Apple tree Katerina: variety description and characteristics, yield and disease with photo

Each season pleases with its own characteristics. With the onset of autumn, the owners of the Katerina apple tree are waiting for the harvest. These fruits, so sweet and juicy, are excellent representatives of their "parents": Golden Delicious and Mekintosh Vazhek varieties. The cultivar is one of the late ones, so you will be able to transfer a piece of autumn to cold and frost without losing quality. Let's take a closer look at the characteristics.

Variety description

The variety was bred by Ukrainian selection in 1978. Apples of this variety have a flattened cone shape, with a slightly ribbed surface at the top.The weight of one fruit fluctuates around 200 grams, more often - a little less, from 160 to 190 grams. The flesh is soft creamy in color with green veins, very juicy, firm and crisp.

Outside, Katerina's apples are ruddy, yellow-green, red, with an orange tint on the sunny side. The skin is of medium thickness, dry, dense. The taste is sweet, with a pleasant sourness, and slightly spicy notes. The shape of the apple tree is pyramidal, the branches are sprawling, the shoots are strong.

The tree has a powerful growth force, the crown is large and spreading.

Standard green foliage with medium density. When describing the cultivar, it should be mentioned that there are many fruits on the tree, they grow as if in clusters. The fruits are most often consumed fresh, but they are also used in the preparation of juices.

Features

For you below is a detailed description of the Katerina apple variety.

Advantages and disadvantages of the variety

First of all, let's talk about the virtues:

Precocity. Variety Katerina is a donor of precocity in breeding.
High yield. This fact will please both the owner of a modest garden with a few trees and a large planter. A large number of fruits grow and ripen on one tree. It should be noted that there are no special requirements for plant care. Therefore, with the same labor and time investment, you will get a much larger yield than from apple trees of other varieties.
Excellent transportability. Thanks to this indicator, Katerina apples are often exported to other countries, where they are also very popular.
Excellent taste. On a five-point scale, Katerina received a score from 4.5 to 4.9. These are amazing numbers.
Seedlings are well fixed in the ground, so they do not need to be further strengthened. It will also please the fact that the tree does not form root shoots.
The period of operation of the garden is quite long - from 28 to 35 years.

If we talk about disadvantages, we should mention the average resistance to drought. The southern regions of Ukraine are characterized by excessive summer heat and low rainfall. With this temperature regime, the fruits do not receive enough moisture from the soil. The result is insufficient fruit juiciness.

Due to the fact that the number of fruits on one tree is very large, this creates a threat of breakage of insufficiently thick and strong branches (which happens if the season is rich in rains). Therefore, rationing of flowers and ovaries is required.

Yields

An adult tree that has reached the age of eight years yields 35-40 kilograms of apples. This is an excellent indicator, which not all cultivars can boast of.

Frequency of fruiting

The seedling begins to bear fruit, as a rule, in the second, third (maximum - fourth) year after planting. From now on, the harvest ripens every year.

Frost resistance

The indicator is on top. Starting from December and until June of the following year, Katerina cultivar apples can be consumed fresh. It should only be remembered that the nine-month period must be supported by the correct storage conditions: provide high-quality ventilation in the room, with a cool temperature.

Disease resistance

The variety has the strongest immunity to diseases, rarely susceptible to them. Breeders noted a good defensive reaction against scab and powdery mildew.

Terms of flowering and fruit ripening

Katerina's apple cultivar blooms in the medium term. The whole tree is covered with flowers. The fruits become ready for harvest by early October. However, keep in mind that by this time the fruits that are already ripe fall off. Therefore, if the gardener set out to keep the apples as long as possible, start harvesting by the end of September. The fruits will ripen in the cellar or refrigerator.

Favourable regions for growing

This cultivar was introduced by Ukrainian selection, and is most widely used in Ukraine. In 2001, the species was included in the Register of Plant Varieties of Ukraine for Polissya and Forest-Steppe.Outside the territory of Ukraine, for successful fruiting, the seedling needs a temperate climate, fertile soil (chernozem), a sufficient amount of solar energy and heat.