How to insulate the apple tree for the winter? How to hide apple seedlings for the winter?

In the cold season, both adult trees and seedlings are susceptible to the negative influence of minus temperature, and may also suffer from hares and small rodents, for which the bark is tempting food.

Preparation for insulation

Start preliminary work is necessary with the onset of the autumn months. In advance, learn all the information on how to cover apple seedlings for the winter. Before that, trees need to be watered and fertilized. First, clean the earth of rotted fruits and various debris. When laying humus, make sure that the thickness of the layer is not less than 5 cm - it will not only insulate, but will also provide additional fertilizing of the root system. It is important to know about the preparatory stages, and not just how to cover the apple trees for the winter. Preparing apples for the winter is an opportunity to provide them with the necessary amount of useful substances in the fall. In the spring, all your labors will be rewarded. If you are dealing with creeping apple trees, then do not forget to bend their branches and fix them using iron crochets. Then around the trunk you need to sketch the land - so during the frost the tree will be better protected.

After the onset of cold weather, watering stops. Pruning trees is also carried out before the temperature drops below zero. After the end of the leaf fall, you can take to remove dead cortex of trunks, whitewash trees. By this time, stock up with a solution of iron sulfate, which can prevent the appearance of lichen. After completing the preparatory work, carefully study the question of how to insulate the apple tree for the winter.

Than to hide?

From the choice of material for insulation will directly depend on the protection of the tree in severe frosts. It is recommended to use cane, sunflower stems, tobacco, cane, tole or light wrapping paper. Avoid the film and roofing material, because when a thaw, such warming can become an enemy of the apple tree. Earthen mounds around the stem will help not only save the tree from the cold, but also protect against hares. Pay attention: the soil should be chosen dry and loose. After laying in the ditches, the seedlings should be covered with lapnik, cardboard, straw, glass. The old linoleum is also suitable for this.

Shelter cover should be carried out with the onset of winter (if there is a suitable amount of snow). If you fastened the branches to the ground, then cover them with a white cover. Then the canopy can be closed with burlap, and snow is poured on the edges and insulated, leaving no holes for rodents. It is very important to understand in advance how best to cover the apple trees for the winter. If you do this before the snow falls, you can inadvertently make cozy mink with enough tasty provisions for mice. Therefore, you need to know exactly how to insulate the apple tree for the winter, otherwise in the spring instead of branches you can find only bare sticks. But do not wait also for strong frosts to effect the warming of branches and crowns.

Adult apple and seedlings

How to insulate an apple tree for the winter, if it is still young? Autumn seedlings, of course, need more attention. Make a shelter out of paper a short distance from the ground, for this you will need many newspapers (in several layers). It is very important to know how to cover apple seedlings for the winter, because they suffer the most during the severe frosts . As for trees that no longer apply to young plantations, they should also be insulated, however, it will be enough to cover the tree trunk so that the roots do not suffer during frosts. As a thermal insulation material suitable land (taken, for example, with inter-row). Mulching also helps increase soil temperature and keep it from freezing. The best materials are natural: sawdust, straw, leaves, peat, humus, tree bark, etc. You can also use thin branches and chopped cones.

Take into account

If the temperature rises, in this case careful shelter can lead to overheating of the kidneys. To prevent it, open and air seedlings (adult trees too). Do not allow dampening of the soil - this can cause decay of the root system. Release the trunks from the insulation materials as early as possible, because the soil needs to be warmed in the sun, and the roots grow.

Protection against rodents

An experienced gardener is sure that one should know not only how to warm the planted apple tree for the winter, but also how to protect it from mice and hares. Especially when it comes to young and creeping apple trees. With the onset of spring, damaged trees can become ill and will not bear fruit. Synthetic fabric will be a good helper when covering the trunk and branches from small rodents. Wrap the root neck of young plantings with old stockings. With the cover material, take care that there are no loopholes and small spaces - the mice will try to get to the tender bark of the seedlings. Also, the lower part of the trunk can be protected with roofing.

Myths about snow

There is an opinion that the white winter cover can also serve as additional warming. Many advise shoveling snow closer to the trunks of apple trees. However, you can not do this in any case, because in this way you remove it from the inter-row, where the root system is located (additional warming is very necessary here). Removing the natural winter cover, you leave the unprotected soil freeze. Also, while you are depriving the apple trees of the opportunity to be saturated with melt water during the spring. When freezing, the soil becomes very hard. Melt water will flow down, not reaching the root system. Many will think that there is nothing wrong with the water supply. However, during their journey to the earth, snowflakes are saturated with oxygen and a mass of other useful substances, and then divide all this with roots. From this it follows that the snow must be preserved, and the soil must be insulated with cover materials.

Encouraging the detention of the white cover is possible with the help of large branches scattered around the site and shields placed in the open area. Planting sunflower and other rocking plants will serve for additional snow retention. Now you know not only how to insulate the apple tree for the winter, but what mistakes should be avoided in order to protect trees from disease and death.