Rosy and fragrant apples are an excellent delicacy, which is also very useful. And pectin in them, and iron, and a host of other minerals with vitamins.
And in order to taste pure fruits, where there is guaranteed no nitrates, it is best to grow an apple orchard yourself. By the way, on our planet the area of such gardens is only slightly less than vineyards and olive groves. They take third place - even the orange plantations are ahead.
Acquaintance
This tree, growing up to 15-20 meters, has the Latin name "Malus" and refers to rosaceae. His flowers appear together with the first leaves in April-May and are pale pink or white. The leaves of the oval shape with green fringe along the edges at a young age are slightly fluffy from the inside, later becoming smooth. Sprigs in their youth are brownish-olive, then - gray with a brown tint. The bark is also grayish, cracking is characteristic of it. The trunk has a girth of about 40 centimeters.
And now about the most delicious - apples. They appear 8-12 years after planting and can have both round and flattened sides, differing in weight. There are fruits reaching up to a kilogram, but there are also small varieties, the size of a nut or cherry. The color shades of ripe apples are also varied, which include the entire yellow-green and red-orange gamut. Only cold colors of fruits are not found - blue, for example. Or purple.
Apple trees grow everywhere, preferring a temperate climate. They can be seen high in the mountains (up to a thousand meters) and on the edge of the forest in the middle lane, in Central Asia, in the Crimea, in Europe (where apple trees are found in the wild). Under natural conditions, trees grow from seeds, and cultivars are propagated by seedlings living in special nurseries. The age of trees can reach 100-150 years, but active fruiting usually lasts no more than 60-70 years.
By the way, if you want, you can yourself get strong shoots from apple seeds. To do this, we use the method of monks growing apple orchards near the Valaam Monastery. It is necessary to take ripe seeds, be sure to thoroughly rinse and plant in the ground. This is done in late summer, and in spring well-seasoned seedlings will sprout. Immediately remove the wilds - they are noticeable in too bright a green color and spines on the trunks.
Apple trees are unpretentious and grow on almost any soil. However, most of all they like well-manicured land with enough potassium, as well as the sun in good doses. Small frosts and lack of water are not able to harm. But what is detrimental to the apple tree is the close presence of groundwater. The roots are rotting, and there is no way to save the tree. If you have such a situation on the site, and you want apples, then choose dwarf varieties with small roots.
In order for the apple tree to please you with its wonderful fruits every year (by the way, up to 300 kilograms per season can be collected from an adult tree), you need to take care of it. Water when dry, protect from rodents, feed. And protect from diseases and all kinds of harmful caterpillars with bugs, worms. About it - further.
Do you want to get fruits earlier - five to six years after planting seedlings? There is one way, which consists in the regular feeding of young animals with weak nitrogen fertilizers (certainly liquid). A tablespoon of ammonium nitrate goes to a bucket of water. In June, trees are fed weekly, and in July, twice a month. So until then, until they begin to bear fruit.
Let us dwell on the three diseases of this plant, which are most common. All of them are caused by different types of fungi.
Scab on the apple tree - how to fight?
It is this infection that most often attacks apple trees. It is not fatal, but can affect yield. Yes, and apples affected are not stored at all and have no presentation. The disease begins with spots on the inside of the leaves. They have a brown tint with greens. And then brown spots appear on the fruits, turning over time into a tough crust.
The fungus winters in autumn fallen leaves. If the spring is rainy, then it is activated. And with a cool and humid summer, it rejoices altogether. He loves a thick crown. So we remove the extra branches, fallen apples, we burn autumn leaves. In autumn, spray on the crown with copper sulfate, and in spring (before budding) - Bordeaux liquid. Another good preparation for autumn processing is a solution of nitrate with urea.
The surest ways to get rid of the scab on the video:
Powdery mildew
If there is a grayish coating on the leaves, twigs, flowers, then it's time to sound the alarm. Spores of the fungus penetrate into the tissues of the plant, preventing it from developing. The apples frown and dry without ripening. Ovaries may not appear at all.
This fungus also loves wet spring and warm summer. But in the cold minus 27 he dies. It is necessary to remove and burn all diseased shoots. For treatment, colloidal liquid sulfur is taken. The buds are sprayed with two percent liquid, the ovary is one percent. The third time we process the apple tree in a couple of weeks, also with two percent sulfur. Or use copper (iron) vitriol, Bordeaux liquid is also suitable.
Apple Bark Disease - Common Cancer (European)
Chronic disease occurs after damage to the bark and branches caused by a cold, pruning or rodent teeth. Possible infection in the weather from 2 to 30 degrees. A diseased tree does not develop and cannot fully eat. Its bark is cracking, branches and trunk are overgrown with growths. Infected parts die and dry.
We treat the apple tree like this: carefully cut out all the sore spots, and treat the fresh slices with an antiseptic compound (you can use copper sulfate). From above we smear garden var. No var - take oil paint. And in winter, so that the hares do not eat the trunk, wrap it with corn or sorghum leaves - it helps well.
Pests of apple trees and methods of dealing with them: codling moth, flower beetle, sawfly
In addition to diseases, apple parasites that eat leaves, flowers and delicious apples can attack the trees.
- Flower beetle
This is a dark brown bug with a long proboscis nose. Wintering in the bark and fallen leaves, he lays the larvae inside the tender buds and buds of the apple tree, simultaneously eating them from the inside. Signs: juice dripping from the kidneys, buds with leaves that have not opened.
To deal with the villain, we pull a sheet and shake off the beetles when the kidneys swell. And then drown them in water. You need to do this four times, until the plus 10 thermometer shows. Then, when the kidneys begin to open, take a weak (0.2%) solution of chlorophos - and on the crown.
- Moth
A gray, inconspicuous stripe butterfly leaves the cocoon in June, immediately laying eggs on the wrong side of the leaf, after 10 days pink caterpillars appear. They spoil our apples, climbing inside. And then (about a month later) they go to the cocoon for wintering. Fallen under the bark or under the leaves.
We fight this way: before the swelling of the kidneys, we clean the tree from the dead bark, which must be burned. And when the tree fades, prepare a solution (water 10 liters plus lime 40 grams plus arsenic-acid calcium 30 grams). We spray twice - how the apple tree will blossom and how the extra ovaries will fall off.
Special hunting belts help out well from the uncoiled summer moths. They can be applied from July. A good bait for caterpillars is a compote of dried fruits or kvass. You can still pour whey from milk.
- Sawfly
This pest, resembling a small bee, deals with the middle of the ovaries. Its wintering occurs in the soil, and it flies out from there about five days before the blossoming of apple flowers. Females lay eggs in buds and flowers - each of 80 pieces. Twenty-footed larvae climb into the fruits, eating seeds. Because of this, the ovaries fall and the crop disappears.
Usually sawflies are fond of one tree - we will process it. Apply kalbofos (dichlorvos). We destroy adult parasites before blooming flowers, larvae - after flowering of the tree. You can also destroy the larvae with pupae, if it is good to pry the ground under the apple tree.
We carry out prevention
To prevent trouble, measures are taken in advance. So, when buying seedlings, they apply only to those nurseries whose goods are reliable and tested (otherwise you can buy an infected tree). When the apple trees take root, you need to take care of them regularly: loosen the ground near the trunks, weed the weeds, cut dried branches, remove leaves with apples that fell (and immediately). And thin out the crown regularly.
And in the spring, the trunks of all trees need not be too lazy to whiten. And to prepare Bordeaux liquid by spraying the apple trees with it until it blooms. You can also use copper sulfate for this purpose. And one more thing: all wounds and cuts on branches and trunks must be processed without fail - for example, garden var.
Birds can help protect your apple orchard from parasites. To do this, hang feeders and tit houses on fruit trees. The birds, accustomed to having food there, enjoy the bugs and caterpillars with pleasure, pecking them from the bark.
In addition, there are special ready-made products that save from pests and fungal diseases. Many varieties are produced - it is important to have time to do the processing on time. It is carried out in two stages:
- Initially, trees are sprayed before they bloom. Level - green cone. At the same time, pests that crawl out of the ground and from under the bark die, as well as the development of diseases.
- The second time they do this, when the apple trees have bloomed and fruit ovaries are visible on the branches. In this case, insects are again destroyed (this time we protect the ovaries) and spores of fungi that can fly apart.
Vaccination of an apple tree in spring or summer in a split - the second youth of a tree
To diversify the varieties, ennoble the game and breathe new strength into the old trees, they are planted. To do this, you need a stalk from a healthy apple tree: a branch about 30-35 centimeters long, growing up. It is cut at an acute angle, doing it in the fall or at the beginning of winter (in extreme cases, very early in the spring, before the juice in the kidneys). They store the graft where it is cold and damp.
It is necessary to vaccinate when the juices in the tree are most active - in spring or summer. There are dozens of methods for this. It is easiest to plant in the bark (into a slice made in-depth) or into a split (by splitting a prepared section of a branch). They try to press the stem tightly against the rootstock, and then cover it with garden var and wrap it with a ribbon of soft material.
How to get a vaccine in a split in the spring, look at the video:
If your apple tree is heavily gnawed by rodents, grafting with a “bridge” can save it. Why take several cuttings 1 year old. They must be inserted below and above the place where there is damage. Then everything is covered up and fixed. In a month there should be the first leaves.
So, apple trees are not capricious trees and do not require anything special. If you treat them carefully and protect them from misfortunes, then for decades they will gratefully rejoice with apples - sweet and delicious. And enough for jam, and for pastille, and fresh to eat.