Dessert Apricot: description and characteristics of the variety, planting and care, yield

The peculiarity of the northern variety of Dessert apricot is that despite not the most favorable growing conditions, its fruits are large and tasty. This variety cannot be found in the register of fruit trees of the Russian Federation, although the famous breeder Ivan Vladimirovich Michurin made efforts to work on it. The scientist worked painstakingly to improve the variety of seeds that came to him in 1925. The predecessors of Dessert were the varieties Best Michurinsky and Comrade.

Description of variety Dessert

As the end result of natural pollination with a mixture of pollen from the Best Michurinsky and Comrade Louise seedlings, a common variety in Western Europe, a dessert apricot variety was bred at the Voronezh Agricultural Institute.The selection that gave gardeners of the Central Black Earth region a large-fruited, winter-hardy variety Dessertny was carried out by A. N. Venyaminov and L. A. Dolmatova.

Description of the variety of apricot tree will help plan care work. Despite the fact that the Dessert apricot does not require special conditions, measures to form the crown in the first 2-3 years after planting should be systematic. After planting, the seedling of winter-hardy apricot, its outer part, cannot exceed 80 cm from the ground.

Characteristic of the tree and fruits

A tree can exceed 5 meters in height. The rounded, wide crown is prone to thickening so that the fruits on the lower branches receive enough light, the crown has to be thinned out periodically. Fruiting begins in the fourth year, after the apricot seedling is planted in a permanent place.

A variety that shows itself as unpretentious in the climate of the northern regions, refuses to bear fruit in the south. This is due to the fact that during the thaw, the kidneys quickly awaken, but die when frost returns.

Attention! The fruit tree of the apricot variety Dessert does not tolerate thaw.

In regions where snow falls before the ground has time to freeze, the fruit tree may die due to overheating, followed by decomposition of the bark and cambium. In central Russia, the Dessert apricot can take root if the climate of the region is ideal for fruiting cherries, cherry plums, and plums. A 100% result in the survival of a seedling cannot be promised, just like in obtaining a crop.

The fruits of young trees often reach a mass of 50 g, the harvest of adult plants consists of 30 g of apricots.

Apricot Dessert:

juicy fragrant pulp (medium density);
skin thin velvety;
taste sweet with pleasant sourness;
ripe light yellow fruit;
symmetrical;
bone is large, easy to separate.

Dessert harvest is at the end of July, beginning of August. It can not be stored fresh (in the refrigerator) for more than one week. Soft fruits are stored in a marketable form for no more than 4 days. During transportation, neither the presentation nor the taste are lost. The variety is self-pollinating, for its fruiting it is not necessary to plant an apricot pollinator nearby.

Characteristics of the variety:

begins to bear fruit in the 4th year after planting in a permanent place;
in the conditions of regions with consistently cold winters, the plant does not threaten to warm up the bark;
high immunity to diseases.

Under the condition of proximity to winter-hardy varieties of apricots on the site, the Dessertny crop only gets better, acquiring the best qualities inherent in the neighboring plant. In this case, there is no question of maintaining the purity of the variety, but yields, according to gardeners, are increasing.

Features of planting and care

Gardeners get the best planting material in nurseries at institutes and academies of agriculture. It is easier to take root seedlings 1-2 years old, grown in similar climatic conditions with the intended landing site.

Stamp formers - packing of roots, not removed. A root system wrapped in a net is considered open. Its growth can be stimulated by special formulations. To do this, it is necessary to soak the root system in the solution for a period of 12 to 24 hours. Growth stimulants suitable for processing apricot roots before planting are Kornevin, Epin, Heteroauxin.

Mid-Autumn - preparation of planting pits:

size 70cm^3;
one third filled with drainage - crushed stone, gravel, pebbles;
installation of reference pegs;
filling the rest of the hole with a mixture of selected soil with fertilizers.

Attention! Ash, humus, peat are used to improve the quality of the land. This is especially important for areas with loamy dense soils. The proportion of ash to the rest of the land improvement ingredients depends on the quality of the soil on the site.

Diseases and pests

The resistance of the Dessert apricot variety to all diseases is great, but still it can be hit:

Moniliosis. The rotting of the flower, the brown color of the petals or the appearance of gray rot on the fruits, as a rule, is preceded by a warm winter. The fungus that causes this disease dies in cold weather.
Gnomoniosis. Brown spots on the leaves are only the first manifestations. Ultimately, this threatens with a complete loss of the crop, unripe fruits begin to dry and fall off. Secateurs, blue vitriol and Nitrafen are mandatory means of protection at the first manifestations of the disease.
Clusterosporiasis. Holes on the leaves - the scourge of drupes. These are just the first signs of a fungal disease. At a later stage, growths appear on the trunk, oozing with gum.

Note: Bacteria, chemical burns, insect damage can be the cause of perforation on the leaves. The most dangerous pests for apricot trees are insects - aphids, leafworms.