What is the yield of apples from 1 ha? How to grow these fruits? You will find answers to these and other questions in the article. An apple is one of the most famous types of fruit in the grocery market. The demand for them is great, and not too high prices make them very popular among buyers. What is the yield of apple farms? Find out below.
Apple varieties
Few people know how to get a high yield of apples from 1 ha. Due to new varieties and growing methods, the apple business has reduced the period for making a profit from 5-7 years to 1 year. There are winter, autumn and summer varieties of apples.
If you are planning to seriously engage in the apple farms business, you need to grow all types of this fruit. As a result, you will be able to work and sell products all year round, plus this format will reduce the risk of crop loss.
Varieties of apple trees exist, both dwarf and tall. When choosing a variety, you need to rely on the requirements for growing a particular species. Here are the most famous of them:
- Simirenko;
- Golden Delicious;
- starking;
- Red Delicious;
- Stayman Black;
- Jared;
- Royal Red Delicious;
- Idared.
Garden planting
Consider planting an apple orchard on a land plot of 1 ha. Depending on the crown of apple trees or their variety, 5 to 10 m² should be allocated for each tree. So, on 1 hectare, you can plant about 1000-2000 seedlings, bringing you income in the future.
At the same time, to take care of such an apple orchard, in your business plan, it is necessary to consider the purchase of a tool: chainsaws, branch cutters, and lawnmowers. Do not also forget about the drip irrigation system.
Cultivation of apple trees
What is apple farmsgrowing as a business? The soil for planting trees should be prepared in the fall. In the spring, when planting, they also add a little manure and about 40 g per well of phosphorus-potassium fertilizers.
Row spacing is usually 3-4 m, and the distance between plants in a row is 1.5-2 m. These parameters largely depend on the technology of pruning a tree and the type of its shape.
Care of Apple Farms
Often people ask experts: “How to get a high yield of apples from 1 hectare?” You will need to learn tree care techniques if you are in the apple business.
Firstly, it is desirable to put supports under the apple trees. This technique will provide an even structure for the plant and protect it from a powerful wind that can break the branches.
Secondly, grass and weeds are constantly eliminated in the aisles.
Thirdly, this is frequent watering: with your own hands or with the help of a drip irrigation device.
Fourth, it is the correct pruning of trees.
Fifthly, it is the treatment of plants with insect repellents.
With proper care, your garden will become a stable business for years. You can apply special maintenance techniques if you already own a perennial garden that is too low-yielding. You only need to replace old apple trees with new varieties, gradually rejuvenating your planting.
Collection and storage of apples
Do you know when to harvest apples? When planning an apple business, you must add the staff costs for picking this fruit. As a rule, the harvest begins from September to November.
Markets
Where to put the apple harvest? There are two basic directions for the implementation of this fruit:
- Retail: bakeries, markets, individuals.
- Wholesale: apple buyers, dried fruit factories, large grocery chains, canning enterprises.
In winter, the price of apples increases by 50%. In the form of additional income, you can make and pack apple-based dried fruits purchased by many cafes and restaurants, as well as people in food markets.
Profitability
The price of seedlings ranges from $3 to $9 per piece (from 200 to 600 rubles). Also, under the business plan, you must consider such costs: taxes, spending on fertilizers and soil preparation, purchasing tools, organizing supports and watering.
Of the constant spending, one can single out the cost of seasonal workers, which include harvesters and security.
The payback period for apple commerce is about 4-5 years. Its profitability reaches 100%.
1 kg of apples in the market costs about $1 (67 rubles). In winter, this amount can be increased by 50%. As you can see, doing apple business is very profitable. There are risks here, but impressive profitability attracts many entrepreneurs.
Risks
It is known that the current methods of growing apples give the first harvest after a year. Every entrepreneur wants to recoup their investments as soon as possible. Today, the basic share of the apple market is occupied by Turkish and Polish products. Local deliveries are equal to a maximum of 30%.
Growing a garden requires a lot of money. In addition, agricultural commerce has a certain risk due to weather instability. So, frost or drought can ruin the crop and cause irreversible damage to the business.
However, today techniques have been developed with which you can reduce the unpleasant consequences. We are talking about overhead irrigation (reduces the effects of frost in the spring) and drip irrigation (does not allow drought to damage the crop).
Growing technologies
There are such cultivation methods:
- Medium rootstocks.
- Extensive.
- Intensive orchard.
The extensive method is used in 70% of cases. It gives a harvest for 6 years after planting and is a classic. As a result, the business can be brought to a sufficient level only for 7-9 years. And during all this time, active care is needed: hilling, pruning, watering, and protection from pests. It follows that the good part looks very vague.
Another thing is intensive reception with drip irrigation. In this case, the first harvest can be obtained in 2-3 years. This cultivation method is based on planting tall varieties of apple trees on dwarf rootstocks. This allows the planting frequency to be increased up to 5000 seedlings per 1 ha. In addition, a special technique for pruning crowns is used to avoid shading nearby trees. But this method also has disadvantages:
- The need to install an irrigation system, as well as frequent watering.
- The root system is located in the upper soil layer, which means that the crop may die already at -10 ° C.
- Special pruning crowns.
But the above disadvantages fade before the following advantages:
- Fast harvest time (2-3 years after planting).
- High yield of apples. Up to 50 tons can be harvested from 1 hectare in Russia.
- The convenient crown height allows you to process the tree from pests efficiently and easily collect fruits.
This method is popular in the West and has been used for a long time. Winter unpretentious varieties are suitable for him. These include:
- Champion;
- Gloucester;
- Idared;
- Golden Delicious and others.
As for rootstocks, the most popular are:
- M-9 – dwarf type. The first fruits appear after a couple of years.
- MM-106 – belongs to the semi-dwarf type; frost resistance is much higher than M-9.
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