MIDDLE APPLE TREES - SPECIAL TIPS

Where do those same apple trees grow

My garden and nursery, where varieties were tested, is located relatively close to Moscow, near Rostov the Great; so it will be about Moscow and neighboring areas. With some stretch we can say that the recommendations below refer to the third zone of zoning. This area is very extensive; climatic differences in it are significant. Taldom, Dmitrov, the south of the Yaroslavl region (formally this is already the second zone) and places not far from Mozhaisk are relatively cold areas; but I consider the places around Bronnitsy and south of the Oka more favorable for gardening, which means that the varieties can be grown more tender there.

And what about the site itself? Lowlands, drained swamps and other similar "waste" lands that were massively given away earlier to summer cottages are the least favorable for placing the fruit garden. And vice versa, the upper part of the southern slope with its good and loamy soils is ideally suited for it.

And now I will not give recommendations to acquire zoned varieties. The fact is that the variety testing plots actually ceased to engage in a full-scale study of varieties: there is no funding. As far as I know, for the third zone, now only one state-owned section (GSU) - in the Kaluga region - provides data on sorting out (and this is due to the enthusiasm of its leader, S.T. Esichev). But for such a large area of ​​one site is not enough.

What do we expect from the first apples

The expectations of the summer varieties at the consumer are special. Since these are the first apples in the garden, the gardener wants to try his own grown fruits as soon as possible - they almost do not enter the trade, but are eaten right on the spot. Of the technical, table and dessert varieties are best for fresh consumption - dessert: as a rule, they have a harmonious taste, that is, sweet with a little sourness, a little acid in taste does not allow it to become as bland as an apple with a sweet taste. (It is important not to confuse: it is sweet and sour apples that have a sweet taste with a slight sourness, and a sweet-sour taste is a sour taste with a small amount of sweetness.)

Early varieties may have the following standard drawbacks:

• crumbling, not only after ripening, but before it;
• small size of fruits;
• a high percentage of purely sweet varieties with fresh flavor.

However, consider the important advantage of early varieties. Such apples can be plucked unripe - as children did before, finding the 'Lungwort', Candy or a similar variety.

The modern range of summer varieties has been updated, but not as much as the choice of winter ones. I would not recommend the popular Bely pouring earlier: it quickly overrides and becomes unsuitable for consumption. Plant it now, mainly for nostalgic reasons. And I would not recommend the widely spread Grushovka Moskovskaya: although it is very winter-hardy, its fruits are small, they are often strongly affected by scab, and the taste is average.

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See also:  Apple varieties for the Urals - my reviews and description

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MY CHOICE OF GRADE APPLE FOR MEDIUM STRIP OF RUSSIA

'WILLIAMS PRIDE. Interesting American variety, from rare. Immune to scab, excellent taste, with good sized fruits. successfully growing south of Moscow.

True, in adverse areas it must still be tested.

ELENA. The earliest of the varieties with which I worked. The grade of the Belarusian selection, ripens in the end of July - the beginning of August; sweet taste, depending on the degree of maturity. Fruits are small - but fruits are very abundant, especially south of Moscow.

CAROL. Early summer variety, but in the aggregate of properties is not inferior and good late. It has a great taste - and not only. The flesh is dense, flaking, fragrant. The ideal size of the fruit. Resistant to scab.

LUNGWORT. Pretty old variety. By the way, he has never been zoned, but this does not prevent him from being very common and popular until now, and I find him still interesting. Its taste is almost sweet, apples are medium in size, with a good consistency of pulp.

ANNIVERSARY. Oryol grade. It is of interest both for fresh consumption and for obtaining juice. The pulp is cleaving and very juicy, when biting it is felt to the full. The taste of the fruit varies, though by year, but always harmonious, table. Apples are green, which is important for allergies. Grade immune to scab. Among the shortcomings, I note shedding when ripe.

APPLE SPAS. This variety is popular today. He is good at all - and resistant to disease, and taste, and size (apples are very large), but lovers of crispy flesh will not like it. It is very tender, and if the apples are slightly over-exposed in a tree, it becomes loose. But I know many people, mostly elderly, who love these apples very much.

HOW MUCH IS APPLE?

It is not worth it to have summer varieties in large quantities in the garden: almost all of these apples are poorly stored and rarely suitable for processing. In addition, they tend to crumble from a tree, and the picture when a landslide crop is taken out to a compost pile is familiar to many. It is advisable to proceed from the real needs of the family - and plant so many summer apple trees so that their entire crop can be consumed fresh.

STARTING POINT

What sort of taste is often considered a reference point of reference for evaluating other varieties? Of course it Melba.

All she has is good - and the taste, and winter hardiness, and the size of apples. True, in wet years the fruits are very much affected by scab, and over the years this problem only intensifies. Are there comparable varieties without this disadvantage? Yes there is. Consider some of them.

MANTET. Very good grade. Like Melba, he is of Canadian breeding and has long been "Russified", becoming deservedly popular.

DREAM. Many consider this variety an alternative to Melbe, because it is similar to her taste, but not prone to defeat scab.

Orlovim. With greater winter hardiness than Melby, but in taste a bit more acid. Variety Oryol breeding. Large fruits. Immune to scab.

THEY ARE NOT AFRAID OF WINTER

Among the summer varieties, I will separately mention the most reliable and winter-hardy, which can be easily grown in the coldest areas and in areas with an unfavorable microclimate, for example, in lowlands, where the coldest air accumulates in winter on clear and frosty nights. First of all, these are the achievements of the Ural selection - such varieties as 'Aksena' and Cigarette. Last obtained from varieties Papirovka and Amber. From “parents” the variety took, as it seems to me, the best - it turned out apples of excellent taste, with creamy pulp. It is necessary to consume them from the tree, not allowing them to hang matured for a long time (this applies to most summer varieties).

Also mentioned are high winter hardiness. Lungwort and 'Candy' (with small but very tasty sweet fruits).

WINTER VARIETIES OF APPLES FOR MIDDLE STRIP (CENTRAL RUSSIA)

Winter (or, as they are also called, late) varieties have a long consumption period. Some of them are able to maintain their condition until the new crop, although the bulk is stored, as a rule, until February-March. The main efforts of breeders are aimed specifically at creating varieties with a long shelf life, which is easily explained. These grades are subject to the highest requirements. These apples should:

1. only minimally crumble before harvesting.
2. be resistant to various diseases (for example, to scab) and thereby avoid quick spoilage during storage,
3. have a dessert flavor
4. have the ability to maintain their characteristics for a long time, including the density of the pulp.

They are special!

Almost all apples with a late intake require ripening. During storage, they accumulate more sugars and reduce the amount of acid. But winter apples freshly picked from a tree cannot be truly edible: for example, some varieties become suitable for consumption only after several months of storage. In the description of the variety, the terms of consumption are always indicated (for example, January-March).

It would be wrong to hope that, having brought the harvest from the dacha to the city apartment, you will preserve the apples for a long time, keeping them warm. But the conditions on the balcony are no better: the temperature is unstable - it’s even cool at night. in the afternoon it is usually too warm (especially in clear weather, all this does not contribute to a successful and long storage ...

Conditions for long storage

The fruits are usually taken in early October - naturally, not by the "method of shaking the tree", but by hands and fruit raisers. Then the fruits need to be cooled. To do this, apples are usually placed in cold buildings - in a barn or in a cold attic - and stored there until frost. In the future, they are transferred either to the cellar (which, of course, is not accessible to everyone), or to the refrigerator or to the same balcony, but it is very desirable to make some kind of shelter from the insulating material on it to prevent temperature jumps. You shouldn’t immediately harvest the cellar: in early October it is still too warm there.

Good results are obtained by packing the fruit in plastic bags (3-5 kg per bag), which then need to be tightly tied.

The fact is that during storage the gas is exchanged in the fruits - in other words, the fruits “breathe”. Therefore, in a sealed package, the amount of oxygen decreases and the content of carbonic acid rises, which for most varieties significantly slows down the process of ripening and oxidation, and also inhibits the development of fungal diseases.

But not all varieties react in this way. Say, 'Antonovka' is best stored openly. It is necessary to experimentally check all your varieties: will it be possible to store them in sealed packaging? Well, in industrial storages, the fruits are in chambers with a controlled gas environment for maximum long-term storage of the crop.

By New Year's Eve in many markets, Sinap Orlovsky is given out as Antonovka, which by this time is already coming off.

WHICH VARIETIES OF WINTER APPLES I RECOMMEND

ALESIA. Belorussian variety. Very productive, stably reliable. In good conditions, it lies until a new crop, in March, the flesh begins to soften. The taste is good.

BELARUSIAN SWEET. Also, the Belarusian variety, immune to scab, the fruits of early winter consumption are usually stored until the New Year. The taste is purely sweet, without acid.

GOOD NEWS. The Ural variety, in the conditions of Yekaterinburg, is the record holder for storage among their varieties, but in the middle band conditions apples are stored only until January. Winter hardiness is good, but not for areas unfavorable in terms of microclimate.

BOGATYR. Well-known industrial variety, apple storage lasts until spring. The fruits are large, suitable for lovers of apples such as 'Antonovka', it is advisable to start consumption after the New Year.

Bryansk. An excellent variety in terms of indicators, one of the best in my garden. Despite the rather southern (from the point of view of Muscovites) origin, it is very winter-hardy and reliable. The fruits are very large, salable, with good taste, stored until January.

BRYANSK GOLDEN. Despite the similarity of the name with the previous variety, a completely different apple. Received from crossing Golden Delicious' and 'Antonovka'. Outwardly, and with the nuances of taste, it looks like the first parent, and the second got a very decent winter hardiness. The variety is vigorous, requires control of the crown.

ZORKA. Another Belarusian variety. During storage, the taste changes from harmonious to almost purely sweet.

IMANT. One of the best winter varieties of the Belarusian selection. Lies a very long time; the pulp is dense, crispy and juicy. The taste is great. When harvesting apples do not look very presentable due to the dark color and dense gray plaque, but during storage the color changes.

CHRISTMAS. Oryol variety, very good taste, is stored until the New Year. The variety is interesting not only because of the taste, but also in terms of a set of indicators (disease resistance, size and taste of fruits, etc.).

SINAP ORLOVSKY, another variety of Oryol selection, widespread, one of the most popular in the industrial gardens of the Black Earth Region. It is stored until March; great taste of a traditional Russian apple. An interesting feature: by New Year's Eve in many of their markets, Sinap Orlovsky is given out as Antonovka, which by this time is already coming off ...

HANI CRISP. Recently popular X North American variety. I was surprised by its adaptability and winter hardiness. It is grown in Italy, and Poland, and near Yaroslavl (in favorable places). The taste, of course, is better in regions with a warm climate, but we also get very worthy apples, and with excellent pulp, lovers of crispy fruits will be delighted. It is among the world leaders in terms of production in the world.

TEA. Belarusian variety with fruits of long storage. The apples have a great taste and their own unique flavor, which can be confused with anything. Winter hardiness is not very high.

North of Moscow

As for areas with an unfavorable microclimate and in the regions north of Moscow, the choice of winter varieties for them is not very large: first of all, they do not have enough heat to fully ripen the wood. But still, from the later varieties I can advise varieties Alesya *, Bryansk, 'Belorussian sweet. And the more reliable are Belfler Bashkir (the fruits of it have a purely sweet taste!), Asterisk, March.

FOR THE NOTICE

A change not only in taste but also in color during ripening is characteristic of most winter varieties.

SEASON SHOULD BE WARM

Winter varieties love warm summers. To ripen apples, they need a significantly larger than average number of warm days (and the total amount of heat). This is necessary for the accumulation of sugars in fruits, and for the ripening of wood. In the cold summer season, some varieties lack taste, and then winter worse. One and the same late variety successfully wintered even during frosts of -35 ° C in a region with hot summers, whereas in places with wet and cold summers and winter temperatures of -30 ° C such a tree runs the risk of dying, since the wood does not have time to mature before winter .

© Author: ANDREY VASILYEV, nursery, member of the Moscow Society of Naturalists

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