GROWTH AND EARLY BEARING OF APPLE TREES AS AFFECTED BY THE TYPE OF NURSERY TREES USED FOR PLANTING

‘Gloster’ apple trees on ‘M.9 EMLA’ rootstock, raised in different ways in the nursery, were planted on a silty loam alluvial soil in Central Poland, in November 2000. One-year-old branched nursery trees served as a control.
Two-year-old nursery trees with a one-year-old crown were obtained either from budding or from grafting.
Both were trained in the nursery either by traditional heading or as Dutch “knip-boom” trees.
Some trees from budding, which feathered in the 2^nd year of nursery, were allowed to develop two-year-old crowns in the 3^rd year.
The standard spacing was 3.25 x 1.40 m.
Part of the one-year-old trees were planted at a 1.0 m in-row spacing and part of the two-year-old trees, trained by traditional heading. were planted at a 2.0 m in-row spacing.
At planting and after three years in the orchard, trees planted as one-year-olds were the smallest and those planted as two-year-olds with a two-year-old crown were the largest.
Trees trained in the nursery by traditional heading surpassed the “knip-boom” trees in vigour, but not in cropping.
Yield per tree in 2002 and for two years (2002-2003) was the highest from trees planted as two-year-olds with a two-year-old crown, and the lowest from trees planted as one-year-olds.
In 2003, a higher yield was obtained from two-year-old trees, which were planted at 2 m in-row spacing than from similar trees planted at the standard 1.4 m spacing.
The cumulative yield efficiency (YE) was higher for all types of two-year-old nursery trees than for one-year-old trees.

VIII International Symposium on Canopy, Rootstocks and Environmental Physiology in Orchard Systems

A. Sadowski, M. Mackiewicz, R. Dziuban

budding, grafting, heading, feathers, knip-boom, nursery-trees, yield-efficiency, fruit-size, biennial-bearing

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2007.732.68