Prune plum: variety description and cultivation features

A garden plot without fruit trees looks empty.Fruit crops bring cosiness and aesthetic appeal to the country territory. Thick green crowns and delicate flowers in the springtime are a real decoration of the site. Moreover, it is unforgivable to deprive oneself and loved ones of the pleasure of eating delicious and healthy fruits of various fruit crops. In our article we will discuss the plum variety "Prunes", its features and optimal conditions for cultivation.

This variety was bred when crossing two other types of plum: thorns and plums. The variety “Prunes” has received its name due to its ability to preserve excellent taste qualities after drying the fruits. This type of plum is most suitable for harvesting fruits by curing and drying.

Many gardeners opt for this particular variety, it has positive reviews. This type of plum is popular due to its drought resistance, frost resistance and relative unpretentiousness. Fruit trees are well adapted to the climate of the middle zone, give regular abundant crops. Culture is self-fertile.

Mature trees varieties "Prunes" quite tall. Often they reach a height of 4 meters. During flowering, this plum gives large flower buds. The shoots of the fruit tree are straight, not long, on average about half a meter. The leaves are dense and thick, have a corrugated structure. The fruits of this culture are large. Their weight is on average 40-45 g. On plums there is a characteristic vertical strip and a depression near the stem. Mature fruits are round or oval.

The skin of the fruit is dark blue, close to black, color, thick and rough. The pulp of this variety is very juicy, has a granular structure and a small amount of fiber. The bones are easily removed from the fruit.

Benefits:

• culture self-fertility;
• high and regular yield of fruit trees;
• unpretentiousness to external conditions and care;
• the variety tolerates winter, suitable for the Moscow region and central Russia;
• fruits and leaves have strong immunity to fungal infections;
• the culture has good drought tolerance.

Planting and caring for prune fruit trees do not differ significantly from the process of growing plums of other species. Like most plum crops, Prunes grows better in moderately lit places. Allowed planting along buildings or not deaf fences.

Despite the drought resistance, for better fruiting and good taste of the crop, the trees should receive enough moisture. With its serious lack of plum does not die, but the fruit pulp significantly lose juiciness and taste.

Recommended soil characteristics and properties:

• the soil in the place of planting and growing the tree should be fairly loose and soft, heavy clay soils are not recommended;
• it is desirable to periodically loosen up in the root zone of the seedling in the first years of development, this will facilitate the access of oxygen to the root system;
• plum does not like soil with high acidity, in such a soil its roots develop much more slowly, which affects the speed of development of the whole tree and its fruiting.

Culture will not develop well in areas where groundwater flows in large quantities. Do not plant a plum tree in open areas with regular strong winds or drafts.In the winter months, such factors greatly weaken the plant.

Planting young plants in the ground is most favorable in the first months of spring, after the snow melted and the soil thawed. It is better to land in the middle lane no later than mid-April. The pit for the seedling is prepared in advance, in the fall or a few weeks before planting.

The best option is to prepare the pit in the late fall. In this case, there will be able to form much more nutrient humus. In addition, the soil will have time to be loosened by earthworms and will become more uniform.

• After digging the soil in autumn, removing weeds and harvesting fallen leaves, a hole is dug up at the site designated for planting. The depth of the pit for the seedling should be about half a meter, diameter about 60-70 cm. If clay predominates in the ground, the hole should be deepened to 0.7 m.

• At the bottom of the planting holes need to add 2-3 buckets of organic fertilizers. It can be a mixture of humus, compost, kiln ash, manure. Organic matter is mixed with the soil in the ratio of 2: 1. From above, the pit is covered with a small layer of surface soil. It is possible to warm the hole with a covering material or lapnik, so that the process of decay is more intense.
• Saplings are planted in such a way that the distance between the rows is at least 3 meters. In a row, trees should be located at a distance of 2.5-3 meters from each other.

• Landing is better to carry out together. One person should keep the sapling at the right height so as not to powder the neck, the second person will powder the root system and soil the soil. The root neck after dropping should remain at a height of 3-5 cm from the soil.
• Planted seedlings should be regularly and abundantly watered, and feed in the first 3-4 years. Young plum trees begin to bear fruit in the 4th year after landing on the main site.

It is important to know the following.

• Plum trees give intensive basal growth. It should be rooted out or cut down at least 4 times per season. Young sprouts significantly weaken the development of the tree, deplete the root system. This ultimately leads to a decrease in fruiting.
• During active formation of the ovaries, the root zone of the plant should be loosened regularly. It is important during this period to ensure systematic watering. Such measures will have a positive effect on the quantity and quality of the autumn harvest.
• Approximately one month prior to ripening and harvesting, watering the trees is recommended to stop.
• After collecting the main crop should be removed from under the tree surplus plums. Do not allow rotting fruit on the soil. This process is fraught with the development of pest microorganisms, fungal diseases of fruit culture.

Similar in quality and properties of the variety plums:

• "Hungarian home";

• "Hungarian Korneevskaya";

• "Ural prunes".

Since the variety "Prunes" is excellent for drying and harvesting its fruits, you should touch on the subject of preparing prunes for storage.

Description of the process of drying plum fruit.

• For drying and prunes are selected ripe fruit without signs of rotting or insect infestation.
• Plums are well washed in water, sorted by size.
• Next, the fruits boil over boiling water. Additionally, it is recommended to lower the plums into the one-percent caustic soda solution for 20-30 seconds. This is done in order to get rid of a thin layer of wax on the skin of the fruit. However, drying is allowed without this procedure.

• Drying of processed plums can be carried out in the sun, in the oven or in special electric drying cabinets. This process is carried out at a temperature of about 50 ° C for several hours. All this time it is necessary to visually monitor the condition of the fruit to prevent overdrying.

How to cook prunes at home, you will see in the next video.