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  • From: Bernie Nikolai <bnikolai@shaw.ca>
  • To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Potted Apple Culture
  • Date: Fri, 26 Jul 2002 22:26:18 -0600 (MDT)

I have had the exact symptoms on both potted but partucularly newly planted
trees. This spring I received several 2 year old Honeycrisp on V1 rootstock
from the University of Guelph in Ontario for hardiness testing. The trees
were about 6 ft. tall and I pruned them back to about 4 ft. to compensate
(hopefully) for the lack of root structure in the transplanting. Despite
frequent watering in our record drought conditions here, the leaves are
small and folded inward, almost in half. In the past with other trees this
simply means the roots are growing, and there is no "extra energy" to get
the top part of the tree to grow. The next year everything grew normally
from my experiences. So this may well be the case for your tree. In brief
there is a temporary imbalance between the top of the tree and the roots.
The tree corrects this the first year by ignoring growth above the soil, and
focuses on growth of the roots instead. You could try pruning the top back
by 20 or 30%.

I have 3 trees in pots, 2 apples on Bud 9 and a Lapins sweet cherry on semi
dwarf G6 rootstock. The apples are of varieties that will not survive in my
climate, and the sweet cherry likewise doesn't have a prayer in my zone 3
climate. However I bury the pots half in the ground in the garden in the
fall, with the trunks running horizontally along the ground, with most of
the branches tied down. I then cover with snow that I shovel from off the
lawn. This has worked for 3 years in keeping these trees alive. The
apples, a Janson Pink Princess and a Ginger Gold are producing for the first
time this year, perhaps 6 or so apples each, and the Lapins sweet cherry
(self fertile) had a lot of blossums this spring, but the small cherries
fell off before they got very large. All trees are perhaps about 5 ft. tall.
Bernie Nikolai
Edmonton, Alberta


At 02:55 PM 7/26/02 -0400, you wrote:
>Hello All,
>
>I am hoping there is someone who knows a bit about potted apple culture out
there. This is my
>first attempt at potting up an apple.
>
>I have a Court Pendu Plat grafted on M7 rootstock in a 30 gallon utility
tub. The soil was a mix
>between topsoil, peat moss and composted sheep manure. There are drainage
holes in the tub, then
>broken crockery, covered by 3" of sand, covered by the soil mix.
>
>I use a water meter (3 different places in pot) to check moisture before
watering.
>
>However, the leaves are green, but curled like in a drought situation.
They stay this way even
>after a deluge of rain. I know the soil is moist as I can feel it, and the
moisture meter tells
>me the same. I have been careful not to over water.
>
>Can anyone tell me what I am looking at? Is it drought, or something that
looks like drought?
>Could this be incompatibility between scion and rootstock?
>
>The tree was just transplanted to the pot this spring, it was grafted last
spring, but is not
>putting on new growth this season.
>
>Thanks,
>Tom
>
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