Falling Apples: Is It Possible To Put Them In Compost And What Else To Do With Fallen Apples In The Country? How To Bury Them In The Beds In The Garden? How To Use As Fertilizer?

2024 Author: Beatrice Philips | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-07 13:49

In the garden or in the summer cottage, you can often see fallen apples, which are called carrion . They begin to fall off when they ripen, with strong winds and bad weather, with diseases. When hitting the ground, many fruits can be damaged, which negatively affects their storage. Apples without much damage and rot can be sent for processing, used fresh for food. Many gardeners do not always know what to do with fallen fruits, and whether it is possible to leave the carrion under the trees. They also have questions about the use of such fruits as an organic fertilizer. This article will help you understand these issues.

What it is?

Fruits fallen from the tree are not entirely suitable for long-term storage . When dropped, they can be damaged, cracked, crumpled, which affects their appearance and safety. Very quickly, the fruits begin to rot and become unsuitable for food.

It is worthwhile to figure out what the volunteer apples are, how to dispose of the fruits, where to put the rotten and spoiled fruits, how to process the surviving fruits.

Gardeners recommend using fallen fruits:

• to obtain organic fertilizers;
• in the form of feed for farm animals;
• for fresh consumption;
• for canning and preparation of vitamin compotes, vinegar, cider, marshmallow, jam and other preparations.

To reduce the falling of fruits, it is necessary to carry out timely pruning of trees, to feed them. It is important to regularly prune the branches of the crown . - although this may affect the amount of the crop, such procedures will have a beneficial effect on the quality of the fruit.

The lack of nutrients can directly affect the quality of the fruit, so the trees begin to shed their ovary. Fertilizing fruit trees will reduce the untimely shedding of unripe fruits.

Fruits can fall off when various diseases appear, with moniliosis and rot . Timely spraying of trees will help protect plants from fungal infection, and will make it possible to obtain a better harvest.

Apples may fall off profusely due to damage from the moth. The plant begins to get rid of such fruits on its own. Cope with the moth will allow timely measures that can protect against insect pests.

Can I leave it under an apple tree?

It is undesirable to leave fallen fruits under the apple trees, they should be collected.

Here are the main reasons for harvesting fallen crops

• The fruit can become infected, which will lead to infection of other fruits and the tree itself.
• Fallen apples due to the attack of the moth can cause the return of these harmful insects for further "tasting" the fruit.
• Falling apples quickly become a source of infection and disease.

Taking into account all these factors, it is important to collect volunteers in a timely manner.

Can volunteers be placed in compost?

Many gardeners do not know whether to add rotten fruits to the compost, where to put them, and how to put fallen apples in the compost pit. The fruits collected from under the apple trees can be used as fertilizer, they will become an excellent component for organic matter. Thanks to the rapidly decomposing volunteers, the maturation of the compost will be accelerated.

To get organic fertilizer, you need to follow certain steps

• Prepare a suitable container made of plastic, wood. An ordinary dug hole is also suitable for this.
• Put branches and straw on the bottom.
• Collect suitable fruits from the garden without any signs of damage. Grind them up.
• Transfer them, mixing with grass, tops and leaves. It is necessary to mix the mass with the earth, alternating the earth with the mixture in a 1: 5 ratio.
• Cover the resulting compost with foil.

Mix and water the compost from time to time. In the event of an ammonia odor, torn paper or cardboard is added to the compost pit. The use of "Shining" or "Unique S" products will allow to accelerate maturation.

Substandard fruits can also be thrown into the compost heap, using ash or dolomite flour to neutralize the acidity.

When burying damaged fruits, or placing apples with signs of rot in a compost pit, fertilizer can be used no earlier than three years later.

How to use as fertilizer?

Apples that have fallen from a tree in a country house or plot can be an excellent organic fertilizer for other crops. The fruits contain a large amount of useful trace elements that can enrich the soil. Improving the fertility and looseness of the soil will lead to an increase in the yield of the garden.

As a top dressing volunteer is used:

• when directly laying it in the ground;
• as one of the constituent parts for compost;
• for obtaining liquid dressings.

Falling fruits can be folded separately, then fertilized from them, or simply buried in the area . To prevent fruit flies from appearing in this place, the carrion is covered with earth.

Since the apple is considered an acidic product, this can lead to a change in the acidity of the soil. To reduce it, it is necessary to add chalk or dolomite flour to the trench with fallen apples, sprinkling it over 1 sq. meter 200 grams of dry matter.

In addition, a mixture of soda, lime and ash is added to neutralize the crushed volunteers.

For fruit trees

Many gardeners prefer to fertilize trees and shrubs with organic ingredients . Used for fruit trees in the garden and fallen apples. To get organic fertilizer from fallen fruits, you need to know how to properly process them.

To obtain a quality product, use suitable fruits. In order not to provoke the appearance of diseases in plants, diseased fruits, wormy ones, as well as those on which rot has already appeared, are discarded. Selected high-quality apples are crushed. It is convenient to do this with a shovel or a hoe.

The mass is buried next to the tree at a depth of about 15 cm, stepping back from the trunk at least 10 cm.

For berry bushes

Favorable feeding from volunteers for most shrubs. Gooseberry bushes, currant plantations respond well to it, you can also apply fertilizer under raspberries.

To bookmark:

• grooves are made along the rows, or a trench is made around the bush;
• already prepared crushed fruits are poured into the grooves;
• cover with a layer of earth mixed with humus, to a thickness of about 15 cm or more.

Such an embankment will protect the area from wasps attack and will not attract flies. On top of the embankment, you can lay sawdust, bark, or mulch with grass.

For other plants

Most of the plants, including ornamental ones, will be responsive to organic matter from volunteers. These include viburnum, mountain ash, hawthorn, as well as magnolia and rhododendron. And also conifers and shrubs respond well to such feeding.

To enrich the soil, a special mixture is used, consisting of crushed apples mixed with chicken droppings . And also humus and ash are added to the mass. This fertilizer is applied in the fall. In the spring, on this place, it is advisable to plant cucumbers and tomatoes, zucchini and pumpkin.

Burying in the beds

As for direct dressings, which are applied directly to the soil, then a volunteer that is not affected by diseases is suitable for them. Such fruits can be buried in the ground in a garden plot or vegetable garden.

To make it you need:

• make grooves in the row spacing at a shallow depth;
• chop fruit using a shovel or ax;
• transfer the mixture to the grooves, adding rotted greens, leaves, mulch;
• mix the mass with the soil, dig up.

Experienced gardeners recommend burying the fruits in the beds, after digging a trench 20-50 cm deep.

It is necessary to leave up to 15 cm of soil above the layer, given that the soil will settle in the spring.

A good option would be to use the biological product "Trichodermin ". The introduction of urea will help to enhance their effect. The product can be sprinkled or poured between layers of crushed apples. In addition, it is recommended to process the carrion with copper sulfate before laying. To prepare the solution, take a glass of copper sulfate for 8-10 liters of water. It is advisable to add urea with liquid (3-4 tbsp. L). The fruit is spilled with the resulting solution.

In the fall, it is imperative to remove all apples from under the trees, this will leave the garden healthy for the winter, without foci of infection.