Redlove Apple - Garden Guide
Redlove® Odysso® Red Fleshed Apple Care At A Glance
- Grown on dwarf M9 rootstock, trees mature to about 10 ft. high & wide.
- Suitable for USDA zones 3 to 7.
- Proper cross-pollination from a different apple is required for fruits.
- Use fruits for fresh eating, fruit salads, baking, and sauces.
- First crops typically start 2-3 years from planting, with fruits ripening in October.
Redlove® Odysso® Red Fleshed Apple Planting Instructions
- Pre-soak roots for at least 8 hrs. but not more than 72 hrs. in a bucket with clean water.
- While roots are soaking, dig a hole 2-3 ft. across and just a bit deeper than the roots are long.
- Amend all the natural soil with ample amounts of organic matter such as leaf compost or aged manure.
- Apple trees perform best in loose, well-draining but organically rich soils.
- Plant new trees with the graft union at least 2 inches above the natural soil grade.
- Create a 4-6 in. tall soil berm around the base of the tree in a 3 ft. circumference to retain water.
- Remove all competitive grass & weeds within this tree well and replace it with 2-3 in. of mulch or compost.
- Water your new tree slowly, and thoroughly to ensure all air pockets are removed.
NOTE: If organic amendments are added at planting time, no fertilizer is needed, but adding mycorrhizal inoculants, like MYKE® Tree & Shrub Inoculant are shown to be very beneficial for proper establishment.
Tip Pruning
- Do tip pruning immediately after planting to balance the top with the existing roots and to stimulate the tree to break dormancy with swelling flower buds.
- Most apple and pear varieties are shipped as single whip trees, which means they have one main leader with little to no side branching to worry about.
- Arborists recommend pruning the tip of the main leader by removing a couple of inches to promote side branching.
Watering
- Watering is the most critical factor necessary for proper establishment. Do Not underestimate the need to apply regular, consistent, and ample water to your newly planted trees.
- Once trees are planted, water using the 1 inch per week, per tree rule, which equates to about 2.5-3 gallons of water per tree, once every 2-3 days. Increase water volume as summer temperatures rise.
- Maintain this rule even if rain events happen unless 24 hrs. after a good rain event there is still standing water present in the lawn or around your new tree. Use common sense.
- If the task of amending the soil was done properly at planting time, there is little chance of over-watering a newly planted bare-root tree.
Redlove® Odysso® Red Fleshed Apple Care - Maintenance After Establishment
Maintenance
Red Fleshed apples are true Malus species, selected and bred from wild natural stands of red-fleshed, crabapple forests of Kazakhstan.- Cross-pollination is required for fruit production.
- Plant Redlove® with any mid-season blooming apple cultivars, such as Honeycrisp™, 'Haralson', Bonnie-Best®, 'Sweet Sixteen', Prairie Magic®, RubyMac®, Royal Court™, 'Liberty', 'Enterprise', 'Freedom' Scarlet Sentinel™, or White Icicle™.
- Flowering crabapples can also make suitable pollination partners.
- Care and maintenance are the same as all other apple cultivars, but pay careful attention to proper annual pruning, pest management, and scouting, as well as basic nutritional requirements.
NOTE: Apple trees on dwarf rootstocks can be precocious, which means early fruiting is common. However, any fruit set that happens in the first or second year should be totally removed to prevent undue stress on new trees. After year 3 in the ground, only remove 1/3 of the fruits that are set and allow trees to bring the rest to harvest.
Special Needs / Troubleshooting
- See the note above regarding early fruiting and how to best manage it.
