Apricot Manitoba: variety description and yield, planting and care with photo

Thanks to the work of biologists and breeders, southern plants are now planted in mid-latitudes, and they take root well and yield. The apricot variety Manitoba is adapted to the harsh climate of Siberia. They brought him to the Canadian province of the same name. The horticultural station in Morden crossed Scout with a frost-resistant stone fruit variety Maccle. As a result, breeders got a tall tree with a dense and beautiful crown, which, even after a cold and long winter, normally bears fruit.

Variety description

Manitoba is up to 5 meters tall. The spreading crown is formed by shortened shoots and oval leaves. The tree looks very beautiful during flowering. When buds with large pink petals open, the plant takes on a decorative look. Apricot blossoms like sakura. The description of the variety indicates that even in the middle latitudes and in Siberia there is no need to wrap the tree for the winter. The continental cool climate of the Canadian province, where the Manitoba apricot comes from, almost does not differ from the weather in the central regions of Russia. Large fruits ripen on a tree in the middle of summer:

• oblong shape;
• bright orange;
• with pubescent skin.

The flesh of the apricot, which is colored with a blush, has a sweet taste, almost no acid is felt. Inside the fruit, which is distinguished by an elongated toe, there is a bone with a core in which there is no bitterness, it is easily separated.

Young trees delight with apricots weighing up to 100 grams, in the old culture their weight is 2 times lower. Especially the fruits become smaller with a heavy load on the plant.

Manitoba apricot characteristics

The variety is not afraid of severe frosts, is rarely affected by diseases that kill even adult garden trees, gives a good harvest almost every year. Very tasty apricots of an uncharacteristic color are used to make jams and marmalades. It is impossible to transport the fruits, they crumple, drain juice. Perhaps this is the only drawback of the Manitoba variety. The plant is not cultivated on an industrial basis.

Terms and features of planting

In the southern regions, the apricot is taken from the stone isolated from the fruit of the tree of the same variety. Seeds are hardened, stored in a cool place.

In mid-latitudes Manitoba is grown from seedlings no older than 2 years old. Plot for apricot choose:

• on the sunny side;
• in a place closed from the northern winds;
• on a hill.

Ground and melt water collects in the lowland, because of which the roots of trees die. A hole for planting a young apricot is dug in advance to a depth of about 70 cm. Expanded clay or pebbles are poured into it, organic matter and mineral fertilizers are applied, earth with humus is placed on top, which is well tamped. The tree is watered and tied to a peg.

In mid-latitudes, apricots are planted in April while the buds are dormant. In the southern regions, this can be done in September and October, since frosts do not begin there until December.

Care

In order for a tree to please with sweet fruits, it must be constantly taken care of. Saplings are watered once every 2 weeks, adult apricots need less water, irrigation is necessary at least four times per season, namely:

• when new shoots appear;
• before flowering;
• before fruit ripening;
• shortly before wintering.

In rainy and cool summers, the tree does not need additional moisture. Apricots should be watered more often in hot and dry weather. At least 50 liters of slightly heated water are added to each near-stem circle of the plant. The ground near the tree is periodically loosened so that air can penetrate to the roots.

The apricot is sure to form a crown, and every year long and dried branches are pruned. Manitoba is not insulated for the winter.

Diseases and pests

Canadian breeders have been working to develop a variety of horticultural crops that are resistant to fungi and bacteria. Apricots are amazed:

• grey rot;
• cytosporosis;
• scab;
• cracking bark;
• leaf curl;
• perforated spotting.

Although Manitoba rarely suffers or dies from disease, preventive measures are needed. In autumn, dried branches and blackened fruits are burned. In early spring and before flowering, apricot trees are treated with Bordeaux liquid, blue vitriol, and sprayed with Nitrafen before bud break.

Juice from the leaves of garden crops is drunk by microscopic aphids. Codling moth caterpillars destroy the ovary, regale on ripe fruits. Stone plants are affected by mites. Deal with insects with insecticides.

Eat the bark from the stems of mice, hares. For the winter, the tree trunk is wrapped with spruce branches or durable material. The beetles feed on the roots of the plant to get rid of them, in autumn they dig deep into the ground, turn over the layers, and the beetles, once on the surface, freeze.

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