Seedlings
Delta Agrar’s nursery on the estate, which covers 35 hectares, represents the most modern production of apple seedlings, comparable to those of the largest European nurseries.
The apple seedlings produced by Delta Agrar are the highest quality available in this region because they are derived from virus-free certified rootstocks, grafted with certified scion wood originating from Italian mother orchards.
The concept of growing apples with a slender spindle crown with about 4,000–6,250 trees/ha, depending on the planting density and reduced pruning, requires top-quality seedlings expected to bear good fruit in the first year after planting, especially in the second year, and full yield by the fourth vegetation cycle.
We offer seedlings of leading apple varieties such as Golden Delicious Reinders, Red Delicious Jeromine, Granny Smith, Gala Galaval, and Gala Schniko, in categories of nine-month-old, eighteen-month-old, knip, and “left to grow” seedlings.
APPLE SEEDLING GROWING TECHNOLOGY
One of the most important elements in seedling production is a good quality rootstock, which serves as the base from which high-quality one-year or two-year seedlings are obtained after one or two years.
Rootstocks are planted in the spring, grow throughout the year, and are bud-grafted (chip budding) with the desired variety. This grafting is usually done in August of the current year at about 20 cm above the ground. The bud fuses with the rootstock by the end of the growing season but does not activate for growth, instead entering dormancy.
Only in the following spring does it begin to grow, at which point the rootstock is shortened to just above the grafted bud, approximately 20 cm above the ground. In the meantime, the grafted rootstocks can be removed and replanted or left in the same nursery for further development.
If the grafts are replanted and the production is intended to be completed in the first year of graft development, a one-year, so-called nine-month-old seedling is obtained. If the grafts are not replanted and production continues the following year, eighteen-month-old seedlings are obtained.
However, two-year-old knip seedlings are produced by cutting the seedling to a height of 70 cm above the ground after the first year, and branching begins at this height in the second year.
To produce nine-month-old seedlings and knip seedlings, already existing grafts are planted, but knip seedling production lasts an additional year, resulting in higher quality two-year-old seedlings, which are far more productive than ordinary one-year seedlings and yield 30 to 40 tons per hectare (planting density around 4,000/ha) in the year after planting.
What we are particularly proud of, and what represents the latest technology in seedling production, is the production of two-year “left to grow” seedlings, which are fully formed and ready for orchard production. These seedlings provide an even higher initial yield compared to classic knip seedlings, entering full production by the third or fourth year.
Additionally, this type of tree structure allows for even denser planting in orchards, exceeding 6,000 trees per hectare.
