The ideal crown should be strongto withstand high yields without reinforcements or with a minimum number of them, to have enough branches to accommodate such a crop, and at the same time sufficiently illuminated in the interior. In addition, it should not be too high not to obstruct the care of trees and not have low-lying branches and hanging branches that interfere with the cultivation of soil under the crowns. Already Gaucher notes the harm of the formation of all trees according to a single pattern, according to the template: "Each tree requires special care, and therefore it is impossible to put general rules here, one can not give a ready-made template. Trees given to nature itself grow better than those fallen into the hands of a poor gardener acting on a pattern. " Indeed, in the wild apple trees, in hybrid seedlings, and in seedlings of cultivars that grow without any scrap, the crown is formed by a very strong, with large angles of divergence, located along the trunk of tiers of different composition, then singly. The disadvantage of such a naturally developing crown is its excessive thickening, especially in young trees, and a large height. True, over time, natural self-thinning of such crowns occurs by the gradual withering away of weaker branches. However, the process of natural self-thinning, first, is very long, and secondly, it is associated with the formation of superfluous, subsequently dying off branches, for the formation and growth of which plastic materials and energy are wasted. Disadvantages of the natural crown do not allow you to completely abandon pruning, but make some changes necessary, using the ability of the tree to self-form. Timely pruning can and should prevent thickening of the crown and make it more permeable to light. The height of the crown can and should be reduced, cutting at one time the central conductor and transferring it to a strong and well-located lateral branch in space. For the convenience of caring for trees, it is desirable that their height does not exceed 4 -4.5 m. On the combination of the ability of each individual tree to form a crown inherent in its nature and some additional techniques, and modern systems for the formation of fruit trees are constructed. The most progressive of these systems are combined (PG Zhuchkov) and especially sparse - longline (PS Gelfandbein). Classical five-year long crown, in which the first layer is completely laid in the nursery, consists of 5 branches, grown from 5 adjacent kidneys and the central conductor. The advantage of this crown in the simplicity of the formation, the main disadvantage is that in the excessively dense arrangement of the lateral branches, which subsequently press one another, do not provide a strong fusion with the trunk, the central conductor is also often suppressed. Trees of many varieties, especially with fragile wood (Borovinka, Titovka, Cinnamon striped, Welsey, Coulomb - Chinese, etc.), formed by the tier system, are often broken, especially under the weight of crops. In an effort to get rid of the main drawback of the tier system, American fruit breeders were offered a crownless crown, in which all skeletal branches, numbering from 5 to 10, are located singly along the entire length of the trunk at distances from 15 to 25 cm. The bark crown is very strong due to the rare arrangement of branches and their good subordination to the trunk is well illuminated inside. Its essential shortcoming is a relatively long period of formation. To eliminate this lack of the crownless crown and at the same time use its advantages, NG Zhuchkov proposed a combined crown. In this crown 3, the lower branches are one tier, but the distances between branches are increased by 5-20 cm compared to the classical longline crown. It is more preferable if two boughs are adjacent, and the third will be located from them at a greater distance. In this form, with a sparse tier of 3 branches, the seedlings are let out of the nursery. The continuation of formation in the garden consists in laying on the trunk of single skeletal branches, as in a decanter crown. The first solitary bitches are laid at a distance of 45 -50 cm from the upper branch of the tier. Perhaps even closer to the natural will be sparse - the longline crown proposed by PS Gelfandbein. Under this system, all 5-10 main branches (by the end of formation) are arranged in tiers of 2 -3, sometimes 4, and only single branches are single. Usually the lower tier consists of 3 branches, the rest - from 2. The upper branch, on which the conductor translates at the end of formation, should be single. Distances between tiers PS Gel'fandbeyn recommends different for different climatic conditions: in the north -20 -25 cm, in the middle zone -35 -40, and in the south, where the growth is stronger, up to 60 cm. The saplings formed in the nursery are sparingly divided - in the case of a tiered system, 3 to 5 lateral skeletal branches, located in two tiers, each having 2 to 3 branches, are placed in the garden, in addition to the conductor. Instead of the second tier, 1 -2 single branches can be selected. The distance between these branches should be 15-20 cm. All branchings of the crown should be subordinated among themselves, that is, the branches of each subsequent order should be much thinner than the branches from which they branch. GK Karpov believes that subordination is good if the diameter of the skeletal branch is 0.5 diameter of the trunk at the point of its retreat. P. S. Gelfandbein considers it possible to increase this ratio to 0.6. It is completely inadmissible for all formation systems to form bifurcations, i.e., incompatible, branches of the same strength, coming out from one place: during the harvest, such forks are often torn. By pulling, striking, pruning, or lateral shoot try to get a sufficiently large angle of branches from the trunk (at least 45 °), which ensures the strength of the adhesion. At sharp corners of a branch often breaks branches from a wind or under gravity of a crop. Part of the shoots appearing on the trunk between tiers or skeletal branches, should not be removed; they are only suppressed by systematic shortening by one-half to one-third, turning them into semi-skeletal ones that are then covered with fruit formations. Bared sections of the trunk between the tiers are more easily exposed to summer and winter burns. The main ramifications of the second order on the skeletal branches are formed so that they are located more or less evenly on both sides of them. The first branching should be no closer than 40 -50 cm from the stem, the subsequent branching should be 30 to 40 cm apart from the other. Of course, we can not strictly adhere to these figures here. It is necessary to leave the strongest ramifications, making sure that they do not press one another and do not overtake the skeleton branch, but obey it. If necessary, suppress the competing with the conductor branch, more severely cutting or cutting them into a ring. All other, weaker branches, which are located between the main branches of the second order, are transformed into a growing branch by a strong pruning. Shoots that grow inside the crown and hang down, which will interfere with the cultivation of the soil, cut into a ring or suppressed with a very short pruning. In the future, when pruning crowns formed on any system, make an annual light thinning, follow the preservation of the correct subordination of skeletal twigs trunk, second-order ramifications to skeletal branches, preventing the emergence of competitors and the formation of forks. You should not allow suppression of the lower skeletal branches by the upper branches or one branch in the tier of the other. Excessively heavily growing branches are weakened by shortening.
Care of the barrel
Stub is the main way of nutrient exchangesubstances between the crown of a tree with its leaf device and the root system. Through it pass the ascending and descending currents. Any, even insignificant damage to the stem worsens this exchange, and a stronger one can cause a serious malnutrition and even complete dying off of individual parts of the crown or root system. The ring damage to the stem inevitably ends with the death of a tree, which usually occurs in a year. In addition, any injury to the stem may cause the infection of the tree with black cancer and other diseases. In this regard, it is necessary to closely monitor the condition of the stem, protecting it from any damage. The main types of damage to the stem are winter burns, nibbling with hares and mice, wounding with tools and machines during soil cultivation. Burns occur usually at the end of winter, when the tissues of the cortex heated by direct sunlight leave the state of forced rest. Most often, burns occur on the southern and southwestern side of the stem and large skeletal branches. To protect from heating and the subsequent freezing, the stem and skeletal branches are whitewashed with lime in autumn with clay mixed in a ratio of 1: 1. To whitewash lasted longer, it is useful to add 1 - 2 liters of return to the solution bucket. Especially often young trees damage hares. To protect against them, the stems are tied at the end of autumn or early winter with reed or sunflower stems. In the northern regions, the best material for strapping is spruce lapnik, which has the tips of the needles down. Lapnik also scares off mice. At large snowfalls it is necessary to protect from hares and the basis of skeletal twigs. They are also tied with lapnik and straw harnesses. After tying the stem in young trees, it is useful to dip the earth to a height of up to 30 cm. This will partially protect the plant from mice. In the fight against them, also the trampling of snow near the stem after each significant snowfall, especially after the thaws, also helps. If there are many mice since autumn, it is necessary to put several poisoned corn kernels at the bottom of each stem. The best measure to prevent the appearance of mice in the garden is the soil content under black steam, clean from weeds. All the wounds found on the stamps must be healed immediately. If the size of the wound is insignificant, then its surface is covered with garden putty or clay with mullein and wool. With this protection, which protects against drying, an inflow quickly forms on the edges of the wound, gradually tightening it. If the size of the wound is large, it can not be fully prolonged. In such cases the plastic surgery, that is, the transplantation to the wound of a piece of bark taken from an unnecessary tree, is helpful. Our experience has shown that the transplantation of the cortex is very good, especially if it is carried out at the beginning of the sap flow. The most important thing in this operation is that it be done quickly, and the edges of the wound and the transplanted portion of the cortex converge tightly, without lumens. The "patch" form should correspond to the wound form after stripping. More convenient is a rectangular or hexagonal shape. The technique of the operation is as follows: the edges of the wound (to the fresh bark) are cut along the prepared template and the corresponding section of the cortex is cut from the branch brought to the site of the operation. Cut out the site quickly put in place and nailed in small studs. For a better fit of the surfaces make a tight binding with a twine of the entire "operating field", then cover it with clay with a mullein and tie it with paper in several layers. Clay and paper protect the growing tissues from drying out. Such an operation with the transplantation of a healthy cortex is also possible with ring lesions. To save such trees, immediate intervention of the gardener is necessary: plastic surgery, installation of bridges or cutting the whole tree to reverse growth with re-inoculation (if desired, to have another, better grade) or without it. For the inoculation of bridges, it is necessary to prepare strong cuttings of frost-resistant varieties beforehand, even before the swelling of the kidneys, and store them under the snow or in the basement (in the sand). To insert the shank - bridge on the healthy cortex above and below the damaged area with a grafting knife, two transverse notches 2 - 3 cm long. Then, cut the ends of the cuttings into the cortex of these incisions, for best entry of which it is necessary to make a scythe in the bark of the tree cutout-step. The stalk should be slightly longer than the distance between the transverse incisions. At both ends of the cut, do oblique cuts, removing the peel from the opposite side to expose the cambium and accelerate the fusion. When the stalk is in place, its ends are nailed with small studs and proceed to the next one. The number of cuttings - bridges with a ring wound depends on the circumference of the stem. So, for a tree of 8-10 years it is enough to put 3 cuttings, over 10 years old-5 cuttings, and sometimes even more. The ends of all cuttings are more conveniently set at the same level to facilitate the subsequent tying with their twine. After tying the wound, the wound is coated with clay with mullein and tied with paper. It is very advantageous to use as a bridge the radical shoots, if they are, grafting only the upper end of them. However, treatment with bridges has very serious drawbacks. First, a small cross-section of bridges, especially in the year of installation, makes it difficult for the tree to feed, mainly its roots; secondly, complete fusion of bridges with its lateral surfaces can occur only after a few years, and the remaining exposed surface of the wound between them is open and can be frozen or infected with fungal and bacterial diseases. Rocking the tree during strong winds often leads to breakage of the upper ends of the bridge. In this regard, the method of transplanting the cortex is more perfect than bridging, and we recommend that it be applied where possible, especially on young trees. If the tree, despite the bridges, begins to dry out, losing part of the crown, it must be cut to reverse growth and use strong shoots from sleeping buds, forming on them anew the crown. If the variety is of little value, then it should immediately be re-injected into a stump-bark or in a cleft. It is also possible to use root shoots, which usually appear after cutting the tree, for re-inoculation. Trees that have entered into fruiting and cut down to reverse growth or re-molded, thanks to their powerful root system are quickly restored and after 3 or 4 years again yields. It is absolutely unreasonable to uproot the damaged trees to replace them with new seedlings: this will for many years delay the restoration of the garden. Using the root system of damaged trees will greatly accelerate the process of their restoration. Of course, if the trees are severely damaged in the first three years after planting, it is more advantageous to replace them with new ones. With any method of treatment, it should be remembered that only strong, well-nourished plants are easily restored, so it is necessary to take good care of damaged trees by applying spring-summer nutriments with nitrogen, and if possible, watering. Author:
