Gardening » Apple tree
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Kira Stoletova
In modern gardening, the Cherry apple tree takes pride of place - it is a winter variety with a compact crown and high yields. The culture is unpretentious in care, so even a novice gardener can grow it.
Apple tree variety Cherry
Cherry apple tree: variety description and characteristics
Cherry apple tree: photo of variety
The Cherry apple tree is a medium-sized variety; the shape of the crown is round or flat-round and quite dense. The branches grow very densely and in such a way that they create a right angle. The thick branches and bark of the tree are painted red-cherry. Directly growing shoots are cherry-colored and have medium thickness. The crown is covered with leaves with a smooth surface reminiscent of an egg shape, and the edges are strewn with small serrated teeth. Apples of the Cherry variety can be round or slightly elongated, weighing 120 grams. The apples are covered with a delicate, waxy skin. When fully ripe, the apple becomes yellow-green with a slight touch of pink. However, if the summer is particularly hot, the fruits will take on a beautiful, rich cherry color. Cherry apples have a sweet taste with a slight sourness, slightly grainy white flesh. One fruit contains 15% sugar, 0.5% acids. Many large dots are located under the skin. The fruits are rated by tasters at 4.5 points out of a possible 5, and their attractiveness is rated at 4.5.
Reviews
Svetlana K, Pskov. ‟ We bought Cherry after seeing a picture of ripe apples. They are very beautiful! But in the very first winter the tree froze, only the root and part of the trunk survived. Only later did I find out that this variety is not intended for our city... Now I’ll be more careful.”
Sergey Viktorovich T. G. Samara. ‟ The Cherry apple tree has been growing for me for 4 years. What can I say about her? The apples are certainly beautiful, you will like them if you like a slight sourness. I would not call Cherry very productive - I remove 5 buckets from a ten-year-old tree, no more. The growth vigor is average, my shoot growth per year is about 40-45 cm. In the spring I “feed” it with humus, in the summer and autumn I treat it with Fitosporin so that scab does not appear. ”
Lyubov Sergeevna S, Volgograd. ‟ I accidentally saw a photo and description of the variety in the newspaper and bought a seedling. I loved this apple tree! It has many advantages: the apples are tasty, the tree is small, rarely affected by scab, and not capricious. The downside: it grows thickly, you need to thin out the crown.”
Ulyana, Saratov. ‟ I was lucky enough to buy a two-year-old Cherry apple tree. And it bloomed the next year, even producing 4 apples. We cut off three so as not to burden the tree, and left one to ripen. The apple turned out juicy and sweet. ”
The beginning of the harvest
The harvest begins in the first half of September. You can store it until the last winter month and at the same time all its taste and beneficial properties will be preserved. From one mature apple tree you can harvest about 140 kilograms annually. The Cherry apple tree has an average early fruiting period, so the first harvests can be harvested 6 years after planting in the garden. It has average resistance to frost, which is why the shoots of the first year of life can freeze, and fruit buds are damaged during spring frosts.
The Cherry apple tree is disease resistant and can develop fungal diseases or scab in years with particularly high humidity. Mother varieties and Northern Sinap are suitable for pollinating the plant.
Cherry apple tree: photo of variety
Cherry apple tree: planting varieties
Planting an apple tree of the Cherry variety in the garden begins in the first month of spring or at the end of autumn, when the vegetative system is at rest. If the seedling has a closed root system, then you can plant the apple tree in the garden in the summer, the main thing is to water it abundantly and hide it from direct sunlight. The Cherry apple tree loves open sunny areas protected from strong winds. It does not tolerate wetlands and high humidity, so lowlands are not suitable for planting this tree.
Before planting a Cherry apple tree seedling, you need to prepare a planting hole. Its dimensions can be 70/70 centimeters if it is heavy soil, and 50/50 if it is ordinary soil. The bottom of the hole is loosened a little with a shovel. Next, a wooden stake is placed in it, to which the young plant is subsequently attached. The seedling is positioned so that the root collar is on the surface at least 5 centimeters from the ground. Before planting, carefully straighten the roots so that they face in different directions. Next, the roots of the Cherry apple tree are covered with earth, carefully compacted and watered generously with 2 buckets of water. After the plant is planted, you need to shorten the branches by 1/3.
It is important to know that when feeding, fertilizers are not thrown dry into the base of the tree, but are buried to a depth of 15 centimeters below the root system or applied in liquid form.
Cherry apple tree: photo of variety
Useful tips
- Trees that have partially frozen over the winter can be revived. It is necessary to remove all frozen organs, cover them with garden varnish, and then feed the tree with a solution of ammonium nitrate or nitrophoska (1 tablespoon of the substance per bucket of water).
- To preserve the harvest for a long time, you need to pack each apple in paper, or lay it in layers, placing each layer with hay or cardboard. The harvested crop should be taken to a cool place.
- In the fall, tree trunks are whitened to protect against all sorts of parasites in the winter and against sunburn in the spring.
- Sometimes, even if all the rules of care are followed, the tree stands still, and over time begins to wither and dry out. In this case, gardeners recommend one simple technique - dig up the trunk and drive a thick nail into the root collar area. As practice shows, this old method works and helps to restore the life of the tree.
Variety care
Caring for a Cherry apple tree is not complicated and does not require anything special. It is important to regularly water the tree, loosen the soil and carry out preventative measures against harmful insects.
In order for the shoots to begin to grow faster, it is necessary to feed the plant with nitrogenous fertilizers in the spring and at the beginning of the summer.
Apple tree pruning
The Cherry apple tree has a dense crown that needs to be thinned out. The procedure should be carried out in early spring, before the buds begin to swell, or in late autumn, before the onset of frost. The plant must be pruned regularly, removing improperly growing shoots that eat up the crops. Those that have signs of disease or any damage. It is also necessary to remove branches that grow too close to each other, since they cannot develop normally, but take away the strength of the plant. When pruning, it is important to use only clean and sharp tools. After completing the procedure, they are all thoroughly washed and disinfected.
It is important to know that all remote parts of the plant that show signs of disease must be burned so that the infection does not enter the ground.
Ripening and fruiting
In order for the harvest to be good, it is necessary that those plants grow next to the Cherry Apple tree that will pollinate it. The varieties Antonovka vulgaris, Northern Sinap and Pepin Saffron are suitable for this. They bloom in the month of May, just like Cherry. The flowering is very beautiful. The tree is covered with fragrant flowers of medium size, cream or white.
It is important to remember that treating plants with preventative agents can be dangerous for bees pollinating the tree. Therefore, treatment cannot be carried out during flowering. Poor pollination by bees leads to a serious reduction in yield.
The Cherry apple tree bears fruit every year throughout its life. The first time this happens is after 6 years, but some gardeners write in their reviews that they noticed the first fruits after 3 years.
Fruit formation occurs on fruit branches of short or long size. The harvest is harvested in the first weeks of September. If the summer was rainy, then the harvest date will not shift significantly. In order for the Cherry variety apples to lose their sourness, reach consumer maturity and acquire a harmonious taste, you need to let them sit for about 2 weeks after picking. The fruits are perfectly stored and do not lose their properties and presentation until February. Wooden boxes and even cardboard boxes are good for transportation.
The fruits of the Cherry apple variety are perfect for canning and excellent fresh.
Columnar option
The columnar Cherry apple tree does not exist. Let's talk in general about columnar apple trees.
This variety of apple tree is popular due to its compact size and rapid entry into fruiting. Such seedlings can be planted at a distance of half a meter from each other.
Columnar apple trees bloom in the second year after planting, which makes them attractive for both private and industrial gardening.
The columnar-shaped apple tree grows no more than 2.5 meters in height and can form short side shoots. This happens because the top of the seedling freezes, and in the spring the trunk grows into 2 branches. In this case, one of them, the weaker one, is removed.
Without pruning, a columnar tree can turn into a weakly pyramidal tree 70-90 cm wide.
Just like a regular apple tree, this species needs pollinators.
This variety of apple tree
Such seedlings can be planted at a distance of half a meter from each other.
At the moment, there is no columnar variety of the Cherry apple tree in the world. The columnar variety is very popular due to its compact size and rapid fruiting. They can be planted close to each other, leaving only a distance of 50 centimeters. Flowering begins within a year, which is very attractive to gardeners both in the private sector and those who grow apples on an industrial scale.
The columnar-shaped apple tree does not exceed 2.5 meters in height. Small side shoots may form on it. This is due to the fact that due to freezing of the top of the seedling, the trunk begins to grow into 2 branches. If this happens, the weaker one is removed. If you do not prune a columnar-shaped tree, it will take on a pyramidal shape 90 centimeters wide.
It is important to know that the columnar-shaped apple tree is grown in warm climates or sheltered during winter frosts. Pollinators are no less important for this species, as for other species.
Features of cultivation in different regions
The Cherry variety apple tree is recommended to be planted in the Central Black Earth Region. The variety is not resistant to cold weather, so it does not do well in Moscow and the Moscow region. The reason is the instability of the buds to spring frosts. The branches also do not tolerate strong winds and unstable air temperatures.
It is not recommended to grow this variety of Cherry apple tree where return frosts are possible. The tree is resistant to temperatures not lower than -27 degrees; if the temperature drops, the shoots of the first year of life die.
In the 70s of the last century, at a temperature of -37 degrees, the variety was damaged by 1.3 points, which is less than the varieties Anis, Moscow pear, and Brown striped.
The Cherry apple tree variety is not suitable for growing in the Urals. In this region it is better to grow varieties with high frost resistance.
When deciding to grow a Cherry Apple tree in the Moscow region, you need to remember about shelter for the period of winter cold for 3 years after planting in the garden. The variety is actively grown in the middle zone, but sometimes freezes in particularly cold winters.
