Apple tree "Red Delicious": description, calorie content and cultivation of varieties
Almost every gardener has at least one fruit tree in his garden. Apple trees are unpretentious crops that give people large yields and juicy, healthy fruits. Some cannot decide which variety to choose for planting. An extremely popular and worthy variety of fruit trees is Red Delicious.
Variety Description
The variety "Red Delicious" is very much in demand in America. There are many subspecies of the plant. The culture is extremely unpretentious, it can grow and develop rapidly in absolutely any climate conditions, as well as on any soil. But experienced gardeners know that it is more comfortable in dry climates, when temperatures are cool at night and warm during the day. The tree will feel best in the Moscow region. Trees do not grow too large, their height is rather average. They look quite impressive, especially during the period when the flowers begin to open.
Young plants have a crown that resembles an oval in shape. Sometimes there are crowns with a pyramidal shape. When the fruiting period begins, the crown turns into a rounded, most often wide. It is formed from branches that are medium in power and have a large number of ovaries of different ages with ovaries.
Trees have small shoots. They are strongly pubescent, straight, slightly curved in places. The leaf plates are small, the shape is oblong, resembles an oval, the base is rounded, and the top is slightly elongated.They are green, glossy, there are notches on the edges. The Delicious variety differs from the classic apple tree in that the lower part of its petioles is colored red, with the help of veins the color reaches the middle of the leaf. Fertility is average.
The harvest depends on whether the care and cultivation will be carried out correctly. If you treat the tree carelessly and do not monitor its health, the yield will fall.
The main advantage of this variety is a high indicator of commodity, as well as consumer qualities of apples. But there is also a minus - the fruits are able to be affected by bitter spotting during storage. In addition, they are very unstable to diseases of fruit crops and may not adapt well in a new place.
It is necessary to harvest from September. You can complete the collection in October. It should be remembered that the taste of fruits and their volume may depend on climate conditions. The gardener will be able to harvest the maximum crop only if the climate is dry enough. The skin of apples is dense, therefore, if they are stored correctly for storage, the fruits can be stored without any problems until mid-spring, without losing their presentation and taste.
Apples can be eaten fresh, as well as cooked from them in a variety of dishes. The variety is ideal for canning and storage.
If you store the fruits correctly, they can lie for quite a long time. The calorie content of apples is 80 kilocalories.
Landing and care
On the Internet there are a large number of reviews from those who grow this variety. From them you can understand that the yield and health of the variety depends on how the plants are grown.The fruits will be incredibly tasty, strong and large if the owners of the trees follow the necessary rules for planting young seedlings, as well as follow the recommendations for caring for them.
It must be borne in mind that the plant is not too frost-resistant. To get a lot of fruits in the future, it is worth choosing a place for planting an apple tree that would be protected from cold winds. Better if it is on some hill. The plant does not like high humidity, so it is necessary to choose an area near which groundwater does not occur.
If the planting area is cold, it is better to plant the crop in the spring. If the climate is mild, planting is carried out in the fall.
Before planting a seedling, you should dig up the ground in the place where it will live, and then add five to six kilograms of humus or rotted manure into it. It is also worth adding five hundred grams of ash and a little nitroammofoska. It is important to ensure that the dimensions of the planting hole dug in advance correspond to the size of the roots of the plant.
Most often, pits are dug for seedlings of this variety, the depth of which is 80 centimeters, and the width is 70 centimeters. At the bottom you need to place broken bricks, pebbles, expanded clay or something else. Next, a layer of humus, peat or river sand is poured. This will help the culture obtain nutrients for proper development.
Landing steps:
- a hole is prepared, a plant is installed in it;
- the roots must be straightened so that they are comfortable;
- the root system is covered with dry soil;
- the seedling should be shaken two to three times so that voids do not form in the roots;
- after the plant is planted, you need to make sure that the root collar is three to four centimeters above the ground level;
- a planted tree is watered with several buckets of water;
- the ground around the tree is mulched with peat or humus (two to three centimeters).
After the seedling is in the ground, it is necessary to install a peg near it so that it can hold a weak tree, otherwise it will roll.
Subtleties of care
To get a good harvest, the gardener must carefully follow the rules of care. They not only help the tree grow well, but also protect against diseases.
- It is necessary to loosen the soil in a timely manner in order to provide access to oxygen. The soil should be mulched only with organic materials. This will help save the land from drying out and the appearance of a variety of weeds. When the tree becomes strong (a few years after planting), you can mow the grass around the trunk.
- It is important to remember about proper watering. You need to water the tree five to six times a season. One plant takes two to three buckets of water. The process is an extremely important factor during the dry period and in the spring, when the plant tries to grow shoots and ovaries begin to form.
- For the correct and active development of this variety, various top dressings are necessary. Feed the plant two to three times per season. You can use mineral fertilizers. In the spring, experienced gardeners acquire nitroammophoska for feeding (a tablespoon of the agent under the root of the tree), when the culture begins to bloom, they use ash (three hundred grams per trunk circle), when the fruits begin to ripen, potassium salt and superphosphate (dilute the agent in water, water the tree ).In autumn, organic fertilizers are most often applied.
- Every gardener should regularly prune excess areas of the fruit tree. In the Red Delicious variety, shoots that grow deep from the 4th year of life should be removed. It is also important to thin out the crown, get rid of dry and infected branches. Branches affected by any disease must be burned outside the garden so that other plants cannot become infected.
- It is necessary to take preventive measures so that apple trees do not get sick with scab, rot and other dangerous diseases., which can kill a tree or make its yield lower. It is necessary to spray the plant before they begin to bloom, since if this is done during or after flowering, the fruits cannot be eaten.
- It is important to remember that This variety does not tolerate severe frosts. That is why plants should be warmed before December.
Reviews
Many experienced gardeners say in their reviews that if you graft "Red Delicious" on a variety with high winter hardiness, he will not be so afraid of frost and frost. Usually the trees bear fruit in the fourth or fifth year, delight the owners with juicy and tasty apples that exude an incredible aroma. They are eaten fresh with pleasure, and they are also used to make jam, jelly, compotes, canned and baked.
Some believe that this variety is highly resistant to various diseases and parasites. But this is possible only with careful and stable care, constant preventive measures. Unfortunately, such an apple tree tends to quickly “catch” diseases. This factor makes many gardeners refuse to grow it.
Based on the opinion of summer residents, if you take care of the plant carelessly and do not make sure that it does not get sick, it will stop developing and bearing fruit. You can not store the fruits for too long, because during long-term storage the pulp becomes dry, wadded, loses its taste. Fresh apples look attractive, appetizing. Almost every owner of a variety is satisfied that he once chose it. The general opinion is that in order to get a good harvest, you must first take care of the tree.
See below for details.