Amount of Production; Our country produces about 3,100 million tons of the world production of apple and it comes third after China and USA in its production.
Climate and Soil Type; Jersey Mac, Vista Bella, Summer Red, Red Star, Anna, Golden Dorset, Wiliams Pride and Gala Group summer and fall apple species which requires cooling below 7.2 C0 for 600-1200 hours in the 300-800 m altitude areas of Mediterranean and Aegean Regions. It is recommended to grow the winter species in Passing and Internal Regions which requires 1500-2500 hours cooling. Apples don't like heavy textured soils of over 12% lime.
Use of Rootstock; After 2 years fruit can be collected from the apple clone rootstocks and 8 to 10 tons of fruits can be collected at 7th year which is the most abundant time. Rootstocks such as dwarf M9 and Pajam 1, Pajam 2 and EMLA 9 developed from M9 are resistant to phytophthora and partly sensitive to fire blight bacterial disease. Gardens should be formed with a wired support system up to 3-3.5m with these rootstocks. In gardens established with dwarf rootstocks, plant spacing should be 3.5-4 m on a line and1-1.5m between the lines. Spur type species shouldn't be grafted onto the dwarf apple clone rootstocks. 166 to 250 stocks in gardens planted with the M9 rootstocks, 65 to 120 stocks in gardens with species grafted onto M26, M7 and MM106 semi-dwarf clone trees, and 50 to 85 apple stocks can be planted for the MM 111 clone rootstock which grows strongly. Rootstock 111 is better resistant to aridity than other apple clone rootstocks.
Important Clone Rootstocks and Species; An important transformation process started in our country in recent years and the use of clone rootstocks such as M9, M26, M 7, MM 106, MM 111 rapidly increases. Among the early summer species Vista Bella, Jersey Mac, Summer Red and Williams Star take place. Important fall species are generally Ruby Gala, Royal Gala, Galaxy Gala, Mondial Gala, einter species; Jonagold, Scarlet Spur, Red Chief, Breuburn, Fuji, Red Chief, Pink Lady, Grany Smith and growing these species rapidly increase since foreign demand gets higher. In garden particularly planted with the species like Grany Smith, which is sensitive to fire blight, cover materials to somehow prevent the passing of sunshine are recommended.
Cultivation Systems and Fruit Thinning; Different cultivations systems such as peak branch, modified leader and thin spindle are applied in apple gardens. In order to collect enough product, fertilizing species at a rate of 10-15% should be planted. For a standard sized fruit, thinning must be applied deliberately. Of the fruits available in a flower beam, the commonly called king apple should be preserved and others around it should be pulled apart. Regarding the thinning with chemicals, this should be applied 15-20 days after the full flowering.
Disease and Pests; Apple powdery mildew, Apple blackspot bruising, Monilia and applie viruses are crucial diseases, Apple webworm, Apple worms and Apple woolly aphid are among the important pests.
