Pillar apple ∗ The 10 best planting and care tips

Characteristics

• Scientific name: Malus domestica
• Family: Rose family (Rosaceae)
• Genus: Apples (Malus)
• Type: Cultivated apple with over 20,000 apple varieties
• Growth type: grafted cultivated apple variety
• Growth form: columnar
• Growth height: 150 cm to 400 cm
• Leaf: round, oval, ovate
• Flowers: umbrella panicle
• Fruit: pome fruit
• Fruit quality: edible, storable, after-ripening
• Use: outdoor fruit trees, container plants

growth

Pillar apple is a space-saving variety of cultivated apple for small gardens, balconies and terraces. Refined by the master tree nursery, the fruit trees are perfect for private cultivation in a confined space. The compact, slender appearance is not at the expense of flowers and fruit quality. Facts worth knowing about the growth of an apple column:

• growth type: deciduous fruit tree.
• growth habit: columnar, dominant central shoot, short side shoots as fruit wood.
• growth height: 150cm to 400cm
• growth width: 20cm to 60cm
• growth rate: 5 cm to 30 cm annual growth.
• root system: heart root

Cultivate a fruit tree as a pillar in the garden

blossom

The flower buds are created by a columnar apple in the previous year. Parallel to the budding of the leaves, clusters of fragrant flowers with the following characteristics unfold in late spring:

• inflorescence: terminal umbel with 5 to 10 individual flowers.
• single flower: fivefold, flat cup-shaped, 2 cm to 5 cm in diameter.
• flower color: white or pinkish white.
• heyday: April and May.
• fertilization: honey bees, wild bees, bumblebees.

fruit

By late summer and fall, fertilized flowers turn into appetizing dessert apples with these characteristics:

• fruit type: Collecting follicle fruit, juicy flesh around a core of 5 chambers, each with 2 seeds.
• fruit shape: globose to flattened, medium-sized to small.
• Peel: green-yellow with red cheeks, bright red to dark red.
• pulp: depending on the variety, creamy white to reddish, firm to medium firm.
• taste: sour, sweet-sour, sugar-sweet, typical apple aroma.
• Special properties: storable, after-ripening.

The ripening time depends on the planted columnar apple variety. For early summer apple varieties, the harvest time begins in August. Autumn apple varieties and storage apples ripen in September and October. Late autumn opens the window for harvesting winter apples that can be stored until spring.

Column Apple Tree Varieties

Selected only apple varieties are suitable as columnar fruit. On the basis of collected empirical values, these premium varieties have emerged for cultivation as columnar apple trees in beds and tubs:

use

Advantageous uses make columnar apple cultivation interesting for hobby gardeners. Be inspired by the following tips on how to use a columnar apple tree in the garden and on the balcony:

• Privacy hedge with fruit yield in the allotment and geek garden.
• flowering bee pasture in the nature garden.
• Plant in rows as a decorative room divider in parks, open spaces and large gardens.
• Sweet fruit and privacy plant in a pot on the balcony and terrace.

Delicious recipes let the ideas flow for a culinary use of columnar apples. The apples taste particularly good as a refreshing snack straight from the tree. In the kitchen, the tasty fruits serve as an ingredient for aromatic apple compote, delicious jam, invigorating fruit juice and fruity cakes.

digression

Rich apple harvest only with pollen donor

Plant columnar apples

Because columnar apples are grafted, tree nurseries mainly offer the trees in pots or in balls. You can plant the columnar fruit of this quality at any time of the year. The best time to plant outdoors is from mid-October to the end of March. Spring is a good time for pot planting. You can find out where and how to plant a columnar apple tree here:

location and soil

The competent choice of location is aimed at avoiding late frost damage to the open flowers. These are the optimal conditions for a columnar apple tree:

• sun to lighter penumbra.
• Warm and sheltered from the wind.
• Fresh to moist, well-drained clay soil, humic and nutritious.

Planting in the bed - tips & tricks

Planting focuses on important aspects such as the position of the grafting site, protection against windthrow, initial fertilization and the correct planting distance. The best planting tips for hobby gardeners:

• The still potted root ball is placed in water.
• The planting pit is twice as big as the root ball.
• Mix the excavated soil with as a start fertilizing compost soil and horn shavings.(€9.00 at Amazon*)
• Drive in a support pole on the side of the main wind direction.
• Important: Unpot and pull apart the water-soaked root ball before planting.
• Plant the columnar apple so deep that the grafting point is above the ground.
• Planting distance in hedges: 40 cm to 50 cm.

Tread the soil firmly for good ground contact. Before you water the root disc, connect the center drive and support post with a coconut rope.

Planting in tubs - tips & tricks

If a columnar apple tree is cultivated in a tub, the focus is on the size of the container, the quality of the substrate and protection against waterlogging. The planting technique does not differ from planting in the bed.

• The right bucket for a columnar apple has a capacity of 30 liters to 50 liters.
• Floor openings are indispensable as water drainage.
• Structurally stable potting soil and special organic soil for fruit trees are suitable substrates.
• A drain off expanded clay(€19.00 at Amazon*) or broken pottery on the bottom of the bucket prevents waterlogging.

Put the bucket on one plant trolley. This ensures the necessary mobility if a change of location makes sense in winter.

Cultivate columnar apple

A columnar apple is very easy to care for. While pruning the classic apple tree gives the hobby gardener a lot of headaches, pruning the columnar apple tree does not raise any questions. Other care measures follow, such as water and nutrient supply or winter protection for potted plants. This is how you take care of an apple columnar tree in an exemplary way:

To cut

It's so easy to master the pruning of the columnar apple tree:

• Rule of thumb: Cut the columnar apple only when necessary.
• The best time to cut is at the end of February.
• Thin out dead wood and unfavorable growing branches at the base.
• Cut back all side shoots from 20 cm in length to 5 cm to 15 cm.
• Incision: Place the bypass scissors over a leaf or flower bud that is pointing outwards.

vigorous columnar fruit you can blend a second time at the end of June.

thinning

Thinning out a heavy fruit load prevents the dreaded alternation. This technical term refers to yield fluctuations typical of apple trees. If a columnar apple bears abundant fruit in one year, it will not bloom or bloom sparsely in the following year. The devastating result is a significant loss of harvest. When it is completely exhausted, the fruit tree simply lacks the energy reserves to plant new flower buds. This is how easy it is to solve the problem:

1. The best time is late May to early/mid June (fruits are the size of a thumb).
2. Thin each bunch of fruit down to 1 or 2 apples.
3. Snap out the fruit to be removed with your thumb and forefinger or with pruning shears cut off.

care tips

• Water the columnar apple tree outdoors in the mornings or evenings during summer drought.
• Water the potted plant regularly after a finger test.
• mulching with compost stimulates the sprouting and formation of flower buds.
• Planted apple column in March and June fertilize with compost or horn shavings.
• Fertilize potted columnar apples monthly from March to August with organic liquid fertilizer.

diseases and pests

These are the most common diseases and pests on columnar apples:

• Apple scab (Venturia inaequalis)
• mildew (Erysiphaceae)
• codling moth (Cydia pomonella)
• apple blossom cutter (Anthonomus pomorum)
• apple spider moth (Yponomeuta malinellus)

Popular Varieties

In addition to the premium varieties in our profile table, there are these modern and old columnar apple tree varieties to be discovered in the trade:

• Pillar apple Elstar: well-known autumn apple as a columnar fruit, golden-yellow-red skin, mildly aromatic flesh.
• Pillar Apple Sonata: high-yielding variety, red-yellow, medium-sized fruits, ready for harvest from the beginning/middle of September.
• Black McIntosh: historic variety from 1811, extremely slender, reddish to lilac-blue fruits with a juicy, aromatic taste.
• Pillar Apple Rhapsody: popular variety for outdoors and in containers, medium-firm, creamy-white flesh, height of growth 300-400 cm.
• Pillar Apple Starcats: extra hardy, space-saving column of apples, 20-40 cm wide, tasty, red-cheeked fruits, keep well.
• lopini: new variety with a short ripening time until August, red-yellow, juicy-sweet fruits as a sweet fruit straight from the apple tree.

FAQ

At which location can you plant an apple tree column?

Choose a sunny to partially shaded location outdoors and on the balcony. In a warm, wind-protected place, the frost-sensitive flowers are well-armed against the risk of late frost. An apple tree pillar will thrive in any normal garden floor, which is well drained and humus.

Is a columnar apple self-pollinating?

No, no apple tree is self-pollinating. In order to fertilize a columnar apple, at least one other apple variety is required in the vicinity. Pillar apples of another variety, classic apple varieties and ornamental apples are suitable as pollen donors. Furthermore, bees and bumblebees have to take care of pollination.

On which rootstock should columnar apples be grafted?

There is a heated debate among experts about the perfect rootstock for columnar apples. The fact is that the selected rootstock has a significant influence on the growth strength of the grafted apple column. The frequently used rootstock M26 supports the desired slim, space-saving growth habit. In return, a support stake is required for life. Tree nurseries usually graft columnar apples on rootstocks MM106 and MM111 for medium to strong growth that does not require a support post.