Cultivation of apple

Apple (Malus sylvestris)
Rosaceae

Varieties
The varieties with warm winter resistance with low chilling requirements alone are suitable to the hills of Tamil Nadu.

Early varieties
These varieties bears yield during April – May.
Irish Peach and Zouches Pipin are popular early varieties.

Mid season varieties
These varieties bears yield during June – July.
The popular mid season varieties are KKL 1, Carrington and Winterstein.

Late varieties
These varieties bears yield during August – September.
Rome Beauty, Parlin’s Beauty and KKL 1 are early varieties.
Soil and climate
Red lateritic soils with good drainage and high organic matter are more suitable. The soil pH should be around 5.8 to 6.2. Apple can be grown at an elevation of 1200 to 2000 m.

Season
Planting spreads from June to December

Planting material
One year old grafts with M.778 or M.779 as rootstocks can be used for planting.


White Dotted Red	American Apirogue

Chamur	Golden Delicious

Spacing
Apple is normally planted at a spacing of 4 x 4 m in pits of 60 cm x 60 cm x 60 cm.

Irrigation
Watering is done until the plants get established.

Application of fertilizer
For a bearing tree apply FYM 25 Kg, N 500 g and each one Kg of P and K per bearing tree.

Training and pruning
The tree is trained to open centre system. Pruning done during November enables harvest during June – July and pruning during January will enable harvest during July – September.

Parlin’s Beauty

Plant Protection

Pests

Wooly aphids
The rootstocks resistant to wooly aphis viz., M 778, 799, MM 104, MM 110, MM 112, MM 113, MM 114 and MM 115 can be used.

The parasite Aphelinus mali and the coccinellid predators should be conserved in the field. Apply carbofuran 3 % G @ 166 g/tree or phorate 10 % G @ 100 g/tree or spray any one of the following insecticide

Insecticide	Dose
Chlorpyrifos 20%EC	2.5 ml/lit.
Malathion 50%EC	1.0 ml/lit.
Oxydemeton –Methyl 25% EC	1.0 ml/lit.
Quinalphos 25%EC	2.0 ml/lit.

Wooly aphids

Disease

Apple scab
To control apple scab, the following spray schedule at various stages of the crop can be followed:
1. Silver tip to green tip        : Captafol or Mancozeb or Captan 2 g/lit.
2. Pink bud or after 15 days : Captan or Mancozeb 2 g/lit.
3. Petal fall                         : Carbendazim 0.5 g/lit.
4. 10 days after petal fall    : Captan or Mancozeb 2 g/lit.
5. 14 days after fruit set      : Captafol 2 g/lit.
Add stickers like Triton AE or Teepol at 10 ml/10 lit of spray fluid. Use low volume sprayers.