Root neck of the seedlings

Often, beginning gardeners, wanting to grow fruit trees on their plot, complain about the poor survival of seedlings. And indeed, very often it happens that a seemingly healthy apple-tree seedlings, pears or plums are ill for a long time and do not bear fruit, or even perish at all. And the main reason for this is usually an incorrect, too deep landing.

An important rule in growing a tree from a seedling is its correct placement along a conventional vertical axis. For most fruit crops, experts recommend taking the root collar of the seedling as a landmark and planting it so that it is on a level with the ground.

However, many newcomers simply do not know what the same root neck looks like, and it is often confused with the place of vaccination. In this article, we will try to understand this issue and find out where the root neck of the apple, pear, plum tree and other trees popular in our gardens is.

How to determine the root of the tree?

So, the root neck is called the boundary, where the root system of the tree passes into its trunk. Of course, this border is not sharp, but conditional. As a rule, in this place the light brown color of the roots gradually turns into a greenish shade of the stem. This is best determined by first wiping the bottom of the seedling with a damp cloth. The root collar of the seedling is usually located 3-4 cm above the upper lateral branch of the tree root.

When planting, do not confuse the root cervix and the site of vaccination - this creates the danger of planting a tree too deep, which will slow its growth. Carefully examine the basal area of ​​the seedling. You will see that at 5-7 cm above the root neck there is a place of inoculation in the form of a small tubercle. If the trunk is smooth and smooth, and no There are no hillocks on it, which means that the vaccine could be made not into the stem of the stock, but directly into the root neck. Therefore, you should orientate yourself when planting it.

In addition, it is important to properly fill the landing pit. It should be designed in the form of a mound that towers 15-20 cm above the ground. The tree should be placed so that its root neck initially was 5-7 cm above the ground (apple, pear) or 4-5 (cherry, plum) . Over time, the center of the pit will seat, and the neck will be level with the soil. Otherwise, if there is no such mound, the seedling will sit in a hollow, which is fraught with rotting roots from the accumulation of water.