Age is one of the main criteria for choosing a seedling. Plants no more than 2 years old take root most easily. A three-year-old tree has much lower chances, and even if it settles in a new place, it will take a long time to please the owners with a harvest. That is why it is so important to be able to determine by eye the prospects of a product offered on the garden market.
Cheating sellers
Traders often give the wrong age for the plants. Sometimes from ignorance, but more often on purpose in order to sell the product as soon as possible.
Inexperienced buyers take their word for it and get too mature plants, often not adapted to the conditions of the middle zone, since they are grown in the south. The goal of the sellers is to sell as many trees as possible, and whether they take root or not, they do not care much.
Buyer Tips
In order not to waste money and energy, gardeners should be able to understand the age of seedlings.
There are three main reasons for checking plants before buying:
- height;
- lateral processes;
- root system.
Seedlings under the age of one and a half years rarely reach a height of more than 1,2 m. Yearling plants almost never have lateral shoots, only if grown in the most fertile conditions of the south, but such specimens take root very poorly in the middle lane.
The climate is not at all the same, and even if the trees take root, they will start bearing fruit late. Their roots are already strong enough, but not yet very large, so it is easy to dig out the seedling without damaging them.
Biennial trees reach 1,5 m in height, have a strong trunk and three side branches. The root system grows up to 30-40 cm, but it can be easily dug out. Such seedlings are usually quickly mastered in a new place and begin to bear fruit on time.
3 years is the critical age of the tree for purchase. By this time, the trunk becomes powerful, the branches grow stronger, and the root system develops so much that it is often impossible to dig out a specimen without damaging the root processes. It could ruin him. Such a tree will take root for a long time and will not begin to bear fruit soon.
It is better not to buy seedlings older than 3 years.
In most cases, they are poorly mastered. Such trees already have a powerful root system that is almost always damaged by digging and transporting, so it is not easy for them to gain strength again. Even if such a tree gets stronger, it will form a crown for a long time and begin to bring a decent harvest only after a few years.
In addition to the above signs, connoisseurs can easily determine the age of the proposed plants by the appearance of the branches (they show an annual growth).
Sometimes the seedlings really have a specified young age, but at the same time they were grown using dressings and fertilizers. They begin to bloom without really getting stronger, and buyers love these trees filled with life. However, under normal conditions and without the usual additives, they quickly wither and often die.
