Apple "Nedzvetskogo": features and cultivation

There are few people who can remain indifferent to the beauty of the apple tree in color - for good reason, scientists attributed this plant to the family of rosaceae.The variety called Apple Nedzvetskogo in this regard is truly unparalleled - when in late spring abundant blooming begins with bright large pink inflorescences, it is rather difficult to believe that this is a simple fruit tree.

At the end of the 20th century, the well-known biologist V. Nedzvetsky near Kashkara spotted an unusual weeping apple tree with continuous flowering, decorative leaves and a fairly smooth purple-colored bark. He took the shoots of this variety and handed them to his German colleague G. Dick, who managed to grow a similar tree in Kazakhstan - he introduced the plant in the full catalog of garden crops under the name Malus niedzwetzkyana (translated from Latin - "Nedzvetsky apple tree").

Soon, this original variety began to be cultivated everywhere in Russia, as well as in European countries and in North America.

The tree is very long. Its height is 7-8 meters, while the trunk is quite powerful, red-brown in color, the bark is smooth with small cracks. The crown is usually round or spherical, most often raised up, but there are varieties with spreading branches.

All parts of this fruit tree are painted with anthocyanins, therefore not only its flowers, but also the leaves with young branches have a purple tint, even the wood received a faint pinkish tint. The apple tree has a clearly defined decorative effect, with each season having its own special color scheme.

Thus, in spring, young branches and purple leaves are combined with bright pink carmine inflorescences, with the onset of summer the foliage darkens to a rich purple hue, and dark red fruits come to change colors. In the fall, the leaves change color to a purplish yellow, and the apples turn purple. Even in winter this plant is beautiful - in December its dark branches are literally covered with purple apples.

Flowering lasts for 10 days from the second half of May to the beginning of June, however, together with the stage of unopened bud, this phase takes at least a month. Blossoming flowers are quite large, their diameter is about 4-5 cm. Each includes five petals. Usually white-shaded stalks, thin and felt. One inflorescence contains several separate buds, the smell is bright and saturated.

The fruits are edible, but have a sour taste, slightly reminiscent of the taste of wild forest apple. However, after the first cold weather, the taste properties are improved, the fruits become sweeter and a little more tart - this is due to the fact that under the influence of low temperatures, the bitterness begins to decompose in fruits, as in the mountain ash.

The apples themselves are small, no more than cherries - their diameter is 1.5–2 cm. However, in favorable conditions, the size may be higher - there are cases when four-centimeter fruits were harvested from the Nedzwetsky apple tree. The shape of the fruit, as a rule, is spherical, rarely there are slightly elongated apples, painted in dark red or almost purple. The peel has a pronounced wax coating, the flesh is juicy, pink.

The tree has an average growth force; by age 13, it is about 3 meters tall. Shoots grow annually by 40-60 cm. The tree can grow and bear fruit for 60 years.

Decorative apple "Nedzvetsky" has the most positive characteristics, among them are:

• the plant belongs to the fast-growing varieties;
• the plant tolerates frost easily in winter and a long absence of watering on hot days;
• variety quickly adapts to any type of terrain, ground, as well as the parameters of gas pollution and dust;
• extremely high decorative culture.

Among the minuses can be noted weak resistance to scab. In addition, the culture is often attacked by colonies of aphids, as well as mites and weevils.Often, the plant is faced with a shield, but since the apple is mostly decorative, it can be treated with appropriate insecticides as needed.

For breeding apple "Nedzvetsky" use two basic methods: seedlings and seeds. Vaccination is used for this type of culture extremely rarely.

An apple tree can be planted with seeds in spring or autumn, regardless of this, for two months before planting, they should certainly undergo stratification. To do this, the seedlings are mixed with river sand and left in a cool place for 2-3 months, the sand should be moistened periodically. If we neglect this stage of preparation, the germination rate will be extremely low.

When sowing seeds is planned for spring, then approximately at the end of February - beginning of March, a box should be taken out and buried under snow for a week or two, and immediately before planting the seeds should be washed and kept in a solution of any growth promoter.

Prepared seed must be placed in a container with fertile soil. It is very important that the box has drainage holes, and its bottom is covered with expanded clay or rubble. To improve the quality of the soil, fertilizer should be added to the ground based on 10 kg of the soil mixture - 200 g of ash, 20 g of potassium sulphate and 30 g of superphosphate.

Seeds are gently laid out on the prepared soil, sprinkled with earth a little and moistened with water from the sprayer. After the young bushes grow a little and take root, they need to be transplanted into the open ground. This should be done with a dry and warm temperature in a well-illuminated area.

Within a month after transplantation, seedlings should be kept under cover - a plastic film, roofing material or agrofibre will fit. Then the shelter must be removed and allow the plants to grow in natural conditions.

In two years, seedlings can already be transplanted to a permanent open place.

When planting in the autumn time, the tree should be moved to the main place no later than a month before the arrival of the first frost.

The landing pit is prepared in advance: its depth should be 1 meter, and the length and width - 70-80 cm. The top layer of the earth is mixed with peat, humus, sand and superphosphate. The resulting mixture is poured into a pit, watered well, and left for a week.

Immediately before planting, it is necessary to soak the roots in water with the addition of a root formation stimulator, after which the roots are straightened by hand and carefully placed in a prepared well inside the planting well so that the root neck rises 6-8 cm above the surface. 2-4 buckets per plant). Second irrigation is carried out after a week.

When spring growing, it is desirable to shorten all shoots by 2/3 - such a measure will speed up the formation of new branches. Active growth should be expected in the third year after planting this type of apple in the ground.

Ornamental apple trees are often and quite successfully propagated by root shoots - for this, large saplings are separated and moved to a prepared place. As a rule, they take root very quickly, begin to bloom and bear fruit. The wild apple stock is cultivated by air grafting.

Nedzvetskogo apple needs standard care, characteristic of all fruit crops:

• watering;
• timely weeding;
• loosening the soil, its constant mulching;
• making organic and mineral supplements;
• molding;
• sanitary pruning;
• special preventive treatment measures against bacterial and fungal diseases, garden pests;
• defensive work before the onset of the cold season.

The plant does not tolerate moisture, however, requires regular watering - it should be carried out monthly. Under the young plant about 4 buckets of water should be poured, for apple from 8 years old and older - 8-10 buckets.

It is imperative to moisten the tree trunk before the beginning of the growing season, 15-20 days after the start of flowering, 3-4 weeks before reaching the technical ripeness of the fruit, and at the stage of leaf fall during preparation for a long winter.

After abundant irrigation, the soil is usually covered with a hard and cracked crust. To facilitate the access of oxygen to the roots, should be loosening with the help of special garden tools. It is necessary to loosen very carefully, since the roots of an ornamental apple tree are fairly close to the ground and can be easily damaged.

After each loosening, it is necessary to remove all the weeds in the circle and cover the ground with a layer of mulch - it is best to use sawdust, walnut shells, bark of any coniferous trees, straw or peat. This will preserve the required level of moisture in the soil and protect it from temperature fluctuations that are characteristic of the central part of Russia.

Pruning is carried out in the spring. First of all, you need to remove dried shoots and diseased branches.

Every two years the plant requires fertilizer. When carrying out the first watering, it is necessary to introduce into the ground a portion of organic dressing - rotted droppings, humus or slurry.

In early summer, the plant will need mineral components - phosphorus, nitrogen and potassium. For such feeding you can use ready-made preparations or a mixture of urea, superphosphate and potassium nitrate. A similar mixture should be given to the plant twice more - in the last days of August and in the first decade of October.

At the end of the harvest, when digging, you can add compost, humus to the earth and add complex preparations.

Nedzvetskogo apple trees are rarely affected by garden pests and fungal diseases, but they do not have 100% protection against misfortune. Throughout its life, the plant periodically encounters powdery mildew, scab, and rust. Such drugs as Topaz, Fitosporin and Skor have proven themselves in the fight against them.

In order to protect the plant from garden pests, it is necessary to periodically spray it with "Ecoberin", "Karbofos", "Zircon" and other strong insecticides.

In winter, the plant often becomes a bait for hares and other rodents who are not averse to eat its bark.

Mulch is removed and burlap is removed only with the onset of warm days. As a rule, this is done in the second half of March - early April.

As a preventive measure against the appearance of diseases and the attack of pests, the tree in early spring should be treated with lime composition (young plants should be chalked). All the growth near the trunk at the same time must necessarily be removed.

Keep in mind that Nedzvetskogo's apple tree is a same-sex plant, it is imperative that it requires a pollinator, otherwise the ovary simply will not form. However, the culture is rather unpretentious - pollen of any other garden apple is suitable for effective pollination.

Sometimes the plant does not bloom, the reasons may be different.

• Plant age is less than 5-6 years. In this case, just need a little patience and wait a couple of years.
• Earth contains too much nitrogen. Then, false growth shoots are formed in the apple tree - it is imperative to carry out a strong fertilization with potassium and phosphorus, and also shorten the branches by a third.
• Adverse weather conditions. When returning frosts often leads to the death of flower buds, this happens when the place for a young plant is chosen incorrectly - for example, an apple tree is planted in lowlands, where cold air descends.

According to scientists, this decorative type of apple trees has existed on earth for more than one millennium, and archaeologists fully confirm this theory. On the earth there are a large number of varieties of this variety, which are slightly different shade of foliage, type of fruit, and have a different type of crown.

Nedzvetskogo apple trees are planted everywhere in parks, large gardens and squares, where they become a real highlight and decoration of landscape design.

The tree looks very aesthetically pleasing in a single planting when it is planted separately from all other types of plants. In this case, the culture becomes a bright spot against the background of a one-color lawn or other fruit trees.

Nedzvetskogo apple-tree is often recommended for the formation of a garden hedge, it is planted along roads and long alleys. As the reviews show, bright colors distinguish the culture among all the others and attract everyone's attention.

An overview of the decorative apple tree Nedzvetskogo (malus nedzvetskogo), as well as how to plant seedlings, see the following video.