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The most famous and popular apple tree in Our Country is Antonovka. An old variety of apples is also found in Siberia. The tree is valued for its productivity, unpretentiousness, and the fruits for their characteristic captivating smell and versatility. The Antonovka variety is very plastic; there are a large number of varieties with closely related traits.
Description
One of the most vigorous in the garden will be the Antonovka apple tree. The height of the tree reaches 5-6 meters. Young trees have a conical crown, but with age it becomes wider, resembling a flattened sphere in outline. Sometimes it reaches 10 m in diameter. The skeletal branches of the Antonovka seedling go up, eventually take a horizontal direction and bush. They have a lot of branched annelids, where on wood 3-4, less than two years old, fruits ripen.
Bright green leaves with large stipules, oblong-ovate, wrinkled, serrated. Short petioles are located perpendicular to the shoot. Large flowers are white, with a pink tint of oblong petals.
The fruits of the Antonovka common apple tree, as gardeners say about them in descriptions and reviews, weigh from 120 to 180 g. Apples are slightly ribbed, rounded, and also with a flattened shape, which depends on their location on the fruit shoot. Many Antonovka apples taper towards the top. Near the stalks and above them, rustiness often spreads along the skin of apples. The fruits of the Antonovka apple tree are ordinary with a smooth surface, a barely noticeable matte coating, mostly without a blush, greenish during harvest, turn yellow later.
The white-yellow pulp is dense, granular, juicy, with a characteristic sourness and a magnificent smell inherent in the Antonovka apple variety. Sugar content is 9,2%, one hundred grams contains 17 mg of ascorbic acid and 14% pectin. The taste was rated by tasters in the range from 3,8 to 4,1 points.
Characterization
The result of folk selection of the 5th century on the territory of the Kursk province is the famous Antonovka. The apple tree, which posed many mysteries not only in its origin, but also in the abundance of varieties. I.V. Michurin emphasized that only XNUMX varieties can really be called Antonovka. Fruit ripening times are also different. They also differ in terms of storage time. Trees growing north of Bryansk, Orel, Lipetsk have early winter fruits that ripen by mid-September. Apple trees fruiting south of this conditional border bring autumn apples in early September.
The apple variety Antonovka vulgaris is known for high yields – up to 200 kg. Individual trees give 500 kg each. A record harvest of over a ton was noted. The peculiarity of the tree is to preserve the crop until harvest, very little fruit is showered. Antonovka remains the main variety of industrial and amateur gardens in the center of the country and the north of the black earth zone. The apple tree is a real long-liver, guaranteed to bear fruit for 30-40 or more years, growing over a hundred years.
The first fruits of the apple tree Antonovka ordinary, according to the descriptions of gardeners, are tried for 7-8 years after vaccination. It truly bears fruit from the age of 10, before that the yield is low, no more than 15 kg. At first, the variety blooms and yields annually, and with age comes the periodicity in fruiting.
The apple tree owes its longevity and productivity to the features of a compact root system. The main, very dense mass is concentrated within 1-1,2 m. This underground center of the tree is not deep, only 50-70 cm from the surface of the earth. Roots spread deeper and farther, but with less density.
Pollination
Like most horticultural crops, the Antonovka apple tree is also among the self-fertile. The best pollinators of the variety are considered
- Anise;
- Pepin;
- Welsey;
- Calvil snowy;
- Autumn striped.
Gardeners believe that an apple tree can normally be pollinated by any other varieties. Apple tree Antonovka, according to the description, the average flowering period.
Fruit quality
Commercial indicators of the variety are high: 15% of the fruits of one apple tree belong to the highest grade, 40% to the first. Antonovka apples tolerate long-distance transportation well, lie for 3 months, treated with antioxidants – four. Taste and smell become more intense during storage. Sometimes during storage, apples suffer from the disease “sunburn” – the color of the skin changes, brown spots appear. The facts refer to apples of the winter variety. Those that are harvested in the fall, growing south of Bryansk, lie quite a bit. They need to be recycled.
The Antonovka apple variety is famous for its beneficial properties. The fruits contain many vitamins and minerals necessary for a person, in particular, a large percentage of iron. Apples are consumed fresh, baked, soaked. They make an old delicacy – marshmallow, as well as marmalade, jelly, jams. The apple tree is a favorite of private gardens. Only its fruits are the most delicious for economical preparations: soaking in barrels.
Tree properties
The Antonovka apple tree was bred in the region with unstable, cold winters and summer heat. The tree is frost-resistant, it endures a short drought. It is characterized by relative resistance to scab, powdery mildew, fruit rot. In those years when there is a large spread of these diseases, Antonovka also succumbs to them.
The valuable genetic properties of the tree have not gone unnoticed. 25 varieties created on its basis have been registered. The most famous are Memory of a Warrior, Friendship of Peoples, Bogatyr, Orlovim, March and others. And some researchers have more than 200 species of the original variety. The characteristic features of this apple tree vary slightly depending on the rootstock and soil properties.
Variant sortotype
The most popular are several varieties of the Antonovka apple tree. Their common properties are the resistance of trees, productivity and taste.
Dessert
Created a variety of S.I. Isaev. Apple tree Antonovka dessert, according to the breeder’s description, is a mid-winter variety, obtained from Antonovka ordinary and Pepin saffron. Tree of medium size in height and crown width. The flowers are large, pink. The color of the prominent fruits of the Antonovka dessert apple variety is light green, with a creamy sheen and a striped blush. The mass is greater than that of Antonovka ordinary – 150-180 g, up to 200 g. The pulp after harvesting is firm, medium-grained, sweet, sourness, in comparison, is insignificant. Apples have retained their characteristic fragrant aroma.
The Antonovka apple tree has good dessert productivity. An adult tree gives 40-56 kg, the figure can reach more than a centner. Apples with excellent keeping quality, you can try in March. It is only necessary to maintain a cool temperature during storage. The tasters gave the dessert apple variety Antonovka 4,2 points.
The tree does not test the patience of the owner of the site, it begins to bear fruit already in the 4th or 5th year. The area of its cultivation extends to the central regions, the Volga region. In the northern regions, those areas that are above Bryansk, Orel, Antonovka dessert, according to the description of the variety, will not be able to grow. Its frost resistance does not provide for temperatures below 25 degrees for a long period. The tree also loves space and good lighting. Neighbors-pollinators are placed no closer than 6 m. Taking frost-resistant seedlings of the slate form for rootstocks, the Antonovka dessert apple tree is also planted in the Urals, Siberia and Altai.
Gold
It is also a common and popular medium early variety. Golden apple tree Antonovka ripens by the end of August. Late-summer apples do not lie for a long time, it is better to use them fresh and make jam from them. The fruits are round, with an attractive golden hue. Soft, sweet, with a pleasant taste of Antonov sourness, but have lost some of the flavor of the mother form. Weight from 160 to 260 g.
The Antonovka gold apple tree is productive, winter-hardy, medium in size, with a spreading crown. Gives the first fruits in 6-7 years. According to reviews, little affected by scab. Demanding on water and air permeability of the soil. Does not take out heavy, overloaded with stones, waterlogged soils. The groundwater level in the area where the Antonovka golden apple tree will grow should not exceed one and a half meters to the surface.
Pound and a half
The closest variety to Antonovka vulgaris is the Antonovka one and a half pound apple tree. Variety I.V. Michurin in his garden. The tree is frost-resistant, tall, winter fruits. Harvested in September, ready to eat in a week. Ribbed, greenish-cream apples reach a weight of 600 g, weight on average – 240 g. The pulp is fragrant, fine-grained, sweet, with a delicate sourness.
Cultivation
Almost every garden has an old or young Antonovka apple tree. Landing is possible in the fall, until October 20 and in the spring, at the end of April. Chernozem and fertile loam guarantee a harvest.
Landing
The landing pit for the Antonovka apple variety is large: 0,8 x 1 m, it is better to dig it out in six months or at least two weeks.
- The top layer is placed on the bottom with sod, watered, then earth mixed with compost, humus, 300 g of lime, 1 kg of complex fertilizers, 800 g of wood ash are added;
- The roots are straightened, the root neck is placed above ground level;
- After watering, the soil is mulched with a layer of up to 10 cm.
Care
Planting young trees of the Antonovka apple variety and caring for them include regular watering. Saplings are watered abundantly, 10 liters each, twice a week. If the spring is dry, pour 15-20 liters under the root.
In the second year after planting, the seedling is pruned: the conductor is shortened and the thickening branches are removed. Every year, in autumn and spring, the apple tree is thinned out from diseased and damaged branches. Each gardener, of his choice and depending on the climate, forms the crown of a tree.
The Antonovka apple tree is fed four times a season, watering abundantly:
- Before flowering, 100 g of urea for seedlings and 500 g for adult trees are scattered in the near-stem circle;
- With the first flowers, dissolve in 50 liters of water, 200 g of potassium sulfate and superphosphate, 100 g of urea and 5 liters of mullein;
- Before pouring fruits, Antonovka is fertilized with 100 g of nitroammophoska per 10 liters of water;
- After picking apples, 300 g of potassium sulfate and superphosphate are used.
tree protection
Prophylactically, in early spring, an apple tree is treated for pests with 3% Bordeaux liquid, and later with a 0,1% solution of karbofos. Diseases are prevented by spraying, with crumbling petals, 0,4% solution of copper oxychloride or 1% Bordeaux mixture. It is better to spray before sunset, late in the evening.
The tree, although unpretentious, requires minimal attention for excellent yields.
