Apple tree is a long-term garden project, and you should approach it responsibly, because you choose a tree that will serve you for many years.
Everything should be considered: the characteristics of care, yield, fruit ripening time, storage time and many other factors.
For the climate of the middle band, the apple tree Berkutovskoe is perfect. A number of advantages of this variety attracts gardeners who stop their choice on it. In this article we will look at what the Berkutovsky apple tree is: its description, photo, reviews of gardeners.
Inference history
The apple-tree "Berkutovskoye" got its name thanks to the surname of one (or rather, one) of the authors participating in its breeding - O. D. Berkut. Another co-author was G. V. Kondratiev. This winter variety was developed at the Saratov Experimental Gardening Station.
Did you know? This station was founded in 1932 thanks to the initiative of Michurin. Olga Berkut worked here from 1937 to 1960. The varieties created by her are still grown on an industrial scale.
It was obtained as a result of pollination of the Cortland apple tree with mixed pollen of the varieties Anis Rose-striped and Antonovka ordinary.In 1988, this variety was entered in the State Register of Breeding Achievements, and in 1991 it was awarded the gold medal of the All-Russia Exhibition Center (All-Russian Exhibition Center).
In 2005, the variety was listed under the name "Golden varieties of fruit crops".
The apple tree "Berkutovskoye" was developed for the Volgograd and Saratov regions, in which it became the main variety grown on an industrial scale.
In the conditions of the southern climate, the fruits of the Berkutovka are distinguished by sweetness. The north the apple tree grows, the more extra care is needed.
Cultivated varieties are preferable to foreign ones, given their climatic conditions, since their fitness is not an example above.
Biological features
"Berkutovsky" - a unique variety, which is considered universal thanks to:
- high yield - one tree is able to give up to 70 kilograms of fruit;
- stability annual fruiting;
- high taste;
- the ability to long shelf life of fruits - from removal from the tree in October to the very March;
- drought and frost resistance;
- crown compactness.
Perhaps the one item from the slender, laudatory chorus of the merits of the variety is rather a disadvantage - Berkutovsky does not like the humid climate, in which it is prone to powdery mildew infection.Did you know? The inhabitants of Europe used the wild apple tree since the Stone Age, which confirms the presence of the charred remains of this tree in the cultural layer of the sites during the excavations in Switzerland.
Tree description
The tree is medium in size, grows to at most 3 meters in height, so that harvesting is not difficult. The compact rounded crown does not tend to be dense, rather, sparse. The bark on the trunk is gray, smooth.
The branches grow parallel to the ground and perpendicular to the trunk. Medium thick straight shoots pubescent, have a brown-red color. Lentils scattered along the shoot have a cream color. The kidneys have a round shape and an average size, they are pressed to the shoot.
The leaves are round, oval in shape, at the end are pointed, serrated along the edge. The disc itself has a rich venation, somewhat wrinkled, dull shade. Petioles covered with villi, provided on the sides with stipules.
The buds of flowers do not differ in large sizes, they form cream-colored buds. When opening the flower becomes similar to a saucer, it has oval petals of whitish-pink color.
Fruit Description
Apple Berkutovsky fruits have a uniformly round shape. The average weight of an apple is 150 grams, which is higher than the average; the largest specimens can reach 250 grams.
The apple has a smooth peel with a glossy sheen, devoid of wax. Mostly greenish yellow in color, the apple has a reddish blush in the form of stripes.
From the deep funnel, the stalk grows obliquely. Seed chambers are large, contain brown seeds.
Pulp on a cut juicy, white, fine-grained. The taste is sweet and sour, depending on the growing conditions. The tasting score is close to the highest, ranging from 4.5 to 4.8. "Berkutovskoe" is a variety of universal purpose, recommended for use in baby food, it is hypoallergenic.
Did you know? An apple is a sacral fruit that has long taken part in magical rituals and endowed with special power. Events with his participation came to us in the form of legends, fairy tales, biblical stories and other folk forms.
Pollination
The flowers of the apple tree "Berkutovskoe" are pollinated in a cross way, that is, it is desirable that bees be nearby. Not bad if there is an apiary nearby, and even better to install a few bee hives directly in the garden.
We can not allow a situation when only Berkutovskoye apple trees grow in the garden, they will have nothing to dig over. Mutual pollination is carried out by alternating with pollinators that are suitable for this variety. Such a pollinator can be, for example, the "Northern Sinap".
Gestation period
The ripening period in the fruits of the "Berkutovsky" is late winter. Apples reach maturity by the end of September or the beginning of October, at which time they are removed from the tree and sent, sifted for long-term storage.
Yield
Apple "Berkutovskoe" refers to varieties with high yields. An adult tree, with proper care, can give fruits with a total weight of up to 70 kilograms.
Mostly apple trees love a company of representatives of different varieties of the species, so pay attention to Melba, Sinap Orlovsky, Orlik, Bogatyr, Lobo, Mantet, Currency, Sunny, Zhigulevskoe, Moscow pear, Medunitsa, Bely filling, Silver hoof, Delight, Shtreyfling, Dream Semerenko.
Transportability and storage
Very good apples of the variety "Berkutovskoe" are stored until March, and under proper conditions - until the very end of spring. Due to their high transportability, it is possible to transport them over very long distances.
- Before the first frost harvest. This usually happens in October. The variety is characterized by a high rate of durability - up to 200 days.
- After removing the apples from the tree in dry weather, they are sorted and sorted.
- Rubbing with a cloth moistened with a solution of glycerin or salicylic acid will prolong the shelf life.
- Keep the fruit should be at a temperature close to zero, folded in layers in wooden boxes and shifted with sawdust, paper, cloth or straw.
- The boxes are treated with chlorine lime and dried in the sun.
- Apples are kept in a box down by a stalk.
- Before entering into a warm room, apples should be kept in a cool room for several hours, which will allow them to adapt to new conditions.
Winter hardiness
In the region of the Lower Volga, the variety is winter-hardy, as it moves towards the north, this quality decreases. Thus, it is considered that the variety has average winter hardiness and high drought resistance. In regions with low precipitation, these qualities offer significant advantages.
Disease and Pest Resistance
Apple "Berkutovskoe" is immune to most diseases. This quality decreases as the region acquires a growing climate of moisture in which the variety is affected by powdery mildew.
The tree is exposed to its influence, starting from the blossoming leaves and young shoots, it spreads to inflorescences.
Powdery mildew is fought by spraying spring with fungicides or bordeaux mixture; sulfur preparations will help in summer.
Sometimes the trees are attacked by moths, suckers or mites, against which it is necessary to use insecticidal and acaricidal preparations.
Application
The fruits of the apple tree "Berkutovskoe" have amazing properties:
- promote immunity;
- improve acid-base balance;
- normalize blood pressure;
- purify the blood;
- maintain the level of sugar in it;
- prevent urolithiasis;
- remove excess fluid, reducing tissue swelling;
- beneficial effect on the digestive tract, inhibiting the growth of cancer cells;
- relieve asthma.
Important! If you eat an apple whole, its seeds will provide the body with a daily iodine rate. They contain other useful elements: potassium, which helps the heart, vitamin B17, which prevents the growth of cancer cells, substances that smooth out facial wrinkles. However, it is dangerous to exceed the allowable daily rate of 6 seeds, because it also contains a small amount of hydrocyanic acid, in small doses, utilized by the body without harm to health. Heat treatment also completely destroys it.The grade "Berkutovsky" makes a worthy competition to import fruit brought in winter time. Its fruits are used both in fresh form and for harvesting. Apply them for culinary and even cosmetic purposes.
Eating apples on a regular basis, you provide the body with useful substances, which helps to increase immunity and resistance during the season of SARS.
Rules for buying apple seedlings
If your choice fell on the grade "Berkutovsky", you are concerned about the question of how to choose the right apple seedlings.
When purchasing, it is recommended to follow some rules:
- get better material from the nursery, to have confidence in the variety that you acquire;
- if the nursery is unavailable, you can purchase planting material from an amateur gardener, but in order to protect yourself from deception, it is advisable to inspect its plot and make sure that the sapling of the variety is in good condition;
- be wary of purchasing seedlings on the market, by mail, via the Internet: the risk of fraud is too high;
- Acquire a young biennial tree, at this age it will not be susceptible to diseases and will quickly start due to the fact that the skeletal root has already been formed and the fibrous roots have been preserved when digging;
- care must be taken to protect the root system from injury and close it;
- the root system itself must be developed, skeletal and lateral roots expressed, there should be no damage and growths;
- The bark of a young tree should not be damaged, the buds are soft, alive inside.
Important! If the root system of the purchased seedlings is open, they should be planted as soon as possible, it is permissible to store them in a damp cloth in the basement for no more than 4 days. A copy in which the root system is closed can be stored for several weeks or several months, provided that the soil is regularly irrigated.
Planting apple seedlings "Berkutovskoe"
Planting apple "Berkutovskoe" occurs according to the usual rules, however, there are individual features:
- due to the inadmissibility of excess moisture eliminated planting on wetlands and too wet areas;
- it is very desirable if in the garden there is an apiary with bees that contribute to the successful pollination;
- the distance between the planted trees should exceed 3 meters;
- sections after removal of dry and rotten fragments to healthy tissue are processed with a clay mash;
- bass, fescue, bluegrass
Optimal timing
At what time to plant an apple tree, to a large extent depends on the climate of the region. For example, in the southern regions you can not fear the freezing of seedlings planted in the fall. But basically, an apple tree is a resistant and hardy plant, which with proper subsequent care can be planted both in spring and autumn, and even in exceptional cases in summer.
Planting in the fall
- The seedling will have time to root well before frost, get stronger during the winter and go to growth with spring.
- In saplings planted in the fall, immunity is stronger, and frost in the spring does not pose a threat.
- From the spring snow melt they get moisture, and with it the nutrients.
- By winter, seedlings are supposed to be covered, and the soil is mulched to prevent frost damage to the roots and shoots.
Important! For autumn plantings, one- and two-year-old trees are good, which have sufficiently formed their root system for good adaptation. Older 3-5 year olds should be planted the closer to winter the better. In some cases, it is even better to do this in winter, since a tree in a state of winter dormancy will react more favorably to a change of place and take root with greater probability.Landing in spring
In the spring, you need to wait for the earth to warm up before planting an apple tree in it. In most cases, this is the end of April and the beginning of May.
- You can not worry, as a sapling will transfer the winter.
- In order for the tree to take root, it needs a lot of water, so the spring planting apple must be watered abundantly.
- It is much more difficult in the spring to find a decent planting material, and its cost is much higher.
Important! In the spring, it is recommended to plant very young seedlings, right up to the germinated seeds. Thus, they will have enough time and will be able to get stronger during the summer season.Landing in summer
- The danger of summer planting is that there is a risk of not receiving the right amount of nutrients and moisture.
- After the tree is in the ground, it should be pritenyat from the hot sun.
- The seedling will need to be carefully watered and regularly fed.
- A prerequisite is the multilization of the near-stem circle.
Important! Such a situation, although quite rare, is still possible. For example, there is an urgent need to transplant a tree from the place where it grew.
Choosing a place
The north, the more sunny plot you need to pick up. In those regions where there are few warm days in summer, areas on the southern or south-western slopes are desirable. Where the summer is hot and arid, you should give preference to the northern slope.
In flat areas there is no flow, where the cold air will go in the spring during frosts, it can be fraught with the death of flowers.
Step-by-step process
Planting an apple tree is not a long thing, requiring some skills and knowledge.
The pit should be prepared in advance, no less than a month. Its size is 0.5 x 0.5 meters and the depth is 0.7 meters. In its center should drive a burned at the bottom of a wooden peg with a diameter of 5 centimeters, which should rise 45 inches above the ground.
Important! It is very important that the pit was large, and the soil in it is carefully loosened. This is the only chance of quality loosening, then the roots of the planted tree will prevent this.If the gardener has time for at least a month and a half, he must add organic and mineral fertilizers to the ground so that they can begin to decompose and not burn the root system. In each pit 2-3 buckets of compost, peat or humus are brought in, a glass of ash, a glass of superphosphate and about 100 grams of potassium sulfate. A mixture of fertilizers before entering the pit should be mixed with the ground.
In case of very dense ground it is recommended to provide the bottom of the pit with a drainage layer. When it is time to plant, a hole is made in the soil, black soil is poured at its bottom in the form of a mound.
Examined and freed from dry and rotten fragments, the roots are spread on a knoll.
Important! The root neck after planting should rise above the soil level by 5 centimeters. Its location below this level will not allow the apple tree to quickly take root and subsequently deprive of regular yields, higher - will make it suffer from a constant lack of moisture. Correcting something will no longer be possible.Ground into the hole should be poured little by little, each layer must be compacted so that there are no voids left.
After planting, the seedling should be tied to a peg waiting in the hole, making a free loop in the form of a figure eight. This is necessary to prevent sapling from settling and to protect against wind gusts.
At least 3 buckets of water should be poured into the near-barrel circle and mixed with a 5 cm layer. 
Seasonal care features
Freshly planted tree is abundantly watered, mulched around with peat or humus. If the tied-up seedling is still swinging from the wind, compact the soil near it.
The location of the apple tree "Berkutovskoe" dictates the features of seasonal care for it. Basically it comes down:
- to pruning;
- cleaning leaves;
- whitewash;
- summer loosening;
- autumn digging;
- watering and feeding.
Soil care
Drought tolerance as a property of a young tree variety will manifest in a few years, and as long as it is necessary to carefully monitor whether the tree receives enough moisture. The first year, especially in the dry summer, it requires two or three times watering.
Important! Распространенная ошибка - полив небольшими порциями. If the soil is not soaked to a sufficient depth, then only moist roots close to the surface will develop, which will cause the tree to suffer in both heat and cold.It is necessary to water at once a lot in order for the water to reach the deep roots. The volume of water must be at least 50 liters.
Drip irrigation is a great option, not conducive to soil compaction.No less important procedure is irrigation, which is desirable to carry out the method of sprinkling. It cleans foliage from pests and pollution, and generally has a beneficial effect on crown development.
After the irrigation procedure, it is highly desirable to carry out a shallow loosening of the soil of the trunk circle. It will prevent the formation of a crust and provide aeration.
A good option to improve the structure of the soil - siderats, which affect it with its roots. They also protect it from the rapid evaporation of moisture. Grown green mans mow and turn them into mulch. For several years, worms and microorganisms will turn the mass into a layer of fertile soil.
Weeds should be destroyed before they give the seeds distributed by wind, birds, animals. If weeds grow in a circle around the tree, they are particularly dangerous. In addition to taking food away from the apple tree, they are able, with the help of their roots, to lift up the root system of the apple tree, placing it close to the surface.
Weed out the weeds, they can, grinding, leave as mulch. Mulch the soil in order to maintain moisture and improve the aeration of the root system. Peat and straw are suitable for this purpose.
Important! Sawdust is not recommended to use - they will increase the acidity of the soil.Leaning a layer of mulch on the trunk should not be done in order to avoid insects and mice that could damage the plant. Heating a tree can lead to fungal diseases.
Fertilization
Saplings of the first year do not need fertilizer, if the procedure of preparing the pit was carried out correctly - the tree would have enough of the pledged when planting feed.
After the harvest, the apple tree should be thanked with manure or compost.
Important! In the autumn fertilizer complex there should be no nitrogen - it will prevent preparation for winter, which is reduced to the accumulation of nutrients in tissues and bark by the tree. But in the spring of nitrogen treatment will be very helpful, it will help the tree to increase the green mass.For good flowering in the spring and fruiting in summer, the tree does not hurt to give slurry.
Fertilizers should not be made at the very root, you need to retreat 0.5 meters.
Preventive treatment
Due to the resistance of the variety to the various diseases that fruit trees are subject to, an apple tree at a normal time only needs minimal preventive measures.
Prevention consists in double spring spraying of landings with special preparations.
- The first spraying is aimed at destroying fungi and parasites that overwinter in the soil and trunk.
- With the help of the second, they destroy infections and pests that can damage the ovaries that have appeared.
From apple diseases gardeners prefer drugs Scor, Topaz, Hom, Fitosporin-M.
Pruning
In the first years after planting pruning for young trees is vital. Sanitary pruning will form the shape of the crown and save the tree from dead and weak branches.
Thickened crown in adult trees should also be thinned. With the help of pruning they remove the unfertile, withered and diseased branches, providing the rest with maximum lighting and nutrition.
Frost and Rodent Protection
In winter, rodents like hares and mice love to feast on the trunks of young trees. In order to prevent this, the trunk is tightly wrapped with sunflower stalks or fir branches, so that there are no gaps. The bark must be completely closed and the protective layer immersed in the soil to a depth of 5 centimeters. The same measure helps to easily survive the cold.
Apple "Berkutovskoe", being a zoned variety, tolerates frosty winters well. However, it will not be superfluous to whiten the shtamb and skeletal branches from autumn, which will provide protection from frost, and not in the spring, when the effect of this procedure is minimal.
In winter, you should shake off the sleet that has stuck to the branches in order to avoid fractures and other damage.
In winter, fruits grown on their own land, will provide the necessary supply of vitamins. The apple tree of the “Berkutovskiy” variety doesn’t bring much trouble, its planting does not differ from the planting of other apple trees, and the care of such a tree is minimal. At the same time, it has valuable qualities, is adapted to the regions of the middle zone and has practically no flaws.
The tree is hardy, fruitful, frost-resistant and easy to care for, and its fruits have high taste characteristics and are supplied with valuable microelements. This apple tree is worthy to decorate any garden.
