Pink Lady Apple Tree (Cripps Pink) Info and How to Care for

Pink Lady apple tree (Cripps Pink) was selected in Australia in 1979. Pink Lady apple is a red late maturing apple variety cross bred in Australia with lady Walliams and golden Deli cious as parents.
Pink lady's skin is delicate pink, crisp and juicy in taste, rich in flavor, sweet and sour, very layered. The taste and flavor are better than other kinds of apples. In addition, the content of flavonoids in pink lady is also higher than that of ordinary apples, which is very beneficial to cardiovascular health.

Pink Lady Apple Tree Quick Info

Botanical/Scientific Name	Cripps Pink
Common Name	Pink Lady Apple
When to Grow/Bloom/Harvest	Grow best in hot weather/Bloom in early mid-season/About 200 days to reach harvest time
Uses	Baking, snacking, salads, pairing, or for sauce
Origin	Australia
Light Care	Full Sun
Soil Care	Well-drained and fertile soil
Temperature Care	45 and 32 degrees Fahrenheit
Humidity Care	Moisture
Watering	Regular watering habit
Pruning Care	Prune carefully to remove only damaged or diseased wood
Fertilizer Care	Apply fertilizer either annually in the spring,
Propagation	Tissue culture, cuttings, and grafting
Toxic	Non toxic
Flower Color	Fragrant, pink-accented, white flowers

When to Plant Pink Lady Apple Tree

Pink Lady apple tree is generally planted in autumn. At this time, the survival rate of apple trees planted is high and the seedlings are well developed. However, in areas with drought and wind in winter, pink lady apple tree is suitable for planting in spring. Spring planting is usually before mid April. The sowing time of Pink Lady apple tree in autumn should be as early as possible and suitable for sowing in early October.

When does Pink Lady Apple Tree Bloom&Harvest

The germination period and flowering period of pink lady apple tree are basically the same as those of locally planted red Fuji and Gala apples. It germinates in late March and blooms in mid April. The flowering period is 7-10 days. The fruit ripening period is 10-15 days later than that of Red Fuji, and it is generally harvested in early November. Leaves begin to fall from late November to early December. We can grasp three points to determine the best harvest time of pink lady apple tree: first, the blackening of seeds does not mean maturity, and they are often still growing; Second, for this variety, the change of Pericarp Color from pink to bright red does not reflect maturity. Affected by long-term temperature and light, when the fruit is close to maturity, the epidermis has changed from pink to bright red (fruit farmers mistakenly regard this as the best harvest time). In fact, the fruit is still growing and delayed for a period of harvest, and its yield and quality have been improved; Third, it is difficult to judge whether the taste is mature, and the acidity of mature fruit is still high.

Pink Lady Apple Tree Care in Detail

Pink Lady Apple Tree Watering

Excessive soil drought will lead to early flowering and concentrated arrival of pink lady apple tree, weak flowering potential and low fruit setting rate. Proper irrigation before flowering can provide good soil moisture and significantly improve the fruit setting rate. However, when the soil moisture of pink lady apple tree is in good condition before flowering, it should not be watered with large water, otherwise the new shoots will flourish and compete for nutrients, resulting in reduced fruit setting rate. Watering after flower is conducive to cell division, high pile of fruit and growth of new shoots.

Pink Lady Apple Tree Soil

When we choose to propagate Pink Lady apple tree soil, we must choose a land with very fertile soil. Therefore, before we plant Pink Lady apple tree, we must measure the content of organic matter in the soil. Generally speaking, it is best to keep the content of organic matter in soil above 3%. If not enough, we need to increase the organic matter in the soil of pink lady apple tree through continuous farm fertilizer.

Pink Lady Apple Tree Light

Pink Lady apple tree is a plant that likes the whole sun. During daily maintenance, it must be given sufficient light and good ventilation. If potted plants are not as good as ground plants, watering must be dry and wet. Wet waterlogging or drought will slow down the growth and affect the flower bud differentiation and results of pink lady apple tree. In addition, pink lady apple tree needs dormancy in winter. It is best to put it at about - 5 ℃. The ambient temperature in winter is high and it is difficult to blossom and bear fruit in the next year.

Pink Lady Apple Tree Temperature

During the growth, development and life activities of pink lady apple tree, the required temperature will have three corresponding lower, higher and best points. Generally speaking, the lower temperature is 5 degrees, the best temperature range is 12 degrees to 23 degrees, and the higher temperature is 40 degrees. Moreover, the demand for temperature of pink lady apple tree also varies due to different quality, age and growth stage.

Pink Lady Apple Tree Humidity

Pink Lady Apple tree needs certain humidity requirements throughout the vegetative growth period, but the water demand of each phenological period is different. Pink Lady apple tree is called the maximum water demand period during the period of rapid growth. Pink Lady apple tree requires different amounts of water in different seasons, depending on the size of leaf area, temperature and humidity. Pink Lady apple tree has large leaf area, high temperature and low humidity. Fruit trees consume a lot of water and have strong transpiration; Transpiration is weak.

Pink Lady Apple Tree Fertilizer

Pink Lady apple tree is easy to result. In the early stage, we should increase fertilizer and water, promote fruit development, increase fruit number and enhance disease resistance. For orchards with thin mountains and lack of fertilizer and water, we should pay attention to soil improvement and increase the ability of fertilizer and water conservation. We can ditch and apply sufficient organic fertilizer from 0.5-1.0m away from the central stem, apply 3000-4000kg every 666.7m2, 50cm wide and 60-70cm deep, fill the bottom with corn straw and weeds, mix the soil and fertilizer in the middle and upper part, and move 50cm outward in the second year to continue trenching and fertilization.

Pink Lady Apple Tree Pruning

Pink Lady apple tree pruning we can adopt summer pruning techniques such as stroking branches, opening corners, pulling branches, picking hearts, twisting shoots and ring cutting, and winter pruning techniques focusing on thinning and throwing. After planting in the same year, cut 60 ~ 80cm to dry, and cut 2 ~ 3 buds in different directions above 40em to promote the germination of lower buds. The competitive branches from the central leading trunk shall be removed in time. When the extended branch of the middle trunk is 40-50cm long, empty buds shall be inserted at the distance of 20-25cm from the lower branch to promote the branching. Apply directional branches between leaf axils, and then draw one branch from the lower part upward every 20 days, which lasts until early August. In that year, 8-10 main branches can be cultivated. At the same time, the branches were pulled slowly in the growing season, which promoted the new branches to form a large number of axillary flower buds. When Pink Lady apple tree pruning, we should pay attention to balancing the growth of each main branch and the central leading stem, otherwise it is difficult to form a free spindle tree structure, the orchard is closed and the light is deteriorated.
Because pink lady apple tree is strong and easy to grow upright, the new shoots always grow upright and upward, sometimes bend inward, when pulling branches in autumn or spring. For this kind of branches, they should be straightened in time after stopping growing, otherwise the branches are thick and curved, and it is difficult to straighten.

Pink Lady Apple Tree Repotting

Pink Lady apple tree repotting is mainly to replace the pot soil and pot, so that the apple can bloom and bear fruit continuously and improve the ornamental value. After the potted apple is raised for about 1 ~ 3 years, the root system fills the whole basin, and a large number of new roots grow along the basin wall to form a root pad, so that it can not absorb nutrition or insufficient nutrition. At the same time, the soil fertility is exhausted, the soil hardens, and the water, fertilizer, drainage and air permeability are declining day by day. If the basin is not changed in time, the growth and fruit of Apple will be affected. At the same time, with the growth of plants, the proportion of pots and plants is unbalanced. We need to change larger pots and new culture soil. The new pots should pay attention to both ornamental and growth results. The pot color should be coordinated with the color of flowers and fruits, and the width of tree crown should be greater than the length of the pot. Apple blooms and bears fruit every year. When the young tree is young, we should conduct Pink Lady apple tree repotting once a year. We must do Pink Lady apple tree repotting 2 ~ 3 years after the fruit is formed.

Pink Lady Apple Tree Pest & Disease Control

Dry rot

Pink Lady apple tree pest is one of the main diseases of apple trees, which will cause great damage to young trees. The disease will cause dark brown spots on the graft site and spread upward. To a certain extent, it will lead to the death of fruits. Pink Lady apple tree pest mainly uses biotechnology for control. It is mainly to place natural enemies of diseases and insect pests in and around the orchard. If such diseases and insect pests occur in the orchard, the placed natural enemies will inhibit the diseases and insect pests. In addition, when using pesticides together, it should be noted that the concentration and frequency of pesticides are not easy to be too large, otherwise they will cause harm to the natural enemies of diseases and pests.

Alternaria mali roberts 

Spot defoliation is the most common and harmful apple tree disease. Its harm is to make apple trees fall leaves early and affect the yield. Pink Lady apple tree pest will also affect the growth of flower buds of fruit trees, and then affect the yield in the next few years. If Pink Lady apple tree has this kind of disease, small spots will grow on the leaves and the color is brown; The periphery of fruit leaves will grow halos, and the color is purple. In winter, we should cut off the diseased branches, move out of the orchard, and remove the diseased branches and leaves in the hospital; We can also know that after the fruit tree enters the growth period, the infection degree of the leaves and long branches of the fruit tree will increase, which is one of the main causes of the disease. Therefore, these diseased branches should be removed in time, and ventilation and light should be increased.

Epidemic rot

Epidemic rot, also known as epidemic disease, mostly occurs in spring. When Pink Lady apple tree suffers from this kind of disease, the fruit will rot, and the skin of pink lady Apple seems to have been scalded in boiling water and turns brown. More seriously, pink lady apple tree pest will damage the roots and stems of fruit trees and affect the growth of fruit trees. According to the harm of this kind of disease to different parts of fruit, it can be divided into fruit Blight Control and fruit tree rhizome blight control.

Pink Lady Apple Tree Propagation

Pink Lady Apple Tree Propagation from Cutting

Pink Lady apple tree cutting propagation is a good way to make rational use of the branches without rooting, the branches cut by the pile after budding the apple, the low rootstock branches cut in the adult orchard and the branches with roots cut out of the nursery. We should make full use of all available materials to speed up seedling raising and expand the development of pink lady apple tree.
After Pink Lady apple tree propagation by cuttings, we budding apple in the same year, buried the soil in the cutting place for overwintering, and went out of the nursery in the autumn of the next year. The row spacing is 60cm and the plant spacing is 10-12cm. The advantage of this method is that the live seedlings do not move in that year, and the root system is not lost, so the growth is prosperous. However, generally, the cutting rate of dwarf rootstock is not high, the density in the nursery is uneven, there are many open spaces, and the emergence per unit area is less.
We can use branches with roots for Pink Lady apple tree cutting propagation. That is, when cutting in spring, first select the root system of the arbor rootstock with a diameter of 2-3mm and a length of about 10cm, insert the root system into the dwarf rootstock, cut the lower cortex of the branches, and then carry out cutting. Because the dwarf rootstock branches have "roots", it is easy to survive cutting.

Pink Lady Apple Tree Propagation from Grafting

Pink Lady apple tree propagation by grafting can enhance the tree potential before germination, and weaken the tree potential after germination. We can retain 1 ~ 2 lateral branches at the top of the central stem to carry the water of the tree after grafting. We'll cut off the central stem above the lateral branches. All other lateral branches on the central stem shall be removed from the base, and the cut shall be smooth and coated with fruit tree healing agent.
After falling leaves and before germination, we can choose to wax seal scion strips or sand them directly in the shade. At Pink Lady apple tree propagation from grafting, we can cut the scion strip into 10 ~ 15cm segments, and each segment is a long scion. Cut the lower end of the long scion into a large inclined plane 4 ~ 5cm long, and cut both sides of the front end of the back of the large inclined plane into a small inclined plane 1cm long, in the shape of an arrow.
Start cutting branches on the central trunk 60 ~ 80cm from the ground, arrange the cutting position according to the spindle tree spiral, and the spacing of branches in the same direction is about 25cm. We can make a longitudinal incision at the selected cuttings, the size of the incision is less than or equal to the sharpened part of the scion, and the depth of the incision reaches the central dry xylem. We can use the awesome incision to facilitate the force. According to the different diameters of the central trunk of pink lady apple tree, on the premise of ensuring that the front end of the scion does not break the bark, we can insert it obliquely into the subcutaneous part of the central trunk, the large inclined plane is closely connected with the xylem, and the angle and number of cuttings shall be increased as much as possible. We can paste the socket gap with wet mud. We should cover the exposed scions with light plastic bags and tie the bag mouth tightly to increase the ambient humidity in the bag.

Pink Lady Apple Tree Benefits

Pink Lady Apple has a high content of flavonoids, most of which are concentrated in the peel rather than in the apple pulp. The content of quercetin in apples is particularly high, but to really benefit from apples, consumers must eat the whole fruit instead of peeling it. Many studies have shown that dietary flavonoids have many benefits to cardiovascular health. We checked the flavonoid content of more than 100 apples from the national breeding program of Western Australia and identified apples with high flavonoid content, including pink lady apple.
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