When looking for a high-yielding apple tree for their plot, many gardeners prefer the variety "Zhigulevskoe".
One such apple tree can bring up to 240 kg fragrant fruit for the season.
In addition, the variety of apple trees "Zhigulevskoe" has a lot of other advantages and deserves to grow in your garden. Description of the variety and photos in the article.
What kind is it?
The variety of apple trees Zhigulevskoe belongs to the species Apple domestic or cultural (in Latin Malus domestica) and is grown in Central and Southern regions of Russia since 1936.
"Zhigulevskoe" refers to the group autumn varieties.
Fruits ripen in early September, and in a hot dry year even earlier - at the end of summer.
Consumer maturity of apples comes a couple of weeks after harvest, when the fruit will get the best taste.
Without losing taste, Zhigulevskoe apples can stored for up to 3 monthsthat is, until December and even January.
The safety of the crop depends on the conditions given to it.
It is desirable that it was a cool cellar with an optimal temperature. from 0 to 4 ° C.
Apples are stored in wooden boxes or cardboard boxes with mandatory ventilation holes.
When packed in a container, the fruit is wrapped in paper or interspersed with hardwood shavings.
Autumn varieties include Aelita, Gala, Cinnamon Striped, Lyubava, Kitayka Belfleur, Uralets, Yantar, Freshness, Scala, Ural Bulk, Flashlight, Imrus, Uspenskoe, Prima, Gift to Gardeners, Cinnamon New.
Pollination
Apple "Zhigulevskoe" is self-infertile variety, that is, for fruit set, it needs cross-pollination with pollen of another apple variety.
Plant a variety of apples "Zhigulevskoe" is recommended next to varieties such as "Kuibyshev", "Antonovka ordinary", "Spartak", "Northern synapse", "Skryzhapel", "Kutuzovets" and "Anis gray."
Important! The highest quality pollination by insects is possible only if the distance between the apple and pollinating varieties is no more than 50 m.
Description variety Zhigulevsky
Consider separately the appearance of the apple and fruit.
Apple tree Zhigulevskoe - this medium hardwood with a wide pyramidal or high-rounded crown shape, which it acquires, starting to bear fruit.
The crown is not strongly thickened, which allows the sun's rays to freely penetrate through it to the emerging and ripening fruits. This feature is one of the advantages of an apple tree.
Shoots and tree trunk have a dark brown color.
The branches are straight and raised.
Oblong large leaves of an apple have an ovoid shape with a twisted narrow tip.
The plate of the sheet along the edge is serrated and folded in the shape of a “boat”.
Quite large white flowers bloom early, which is why at the beginning of flowering they can be exposed to spring frosts.
Apples of a grade "Zhigulyovsk" differ in rather large size. Their average weight ranges from 120 to 200 g. There are some instances of mass about 350 g. The shape of the apples is round, sometimes wide ribbed.
The peel of the fruit has a dense structure with a slight oily coating, which makes the apples shine beautifully in the sun. Small rough tubercles are often formed on the surface of the fruit.
The main color of apples is light yellow. It is covered with a bright red blush in the form of blurry spots and stripes, often located around the apple.
This color makes the fruit variety "Zhigulevskoe" very attractive in appearance. Under the skin there are many grayish spots, but they are barely noticeable.
Creamy pulp has a coarse-grained structure and a pleasant sweet-sour taste.
100 g of apples contain: 13.4 mg of ascorbic acid and 202 mg of vitamin P.
Apples "Zhigulevskoe" great for home canning.
A photo
Breeding history
The author of the variety "Zhigulevskoe" is a scientist-breeder Sergey Pavlovich Kedrin.
The variety was bred by crossing the Russian apple "Borovinka ordinary" and american called Wagner.
After the State tests in 1936, the variety was zoned in 14 regions of Russia.
Apple "Zhigulevskoe" was awarded a gold medal at the International Exhibition.
In which regions can be planted?
Apple "Zhigulevskoe" is considered a variety of average winter hardiness.
According to the State Register of Breeding Achievements, he is allowed to grow in Central, Central Black Earth, North Caucasus, Middle Volga and Lower Volga regions.
In more northern latitudes, for example, in the Moscow region because of weak winter hardiness can freeze slightly apple shtamb.
This is the most vulnerable spot of the tree, which requires a good shelter for the winter. Also in the harsh winter on the apple tree can freeze flower buds.
In Eastern Siberia It is possible to grow this apple in the form of a stanza. Such a creeping form during the winter period allows covering the fruit tree with a layer of snow to protect it from frost.
Yield
The variety is characterized by rapidity and high yield.
Apple begins to bear fruit on the 4th or 5th year. From one tree can be collected up to 240 kg fragrant fruit.
Important! Apples of a grade "Zhigulyovsk" not prone to falling to the ground. This property simplifies the harvesting process and preserves the quality of apples.
Depending on weather conditions, apples ripen at the same time in early September.
Young apple varieties Zhigulevskoe bear fruit annually. The trees of venerable age yield a crop in a year.
Also high yields are different varieties: Amazing, Quinti, Korah, Carpet, Uslada, Prima, Persianka, Memory Ulyanischeva, Rossoshanskoe, Sunny, Sokolovskoe, Stroyevskoe, Welsey, Chudnoe, July Chernenko.
Planting and care
Planting work begins with the selection of seedlings, which is better to buy from reliable and proven vendors. Carefully inspect the proposed copy.
The root system of the seedling should be well developed, and the roots - elastic, not fragile to the touch. Diligent sellers must cover them with a clay mash.
By the time of sale sapling must be vaccinated, and the vaccination site is clearly pronounced and covered with bark. Skeletal branches at a quality sapling grow from one main fork.
In order to take root apple tree faster, it is recommended to purchase a seedling of two or three years of age.
Landing is carried out in the spring no later than April or in the fall in the last decade of September.
To obtain a rich harvest it is very important to choose the right place for planting a seedling.
Apple "Zhigulevskoe" prefers open solar spaces.
Places with close groundwater storage are unacceptable. Their level should be not less than 2 or 2.5 meters in depth.
Land required moisture absorbing and breathable. Sandy, loamy, floodplain soil or leached chernozem will do.
How to plant a Zhiguli apple tree? The sapling of Zhigulevskoe acquired by all the rules planted in the garden as follows:
We prepare the pit for spring planting in autumn, and for autumn - a fortnight or a month before planting trees.
Maintain distance not less than 4 meters between apple trees. The optimal size of the pit - 80 to 100 cm in length, width and depth.
Digging a hole, the fertile layer of sod is thrown back in one direction, and the bottom in the other.
Loosen the bottom of a dug hole with a sharp shovel to a depth of about 30 cm.
We throw a broken brick to the bottom for drainage. We fill one third of the pit with the top layer of soil and add organic and mineral fertilizers, for example, 3 buckets of rotted manure, 40 g of potassium sulfate and 80 g of superphosphate.
Mix the dressing with the ground and tightly tamped. The remaining part of the landing pit is filled with fertile soil with a slide. The filled pit should look like a mound about 20 cm high.
In 2-4 weeks after the ground settles in the pit, we begin planting an apple tree. All work is best done with an assistant.
We dig a hole by the size of the seedling root system. We drive a wooden stake into the center so that it rises above the ground 70 cm
Its lower end should be burned in advance to protect against rotting.
Inspect the seedling before planting and remove all damaged parts.
We place the apple tree in the hole so that the roots only touch the ground slightly, and keep it in weight.
Carefully straighten the roots and begin to pour the ground, filling all the voids between them.
The roots are constantly tweaked, distributing them evenly. In no case should they be directed upwards.
Fill the hole completely and lightly crush the ground with your hand.
Make sure that the root neck (the boundary on which the greenish bark turns into brown) 5 cm towering above ground level. Tie apple-tree planted with a loop of eight to a peg.
After completion of planting water the tree with 3 or 4 buckets of water. Pristvolny circle mulch soil, humus or peat layer thick about 5 cm
Important! It is absolutely impossible to add lime and nitrogen fertilizers to the landing pit. This dressing is able to burn the young roots of the seedling.
The secret of success in obtaining an excellent harvest of apples Zhigulevskoe is the right care.
The tree should be provided with moisture, adequate nutrition and other conditions important for its healthy development.
Watering. Watering an apple tree is recommended up to 5 times per month. 2-3 buckets are enough for one tree.Watering should be carried out early in the morning and in the evening.
In the evening, the apple tree responds well to sprinkling - the tree is rinsed from dust and refreshed.
In addition, this procedure is the prevention of pests. In the hot season tree needs watering up to 2 times in 7-8 days.
Loosening the soil. Weeding and loosening the land are a necessary component of obtaining a rich harvest. It is important that the water does not stagnate in apple tree stem circles.
After watering and rains, the trunk circle must be loosened and mulched so that the roots receive enough air. Along the perimeter of the crown, it is recommended to do in the soil punctures about 40 cm deep with a crowbar.
Fertilizer. The first 2-3 years you can not feed the apple tree, since a sufficient amount of fertilizer was applied during planting. If the soil is not very fertile, you can feed the sapling with compost or rotted manure.
Adult plants are recommended to be fertilized three times per season. The first top dressing with urea (about 500 g per 1 tree) or rotted manure is carried out in the middle of spring.
The second time it is necessary to fertilize the apple tree at the beginning of flowering with liquid bird droppings, mullein or mineral nitrogen fertilizer.
After flowering, you can feed the apple nitrophoska or humate sodium.
All feeding must stop no later than the end of July.
On fertile lands, it is enough to fertilize the tree every two years. Sandy soils require annual fertilization.
Crop. Even when planting a sapling, all its branches are pruned to a third. When pruning adult trees, diseased and weak shoots are removed, branches below the main branching and shoots growing inside the crown.
Also cut down branches and shaded by others. It is recommended to remove no more than a quarter of the total mass of all branches, otherwise the apple tree will be subjected to great stress. Cut the branches should be at the very base, so there was no stumps left. All pruning work should be carried out no later than April in the spring.
Flowering and fruiting. In the first season after planting you need cut from 80 to 100% of flowers, to give the tree the opportunity to settle down.
In the first year of fruiting, it is recommended to cut off half of the entire crop at the stage of the laid fruit up to 3-4 cm in diameter.
Thanks to this operation, called rationing the harvest, the remaining apples will grow larger and sweeter. In addition, it will give the apple a chance to better prepare for the next fruiting.
Preparing for the winter. With winter approaching, the trunk circle spud and mulch.
The trunks of young apple trees covered with chalky solution, and adult trees - with lime.
To protect the trees from snowless winters and hard frost wrapped with covering material.
To protect the trunk of a tree from the invasion of hares and rodents, it is laid over spruce spruce branches, reeds or a special net.
Important! Literate pruning of an apple tree allows you to increase yields, increase the size of apples and improve their taste, as well as protect the tree from many diseases.
Diseases and pests
The most common pest varieties "Zhigulevskoe" - it moth, especially its second generation. To protect the apple tree from pest attack, preventive measures are required.
With a large accumulation of pests used drugs "Fastak" or "Zimbush."
These include: digging the soil, cleaning the bark, collecting carrion, cleaning and burning leaves. With the onset of spring on the trunk of the tree set trap belts. Awakened caterpillars rush to the tree and fall into the traps. Gardener can only collect and destroy them.
Not bad helps in the fight against the moth spraying the apple infusion of wormwood at the time of formation of the ovaries.
The apple tree of the Zhigulevskoe variety has a high resistance to many diseases, especially to the dangerous scab.
However spring tree bark may be sunburned because of her dark color.
Spots and cracks form on the trunk, after which the site of the lesion becomes bare and becomes accessible to fungal diseases and accumulation of harmful insects.
Sunburn Prevention - whitewashing the barrel with chalk or wrapping it with cardboard or thick paper.
Experienced gardeners are advised to tie planks to the south side of the trunk. Such a measure may protect the apple tree from sunburn for several years. If the trouble has already occurred, you need to cut off the damaged bark with a sharp knife and cover the wound with garden pitch.
Among the autumn varieties of apple trees "Zhigulevskoe" is one of the most productive. Properly planting a tree and properly caring for it, you can provide yourself with a supply of tasty and fragrant apples for many years.
Watch a video on how to conduct spring pruning of an Zhigulevskoe variety apple tree.
