Every gardener will surely have an old favorite apple tree that has been delighting its owners with fragrant and tasty fruits for many years. And the variety of this fruit tree is not always even remembered. And I really want to keep this apple tree for my children and grandchildren. You can, of course, take advantage of grafting the cuttings on the stock, but this is a very troublesome business and not everyone succeeds.
You can solve this problem in the old proven way, which for some reason is not very popular these days. This method of breeding apple trees is simple and affordable for all gardeners. You can get your own seedling using air layers.
What are air layouts?
Every summer resident knows how gooseberry, currant or viburnum shrubs reproduce by layering. The twig is bent down and pinned to the ground and covered with soil. In this state, it will take root until the next season and will be ready for independent development. The principle of growing an apple tree seedling is almost the same. Only a branch of a tree is difficult to tilt to the ground for rooting, so you need to "raise" the ground to the branch.
It is only necessary to select a fruiting branch and surround part of it with moist soil. A branch located in a moist environment in the soil will be able to form its root system in just 2-3 months. Such a seedling is ready for planting and will be able to bear fruit in three years.
How to select and prepare a branch
The quality of the future seedling depends on the correct choice of the branch, so you need to approach this issue seriously. You need to choose a branch that is even, healthy and fruiting. It should be on the well-lit side of the tree. It is better to select a branch of two or three years of age for reproduction about one - one and a half centimeters thick with a young growth.
In early spring, as soon as the snow melts, on the selected part of the branch you need to put on a sleeve made of dense polyethylene translucent film about forty centimeters long. With the help of electrical tape, the edges of the sleeve must be tightly tied to the branch. The sleeve remains on the branch until the end of May - beginning of June, until stable warm weather sets in. All this time, the branch will be in greenhouse conditions and its bark should soften a little.
The next step is to cut the branch. It is necessary to remove the film and find the border between the adult branch and the young growth. From this point, you need to retreat about ten centimeters (towards the tree trunk) and make the first incision (annular) about one centimeter wide. Then, stepping back to the left and right, make two more cuts in each side. These cuts will promote rapid root formation. Be sure to remove any fruit buds above the incision. In this form, the branch can be an air layer.
Rooting air cut
For rooting, the layer needs a container with soil. You can use a regular one and a half liter plastic bottle, having previously cut off the bottom of it.
First you need to put a sleeve made of film on the branch and tie its lower edge to the branch using electrical tape.Then a cut plastic bottle is put on the branch (neck down) so that the branch ringing is almost at the very bottom of the bottle, and the young trunk is approximately in the middle. The top of the sleeve is also tightly wrapped with electrical tape. The entire structure must be in an upright position. To do this, you can pull it to a tree trunk or a special support.
In a plastic container, you need to pour a solution to stimulate root growth and leave for two or three days. Then, puncturing small holes, let the liquid drain, and fill the container with two glasses of prepared soil. It contains: rotten sawdust and leaves, moss, garden soil and compost. The potting mix must be kept moist.
The structure of a film sleeve and a plastic bottle with primer should be in shaded conditions. They can be created using regular old newspapers. Several layers of newspaper will easily create such conditions. True, they will sometimes have to be removed to check the moisture content of the soil.
Watering should be done once a week, and on dry days - every other day.
Mostly fruit trees and shrubs take root very quickly, but apple trees have exceptions. Real roots may not appear even until the end of the summer season. But even if, instead of roots, rudiments appeared on the layers, then this is enough to plant the plant on a permanent site.
Around the middle or at the end of August, the cuttings must be shortened by fifty percent, and after another week, they must be cut off from the lower side of the sleeve using a garden pruner. The entire structure for germinating the roots of the seedling is removed just before planting. A pit for planting a seedling must be prepared in advance and shed abundantly.
Planting a young apple seedling
Gardeners can choose the time for planting a seedling from air layers themselves, taking into account the climatic conditions of the place of residence. The tree can be left until next spring (dig in) or planted this year.
In a warm southern climate, young apple trees will take root well in a new place in the fall. Spring planting is recommended for those living in colder regions. In such a climate, it is advisable to place the seedling in a large container in a special soil mixture. It should consist of equal parts of peat, sand and garden soil. In winter, the tree in the container should be kept in cool and humid conditions (for example, in a cellar or basement). Watering the plant is not plentiful, but regular. With the arrival of spring, the seedling can be planted in a permanent place in the usual way.
Saplings grown from air layers are recommended to be planted at a slight slope. The root collar of such layers is absent, therefore, the plant will need a lot of space to build up a good root system. Tilted planting will help to grow fruiting apple trees in a short time.
