How to Grow Apple Trees in New England

Apple trees grow well in New England.

Apple trees grow throughout the New England states. Gardeners can eat apples fresh, juice them for cider or bake them into pies and other baked goods. Among the more cold-hardy fruit trees, established trees need no protection from the New England winters and bear fruit every year in the fall. Apple trees benefit from annual pruning in the early spring and regular watering during the growing season.

Things You'll Need

• Shovel
• Bucket (optional)
• Apple tree sapling
• Water
• 2 wooden stakes
• Rope
• Anvil pruners
• Nitrogen fertilizer

Instructions

1. Select an apple cultivar that is suited for growth in New England, which encompasses hardiness zones 4 to 6. Choose a bare root tree in April or May or a container tree in June. In New England, apple trees can't be planted in the fall since it's too cold.

2. Soak a bare root apple tree in a container of water for at least three hours prior to planting. If planting a container tree, skip this step.

3. Dig a hole that's twice as wide as the root ball of your apple tree. Remove any rocks, roots or weeds from the hole.

4. Remove a container apple tree from its container. Then unwind and untangle any roots that are tangled so the tree can draw nutrients from the soil. Trim any roots that are broken using your pruners. Don't worry about the roots of a bare root apple tree; they won't be tangled. Place the apple tree in the hole, check to ensure it's vertically straight, then cover over the roots with soil.

5. Water the newly planted tree until the soil becomes saturated with water. Continue to water the tree with 5 gallons of water once weekly during the growing season and discontinue watering when the tree goes dormant in the late autumn.

6. Drive two wooden stakes into the ground 12 inches away from the newly planted apple tree. Then tie the tree to the stakes using rope. Do not tie the rope tightly since this can harm the growing tree.

7. Fertilize the tree with 1 oz. of nitrogen fertilizer when it begins to grow again after transplanting. Scatter the nitrogen around the base of the apple tree and water the tree to work it in.

8. Prune away branches growing from the young apple tree. Also clip off any suckers that grow from the base of the tree. During the next year, train the apple tree by selecting three limbs spaced around the trunk of the tree that grow upward. These will be the main fruit-bearing limbs. Remove all other limbs.

9. Continue to train the tree in the following year by pruning suckers, removing competing limbs and trimming back the fruit-bearing limbs to promote branching.

Tips & Warnings

• Plant two different varieties of apple trees to encourage cross-pollination, which produces more fruit.

References

• USDA Hardiness Zone Map: Northeast
• Country Brook Farms: New England Fruit Tree Growing
• University of Maine: Planting and Early Care of Fruit Trees