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The apple tree is one of the most popular fruit trees in Russian gardens. There are two varieties - domestic and cultural (63 species in total). Apple growers grow apple trees for their tasty and healthy fruits, rich in a variety of nutrients, especially iron. They are also good in canning: they make juices and compotes from apples, make jams, jams, jam, and make marshmallows. Apple trees are divided into early, mid-season and late (winter) varieties. The latter are grown mainly for long-term storage, since if properly harvested, apples of late ripening varieties can lie until spring.
Elena belongs to the early maturing varieties of apples. This variety comes from Belarus. It was bred by well-known breeders E. V. Semashko, Z. Kozlovskaya and G. M. Marudo in 2001 at the Belarusian Research Institute of Fruit Growing. As a basis, 2 varieties, no less well-known to gardeners, were taken - Early Sladkoe and Discovery.
Apple tree Elena: description and characteristics
The Elena apple tree bears fruit in early summer, which is appreciated by gardeners, especially gardeners that grow fruits for sale. Apples of this variety have excellent taste - they are very juicy and sweet. It is the excessive sweetness that allows them to be stored for up to 2 months. It is recommended to do this in a dark and cold place.
The apple trees of the Elena variety are very popular among gardeners due to their low growth. The height of already mature and mature trees is rarely higher than 3 m, in connection with which the variety is classified as a low-growing type. Also noteworthy is the pyramidal crown, medium density, slightly raised up, the foliage is dark green.
Apples have a marketable appearance: they are red, spherical in shape with a small depression and a green tint on the rim. Medium-sized fruits. Weight of one 150 g. The skin is smooth and thin. The taste of apples is pleasant, sweet and sour. The fruits are fragrant and aromatic. The apple pulp is very juicy, white with red splashes. The grains are small. Score - 10 points out of 10.
Apple tree Elena
The Elena variety grows best in a temperate continental climate (recommended for cultivation in Moscow and the Moscow region). Despite the fact that it has good frost resistance, in the northern regions the trees will have to be covered with snow.
Landing
Experienced gardeners know that picking a variety is half the battle. You still need to properly plant the tree and provide it with the necessary care. Elena belongs to the category of unpretentious varieties. It will yield crops even in shaded areas of the garden, but not of the best quality, so it is better to choose well-lit ones for planting.
Some gardeners are in a hurry to just stick a seedling from scratch. A pit for planting an apple tree must be made deep enough up to 90 cm, and it is advisable to cook it in the fall. If this is not possible, then the hole can be dug 1 week before disembarkation. Compost (1-2 buckets) and mineral fertilizers (50 g of urea) should be added to it. Planting must be done based on the climatic characteristics of a particular region, but this must be done before bud break. Moreover, in warmer regions, planting is recommended precisely in the autumn months, and in colder regions - in the spring.
Planting in autumn
Care
Apple tree Elena, like all fruit crops, needs timely care:
Watering
In a rainy summer, you do not need to harvest trees, 3-4 times per season is enough. The first watering is carried out before or at the very beginning of flowering, the second - after flowering, the third - during the pouring of apples, the fourth - in the fall before frosts. Moreover, the latter should be abundant (20-30 liters per 1 tree). In hot and dry weather, trees should be watered more often - once every 10-14 days, otherwise the moisture deficit will affect the fruiting and development of apples.
Pruning
To get a rich harvest of apples, you need to form the crown of the tree from the first year of planting. You can start in early spring and continue until late autumn. It is imperative to cover the sections with garden pitch so that bacteria-causative agents of infections do not get into open wounds. Sanitary pruning should be done in the spring. In no case should you leave dry branches on trees, since it is in them that many diseases persist and some pests hibernate. They are cut out, and the cuts are covered with the same pitch.
We cover the sections with garden pitch.
For the first 3 years, the soil under the tree is kept bare, on the 4th it is better to sod it. It is the sod in the hot summer that will not allow moisture to quickly evaporate from the soil, and in winter it will serve as a warm blanket for the tree.
Diseases and pests
Another advantage of the Elena apple tree is its resistance to diseases, from which well-known old varieties suffer. However, Elena cannot resist scab and powdery mildew. It is better to deal with them immediately at the first sign, until the infection has completely affected the tree. To do this, you should start with basic prevention.
- In late autumn (after leaf fall), collect and burn all fallen leaves.
- Remove affected shoots and branches, which are also sent to the fire.
- Whitewash the trees, repeat the procedure in the spring.
- Install trapping belts on the main stem, which will prevent unwanted insects from spreading on the apple tree.
- Treat with a solution of urea (for 10 liters of water 50 g of urea).
The prevention and treatment measures do not end there. After the apple trees have bloomed and formed fruits, the garden is processed again. This time, soda ash is used for spraying with the addition of tar soap (for 1 liter of warm water, 1 tablespoon of soda ash and 1/4 of grated tar soap, mix everything and sprinkle the wood).
As for pests, the gardener should arm himself against the hawthorn, moth and aphids. Each parasite has its own means of destruction:
- Bordeaux liquid, with which trees are treated in early spring, will help get rid of green aphids. If there are too many aphids, you can buy korbofos (10 ml of the drug per 10 liters of water) or make an infusion of dandelions (100 g of chopped greens for 1 liter of hot water, leave for 2 days, dilute the resulting liquid in 10 liters of water and spray the tree).
- It will be a little more difficult with the apple moth. First you need to collect the ovaries damaged by insects, then stir up its habitat (rip off the swollen bark), and then treat the apple tree with enterobacterin.
- To get rid of the hawthorn, you need to ... build a birdhouse. No kidding! Many summer residents do this, attracting insectivorous birds. The birds will control the parasite population and will not let the apple tree be offended.
Top dressing
Apple trees, like other fruit trees, need not only watering, but also top dressing. The first top dressing should be done in early spring - urea (50 g per 1 sq. M) should be scattered over the ice crust. The next time the apple orchard is fed in August with manure or chicken droppings.
For a good overwintering, trees need to be enriched with a large amount of nutrients so that they can easily withstand severe frosts. Therefore, in early to mid-August, apple plantings are necessarily fed with phosphorus-potassium fertilizers, and this is done twice with an interval of 10-15 days.
Top dressing with potassium and phosphorus
Pros and cons of the variety
The key advantages of the Elena apple tree are early ripening of fruits and high productivity. With good care and watering, up to 25 tons of ripe and juicy fruits can be obtained from 1 hectare of the garden. The fruits have an excellent presentation and a pleasant sweet and sour taste. Trees begin to bear fruit early - you can count on the first harvest of apples already 2-3 years after planting.
There are not many disadvantages of this variety. The most important is a short shelf life, but even in this case, there are advantages. For 2 months of storage, apples can be sold (presentation will help with this) or processed into compotes and jam. In any case, for a variety of the garden, the Elena variety can be planted, and those who have already done this have not regretted at all, judging by the reviews on the Internet.
