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It is already boring for modern gardeners to grow ordinary fruit trees, today there is a fashion for dwarf varieties and types. Gardens, consisting of miniature columnar trees, are much more interesting and picturesque: low trees with short side shoots directed straight up, densely covered with large fruits. Columnar fruits not only look spectacular, they give good quality, bountiful yields and have a lot of advantages. At first only dwarf apple varieties and pears, the selection of recent years has allowed gardeners to see almost any type of fruit: plums, cherries, apricots and others.
A detailed description and photo of columnar fruit trees are given in this article. It will tell you about all the nuances of dwarf gardening, the pros and cons of such crops, and the rules for growing columnar plants.
Features of dwarf varieties
Outwardly, the columnar tree, of course, looks quite exotic: a very straight trunk, from which many short lateral shoots depart at an acute angle. By autumn, apple and pear trees are covered with fruits, and the tree really strongly resembles a column - an even trunk is densely covered with large fruits.
If you get closer to the columnar apple tree, you can see that it is an ordinary fruit tree. Apples look like common fruits, and they taste just as juicy and sweet.
Gradually, columnar fruits began to spread throughout the world, gaining more and more popularity every year. Today, many gardeners prefer this particular type of tree, because they have a lot of advantages.
Advantages and disadvantages
The main explanation for the popularity of columnar varieties is their greater profitability: compared to traditional orchards, dwarf varieties benefit not only in terms of yield, they are much more convenient to care for.
Columnar fruit trees have a lot of advantages:
- miniature size of the crown and root system, allowing you to grow different fruits in small areas;
- minimum intervals between neighboring trees, allowing about 2000 fruit-bearing columnar trees to be grown on a hectare of land against 400 traditional ones;
- small tree height (up to 2.5 meters) greatly simplifies garden maintenance and harvesting;
- columnar varieties do not need volumetric pruning - the gardener will only have to maintain the shape of the crown;
- early fruiting - the gardener will receive the first full-fledged crop already in the second year after planting the seedlings (ordinary varieties bear fruit in 4-5 years at best);
- saving chemicals for processing a columnar garden - very little money will be needed for a compact crown.
Turns out that with the same area of the orchard, the yield of columnar trees will be higher. In addition, the costs of the farmer for chemicals, pruning, and harvesting of fruits will be significantly reduced. Another plus is that it will not take long to wait for the first harvest - only 1-2 years.
The short life span (12-15 years) of such trees is due to their rapid depletion, because with their small dimensions, columnar varieties bear fruit along with ordinary and tall crops. After a specified period of time, most of the ringlets on the tree die off, as a result of which the yield sharply decreases. The gardener will have to uproot old plants and plant new columnar seedlings.
Varieties of dwarf crops
Columnar trees are used not only for obtaining fresh fruits and fruits, they are actively used by landscape designers in their work. Miniature trees with an elongated cylindrical or conical crown look very original, so they can decorate any exterior.
All columnar plants today are divided into three large groups:
- Fruit (or fruit).
- Deciduous.
- Conifers.
In turn, fruiting columnar varieties are divided into two more types: there are seed dwarf trees and grafted dwarfs. Seed plants are distinguished by the presence of a special gene responsible for the restrained growth of the plant (dwarf gene). Such fruit trees can be grown from seeds in a conventional manner. The grafted dwarfs are propagated by the mother twigs of columnar plants, which are grafted onto the root system of an ordinary related tree.
Growing rules
If you just plant a columnar seedling and do not care for it, an ordinary fruit tree will grow, which will only have a limited growth point. In order for a real miniature garden to grow, it is necessary to provide it with competent care: planting, watering, pruning, feeding.
Planting a mini garden
For planting, it is recommended to choose seedlings of columnar crops, the age of which does not exceed one year. Older trees take root worse, often get sick, and later begin to bear fruit.
Like regular varieties, dwarfs can be planted permanently in the spring or fall. Exactly autumn planting is recommended for columnar crops, so the trees will have more time to acclimatize and prepare for the upcoming flowering and fruiting.
A place for planting dwarfs is chosen sunny, protected from northern winds and drafts. It is advisable to prepare planting holes six months before planting fruit trees. The depth of such a hole should correspond to the size of the root system of the seedling, usually 50 cm is enough. The diameter also corresponds to 50-60 cm. If there are a lot of seedlings, you can prepare trenches for planting them.
When dwarfs are planted in autumn, organic fertilizers, such as compost, humus, cow dung or bird droppings, are introduced into the pit from spring. Only mineral complexes can be used immediately before planting.
The planting of columnar trees itself is carried out in the same way as usual:
- A couple of buckets of water are poured into the prepared and fertilized pit.
- When the water is completely absorbed, a seedling is placed at the bottom of the pit. The root collar of the tree should be a few centimeters above the ground, and all the roots must be straightened out.
- The soil, which the roots of the seedling were covered with, must be compacted so that voids do not form in the soil.
- After that, the tree is again watered with a bucket of water.
- Since the roots of the columnar fruit are located close to the surface of the earth, it is recommended to mulch the soil around the trunk or sow cereal crops in the peri-stem circle (subsequently, the grass is mowed).
Since columnar fruit trees do not have spreading side shoots, they can be planted much closer to other trees than conventional varieties. The optimal spacing between dwarf trees is 50-60 cm. The minimum distance is 40 cm, with an interval of more than 120 cm, columnar varieties are not planted.
Competent care of a miniature garden
In principle, it is necessary to care for a columnar garden in the same way as for ordinary fruit trees. However, there are some subtleties in this business that a novice gardener should know about.
After planting, the dwarf garden will need the following:
- Removal of inflorescences in the year of planting. During the first calendar year after planting, the columnar tree is not allowed to bear fruit, therefore, all flowers that appear during this period are cut off. If this is not done, the roots of the plant will weaken, all the forces of the seedling will go to the formation of fruits, and not to the strengthening and growth of the tree.
- In the next 2-3 years, the number of flowers on dwarf trees will have to be normalized - a fragile trunk may not withstand the mass of a bountiful harvest. The inflorescences are cut with shears, leaving only 2 flowers in a bunch of 5-7 pieces.
- Since the roots of dwarf fruit are located parallel to the ground and lie shallow, weed weeds in the near-trunk circle it is dangerous - you can damage the root system of the tree. Therefore, it is recommended to mulch the ground with straw, sawdust, peat, husks. Or tinning the soil with cereals.
- Young seedlings are recommended water regularly the first two to three months after planting. Then the columnar varieties are watered as the soil dries up. Excessive watering can lead to decay of the roots, so you should not get carried away with them.
- In the first year after planting, additional feed trees not necessary. Subsequently, it is recommended to apply organic and mineral fertilizers twice a year in the same way as for conventional varieties.
- In order for the crown of the tree to resemble a column in shape, the gardener must prune annually... In the first years after planting, the main emphasis is on shortening the side shoots and directing the tree's growth upward.
- Small trees can also hurt or be affected by pests. To prevent this, you should carry out preventive spraying garden using chemical or biological preparations, folk remedies.
- Fragile young seedlings do not tolerate frost well, therefore, in the first years after planting, they are recommended insulate with the onset of cold weather. To do this, you can use a thick layer of organic mulch, spruce branches, agrofibre and any other means of protection.
Conclusion
Here it was considered what columnar fruit trees are, what is their feature, how to properly plant and care for a dwarf garden. In principle, even a novice gardener can grow a miniature fruit paradise, because there is nothing complicated in this process. Each summer resident can experiment by planting several columnar crops on his site: an apple tree, a pear, a plum or a cherry.
