. The shoot-forming ability of perennial trees of these varieties is weak, therefore, there is a strong exposure of skeletal and semi-skeletal branches, as well as periodicity in fruiting, the harvest can be even once every three years. The treatment of this disease is only in strong pruning for 3-4 year old wood, which contributes to the annual formation of annual increments. No need to wait for the natural death of the fruits, they must be thinned out and trimmed so that most fruits are no older than 5 years of age.

Appearing growth shoots must be shortened by a third, then fruit buds are also formed on them.

Having carried out the correct and timely pruning of trees, you will thereby have a direct impact on growth, fruiting and longevity. fruit tree as well as fruit quality.

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Unfortunately, apple trees do not always survive severe frosts; in some cases, frostbite occurs on the branches, root system, or the entire tree. About how to identify the problem in time and what measures to take, I, as an experienced gardener, will share my experience.

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Apple trees are considered one of the most frost-resistant crops, but sometimes they can suffer from low temperatures. And there are several reasons for this:

  • Growing varieties that are not suitable for climatic conditions;
  • The tree is old or unhealthy;
  • Too early frosts in autumn or spring, when the apple tree is not yet ready for wintering.

Frostbite of branches in winter can occur at temperatures environment about -300C, in some more frost-resistant varieties this value is equal to -400C. At complete rest, frosts below -250C are dangerous for flower buds.

After the end of winter, when the vegetation process began at the apple trees, frosts below -60C are fatally dangerous for shoots, and -30C for flowers.

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Source: https://sornyakov.net/trees/podmerzli-yabloni.html

How to find out if an apple tree is frozen or not

If you suspect that the apple tree froze last winter, and you don’t have time to wait for the buds to appear, then you can check this by simply cutting off the small tip of the branch. Look at the cut. The living tissue of an apple tree is white, and the darker it is, the stronger the degree of its freezing.

On a healthy, unfrozen apple branch, the cut should be white. A layer of green cambium is visible under the bark

Light brown or dark beige indicate that the wood, unfortunately, has died. But do not despair. The fact that the ends of the branches died does not mean that it is necessary to put an end to the whole tree. The tips of the branches near the apple tree could not die at all from severe frosts, but because they left dehydrated before winter (if the autumn was dry and there were no autumn water-recharging irrigations), or simply did not have time to ripen over the past season.

Therefore, the control cut should be made on the bark of the tree trunk. If the cambium (the layer of the tree just below the bark, in front of the wood) is green, then it is alive. The wound should be treated immediately. But if it is brown, then, alas, in this case the tree is really gone.

What to do when a young apple tree is frozen

If the tree is still young, at the age of three to five years, and it has frozen to the level of snow (that is, the entire part that was not covered with snow has frozen), then it is necessary to cut it down to healthy wood.

Pay attention to the place of vaccination. If the cut is higher than the scion, then the branches that have grown from it over the summer will belong to the cultivated variety. In the fall, select the strongest and most powerful shoot from them and leave it to form a new crown. The remaining branches can be removed immediately in the fall, or you can leave until spring, and then cut them out.

If new branches grow from the root and onto the stock, then they must be disposed of. This is necessary so that the apple tree does not waste energy on the growth of unnecessary wild shoots.

A slightly frozen branch of an apple tree. Darkening is visible on the cut

If a mature tree is frozen

Mature apple trees that are slightly frozen in winter should be pruned in the spring in the same way as healthy trees. Although the number of pruned branches should be slightly less. It is better to put everything in perfect order in a year, next spring.

Do not rush to pruning branches if the tree has frozen quite hard during the winter. Wait until the buds start growing. Then it will already be clear what will require a complete cutting, and what only a partial one. Somewhere it will be possible to cut off only the tops. In any case, pruning should be done to healthy wood and the place where new shoots appear.

Pruning should be done with a sharp pruner so as not to cause additional injuries to the apple tree. And be sure to cover the place of the cut either with a garden pitch, or with a special paint or Gum, which is perfect for these purposes.

An almost dead thread. Only part of the core remained alive, the rest is brown

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Frost-resistant varieties

In severe winters, when the temperature drops to 30-400C below zero, it is better to plant frost-resistant varieties. These usually include:

  • Paping;
  • Mantet;
  • Antonovka;
  • Oryol striped;
  • Young naturalist and others.

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Apple trees that have received frostbite require special care. One of important rules is their watering, since independent extraction of moisture by the root system can be minimal. It is also useful to mulch the soil to maintain moisture. sawdust or needles.

Feeding is an essential step in caring for damaged apple trees. It is produced in two stages: in spring and summer. Solutions or infusions of chicken and cow manure, as well as other liquid fertilizers, can be used. Their introduction should take place in previously prepared furrows near the trunk.

To improve the frost resistance of the garden, in August it is worth fertilizing with fertilizers based on phosphorus and potassium. 100-250 g of superphosphate and 150-200 g of potassium chloride are taken per bucket of water.

The ready-made solution is used for watering the near-stem territory, as well as in the grooves created under the crown. Upon completion of feeding, the apple tree should be well watered.

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findings

The freezing of apple crops is an unpleasant surprise for any summer resident and gardener.

At proper care a frozen columnar apple tree quickly recovers and bears fruit.

Timely action taken will minimize damage. However the best way there will be a timely shelter of apple trees for the winter, preventing the very appearance of such a problem.

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