Alycha: varieties for the middle zone of Russia

Alycha grows thousands of years in southern latitudes. It strikes the eye at the time of flowering. Its fruits, usually sour, are used to prepare various spicy dishes. But the breeders, having worked on this southern beauty with the methods of interspecific crossing, brought out new varieties of cherry plum. Some of them can withstand frosts up to 35, and even up to 40 degrees. And on the palatability of these varieties can envy plums.

History

Alycha is able to interbreed with different kinds of plum and not only with it.

First it was crossed with Chinese plum and got varieties with large and delicious berries. Their weight reached 30 grams. But this did not affect the frost resistance of the tree.

At the end of the last millennium the Crimean scientist G. Eremin crossed the already existing hybrid cherry plum with various frost-resistant varieties and tree species. It turned out a lot of wonderful varieties, called "cherry plum". Varieties for the middle band perfectly tolerate frosts above 20 degrees. They are as productive as the progenitor-cherry plum. According to the taste and size of the fruit, these varieties, rather, are similar to the southern plums. Hybrids of this group are called "Russian plum". Now there are more than three dozen.

Description

Usually plum is a tree of short stature with a round, slightly flat crown. Branches grow quite rare. Hence another name - "plum spread".

If the frost in the region often exceeds 30 degrees, then the plant should be sheltered from frost. Then by spring the cherry plum will be well preserved. Varieties for the middle belt do not preyut under the cover of snow or various covering materials.

The fruits of cherry plums differ from plum trees in that they keep well on the tree and do not fall off when ripe. And since the tree is not high, it is not very difficult to break them. If you remove the fruits of plum, before ripening and color acquisition, they ripen well and acquire their characteristic coloration. This makes it possible to transport them and keep them in a cool place for a long time.

What is different from plum

• Very tasty.
• Fruits every year.
• Gives a high yield.
• Earlier it begins to bear fruit.
• More resistant to diseases and pests.
• Easier to tolerate drought.

Bedding

Plant a plum should be before her buds blossomed. Usually this happens in April. Worse is planted in the spring plum. Varieties for the middle belt can be damaged by frost in conditions of a little snowy winter.

It is necessary to find a place protected from the wind for planting plumbers. She feels good in front of the southern wall. It is better to plant several varieties of this tree next to each other, because many of them are self-fertilizing and require a neighbor for pollination. This is "melon", Chinese plums. If there is no excess space, you can plant the pollinator in the crown of the existing tree.

The soil must be well drained, loamy. Alycha grows poorly on heavy soils. Peat and sand are added to the clay soil. If the land is sandy, then mix it with turf. Alycha grows better in neutral soil. If it is acidic, then before planting a cherry plaster it is limy chalk, if alkaline, then make a plaster.

Groundwater should not be closer than a meter from the surface. If they lie closer, then plum is planted on a bulk bed. The depth of the roots is 0.4 meters.

Pits for planting should be prepared from autumn. Dig them in the form of a cube with a side of 60 cm. For several plants, the distance between them is equal to the expected height of the tree. If it is too tall, then it is 3.5 m. For high elevations, this distance increases to 6 m. At the bottom of the pit, humus, potassium and phosphoric mineral fertilizers are placed , mixed with nutritious loose earth.

In spring, take a seedling and place the roots so that they lie on the mound of prepared soil. Calculate the height of the landing, so that the root neck does not hit the ground.

They fill the hole, gently tamp the earth. Leave the well for irrigation so that the place of grafting does not get into the water. Watered and mulched with a layer of straw, hay, leaves 5 cm thick. Over time, it will be possible to add chamfered grass to the trunks.

If the seedling is sold with an earthen pot, then it is also watered before planting and after it.

After the tree has taken root, the branches of the plumage begin to grow rapidly. Their length can reach two meters. But they should not be left as such. One-year-olds need to be shortened to 50 cm. This will increase the growth of the tops.

The first fruits can be obtained three years after planting an annual seedling.

The earth around the tree is constantly loosened and mulched. Water should only be during a severe drought. This is done three times: after flowering, when shoots cease to grow, and after the fruits acquire their characteristic color.

Crown formation

To obtain a tree with a compact crown, three skeletal branches are left, the angles between which are 110˚. The lower one is at a height of 60 cm from the ground. They grow quickly. Therefore, they can be shortened in the summer, leaving 50 cm. In the same year, new branches will grow out of the kidneys near the cutting site. Bouquet twigs up to a centimeter are formed.

Most of the fruit is formed on the shport. So called annual branches up to half a meter.

If the crop was not cut in the summer, then they do it in the spring. But here there are some problems: near the cutoff place will grow a large number of strong shoots. It is difficult to thin them, because they grow very close to each other. And you can not leave it either. Again, we cut off, and again we get growth of the same branches.

The next year the conductor over the third skeleton branch is removed. The tree stops growing up. All forces go to the formation of lateral skeletal trunks. This form of pruning makes it possible to form a crown of a tiered form.

You can grow a plum tree as a bush. In this case, only thin the crown and shorten the young branches. The conductor is not removed.

If the tree is weakened and has few branches, it can be "cheered up" by strong circumcision. As a result, well branching branches are cut off a little, and weak ones are stronger.

Every year in the spring, before bud blossoming, sanitary circumcision of branches is carried out. Usually this is the end of March-April. With a later operation, the sap flow will begin, and the wounds from the trimming will heal worse. Remove the damaged and broken, those that rub against each other, intertwined with each other. Watch that each of the skeletal branches does not have a conductor.

Crown form is regulated by circumcision, considering where the plum grows. The variety description indicates the direction of their branches. If they go upright, they are cut off, leaving the outer kidneys. In varieties similar to willow, leave internal.

In old trees, the growth of branches decreases. When it reaches 30 cm, you can rejuvenate.

Effect of crown illumination

If the tree is not trimmed or done incorrectly, then the branches are poorly illuminated by the sun. The crown becomes thickened, the fruits are small. Their color changes. Especially frost-resistant cherry plum (varieties for the middle belt) suffers from this.

Reproduction

Good results are obtained by inoculation of elite varieties of cherry plum on the turn. You can plant them in the crown of winter hardy varieties of plum. This is done by eyepiece or T-shaped. Good results are given by inoculation to the application. It's easier to do.

Planting to a sink is better than one variety. Next year will be the first fruits. And in a few years your tree will acquire a fabulous appearance, covered with fruits of different colors. In addition, it will remain frost-resistant.

The disadvantage of grafted trees is low frost resistance.

Alycha reproduces well with lignified and green cuttings. Trees, obtained from rooted cuttings, are much better tolerated by frosts, recover more quickly after damage and after a couple of years are fruited again.

Varieties of cherry plum

In order to obtain a plum crop in the middle belt, frost-resistant varieties are needed. In this case, they should be tasty and as less as possible affected by diseases and insects.

Alycha varieties for the central part of Russia. Description:

• "A gift to St. Petersburg". A low tree, shaped like a willow tree. Has small yellow fruits. The variety is valued for its high frost resistance.
• "The Kuban comet" (or plum "comet"). Description of the variety: the tree is low, with red or purple fruit. Flesh is yellow, fragrant. The variety is self-fertilized. Matures early - in late July.
• "Found". Externally similar to the "comet", but matures on seven days later (the second week of August).
• "Gold of the Scythians". As the name suggests, the fruits of this variety have a yellow color. They are sweet and juicy. The variety ripens early. The tree is not high. The yield of this variety is average. Frost resistance is high, which brought "Scythian gold" popularity.
• "Cleopatra". Ripens comparatively late. The tree has a medium height and a rare crown. This allows the fruit to get the right amount of light and color in violet. The flesh of the fetus is red.
• "Nesmejana". A tree of high stature. The fruits are large, pink in color. They taste good. Yields can be high, but in adverse weather conditions and disease affection is reduced.
• "Maara". A tree of medium height. Fruits are yellow, a little oval. The yield of the variety is average. Not affected by diseases and low temperatures. A variety of Belarusian selection.

The varieties of cherry plum for the middle part of Russia have kidneys with a slower development. As a result, the trees later bloom and are practically not damaged by spring return frosts.

Alycha (winter-hardy varieties) from the point of view of their maturation can be early, middle and late:

• The first to ripen a light pink "yarilo", yellow "monomah".
• A little later - pink "nesmeyana", yellow "gold of the Scythians".
• Late - "Cleopatra."

Alycha varieties for the central Russia can be high, up to six meters. The medium-sized ones are represented by: "Scythian gold", light purple "chuk", yellow "hex", red "traveler", purple "kleopatra", yellow "gift to St. Petersburg". Their height is from three to five meters.

A low-lying, up to three meters, is cherry plum (photo) "Kuban" (purple). Also here can be classified as "comet" and "tent".

In the variety of alycha (photo) with the name "anastasia" the bone is well separated.

Partially separated from the yellow "gold of the Scythians", purple "kleopatr", red "traveler", light pink "Yarila". In connection with this indicator, it is more popular cherry plum.

Varieties for the middle lane with a photo

• "I'm sorry." A tree of short stature. Fruit weight - 35 g. Flesh is yellow, dense. Ripens very early. The taste is pleasant, sweet-sour.

• "Traveler". A tree of short stature. The fruit is 30 mm in size and weighs 28 g. The skin has a red-violet color. His flesh is yellow.

• "Ariadne". A tree of short stature. The fruits are red, with a noticeable waxy coating. The weight of one is 31 g. The flesh is red.

Self-fertilized varieties

Samoplodnye sorts of a cherry plum for the middle band - purple "comet", the same "kleopatra", red-violet "traveler", purple "wind". True, most of them are partially self-fertilized. All of them bear fruit better if trees of a different kind are growing next to each other. The best pollinators are "pramen", "maara", "a gift to St. Petersburg". The latter blooms long, two weeks. He pollinates both early varieties and late ones.

Rules for choosing aplicas for planting

A tree of plum of one kind on the plot will not give full information about a wide range of palatability and coloring. But you have to start with something. And then in your garden there will be the best sorts of cherry plum for the middle strip.

Gardeners are advised to choose:

• A strong seedling of a zoned variety.
• Fertile variety (enters fruiting in a couple of years).
• Self-fertilized variety, if the other does not grow nearby.

Top dressing

After planting, the plum does not feed until fruiting begins. After planting a sufficient amount of fertilizers was introduced.

Further, aplicas are fed two or three times a year. The first time - before flowering. For this, two tablespoons of azofoski are bred in a bucket of water. After flowering, feed three spoons of "Agricol" for berry crops and 5 spoons of liquid organic fertilizer "Effeton I", diluted in a bucket of water. In the autumn they make humus. Do this every two or three years.

If you fertilize too often and abundantly, then sprouts will begin to grow stronger, not fruits.

Using

Alycha can be eaten fresh, cooked compotes for winter. You can use it as a stuffing for pies, cook jam, jam, jams. Grounded with sugar in a proportion of 1: 3, it is well stored all winter in the refrigerator.

Alycha has medicinal properties. The presence of a large number of pectins and vitamins makes it possible to use it for violations of the gastrointestinal tract. With chronic heartburn, they consume cherry plum in combination with diet.

Alycha is an excellent early honey plant. In order to attract insects to the tree in cloudy weather, the trees are sprinkled with a solution of honey.

Alycha is a beautiful plant. During flowering, it resembles sakura. Decorative forms with different color of leaves and crowns are created. There are red-leaved, with variegated leaves. In shape - pyramidal and weeping.

From plum can create a hedge. If the tree is properly tended, then from it you can collect up to forty kilograms of fruit. And it fructifies for 20-25 years.