Apple tree Skala: description and characteristics of the variety, growing regions with photo

To get a good harvest, you need to thoroughly prepare before planting and growing crops. This applies to everything, including apple trees. You can choose something, and then find out that the soil or location is not suitable for the tree, and be left without a crop. We will talk about apple trees of the Scala variety.

Description and features

To get started, you can read the description of the species, talk with experienced gardeners, sellers of seedlings. The Scala apple tree is considered a medium-sized tree, the height of which reaches a maximum of 8 meters. The crown is wide, but not too dense.

The main features of apple trees of this species are frost resistance, as well as the fruits themselves - beautiful, large, with a sweet and sour taste. The skin of the apple is thin, smooth, greenish-yellow in color with a bright red cover. The pulp is medium firm, grainy, juicy, creamy white in color.

Advantages and disadvantages of the variety

The apple tree of this species was artificially bred by crossing Prima and Bessemyanka species in order to improve the main indicators. Skala benefits include:

frost resistance;
rarely exposed to fungal diseases and scab;
high yield;
harvest regularity.

But there are also disadvantages:

short shelf life of fruits (up to 3 months);
lack of ability to self-pollinate.

Characteristics of the Skala apple tree

Below will be given the main characteristics of this variety of apples, which will help determine the need to grow this type.

Sizes

The tree itself is medium-sized, the maximum height it can reach is 8 meters. The crown is wide and spreading, but not dense. Separately, it is worth talking about the fruits: round, regular in shape, the weight of one varies on average from 230 to 250 grams. With proper care, you can get apples weighing more than 300 grams.

Yields

The starting crop can be harvested no earlier than the 5th year from the date of planting the tree. The first years it is necessary to cut off the flowers in order to get many good fruits in the future. The yield is high - about 280 kilograms per 1 hectare.

Frequency of fruiting

Starting from the 5-7th year, the tree will bear fruit regularly and in large numbers. They ripen around mid-September. A distinctive feature of the Skala variety is that even if the tree has suffered from frost, fruiting may become less this year, but not disappear.

Winter hardiness

Winter hardiness is high. If the tree is properly looked after, then it will easily survive frosts down to -45 degrees. Even unexpected frosts in spring are not terrible for this variety - the buds do not freeze over.

Disease resistance

Medium disease resistance. Apple trees of the Skala variety practically do not suffer from scab and fungal diseases, but at the same time they are not resistant to fruit rot and bitter pitting. To avoid this, it is necessary to fertilize the soil in time, spray the trees, form a crown, remove damaged elements and harvest in a timely manner.

Fruit evaluation

The average rating of Scala apples is 4.3 points out of 5 for the main tasting indicators. However, some gardeners note excessive fruit acidity.

Regions of distribution

The species was bred in the Tambov region for the needs of the Central region of Russia. It is for this reason that the Rock has become widespread in the Tambov, Lipetsk, Voronezh, Belgorod, Orel and Kursk regions. Here the apple tree shows all the positive characteristics and does not need special care. In other cities of Russia, cultivation of this variety is also possible, but it needs to be adapted to the local climate.

What are the subspecies

There are 2 subspecies of the Skala apple tree:

Stamp. It is distinguished by its compact size (up to 3 meters), relatively short life span (up to 25 years) and earlier fruiting (more often in early September).
Columnar. A low tree (up to 2 meters) with a small crown brings a large harvest of large fruits of 200-300 grams. Of the minuses - a lifespan of up to 15 years.

Reviews of gardeners

Nina, Republic of Adygea: “We have apple trees of different varieties growing on our site, and Skala is one of our favorites. The tree does not require special care, the size is small, while it brings a lot of fruit. The only drawback is the short shelf life. But we found a way out by making all kinds of blanks.”

Ekaterina, Saransk: “After we harvested the first harvest of Skala apples, I decided to replace other types of apple trees with this one. There are so many fruits that sometimes you have to prop up the branches so that they do not break.”

Petr, Kemerovo: “I like this species: it withstands our winters and bears fruit well. At the same time, I have never even formed the crown of a tree. The only thing required is timely prevention of diseases and pest control.”