Apple variety Red Delicious

The incredibly popular variety of Red Delicious apples appeared by chance: on a tree with green fruits, one of the shoots suddenly began to produce fruits of a rich red color. This random mutation was evaluated by breeders and bred into a separate Red Delicious variety, which means “red” and “delicious” in English. A variety of apple trees was selected in America, where Red Delicios is the most common and in demand to this day, but in Our Country these apples are loved and often grown.

A description of the Red Delicious apple variety, photos and reviews about it can be found in this article. It will also talk about all the advantages and disadvantages of American apple trees, as well as how they need to be grown in the middle zone.

Characteristic of the variety

At first it was believed that Red Delicious can only develop normally in a southern climate. Only years later gardeners realized that the most important feature of the variety is unpretentiousness: this apple tree practically does not care what soil it is planted on and what weather prevails in the region

Detailed description of the variety Red Delicious:

• apple tree with winter ripening – fruits are harvested from late September to late October;
• trees of medium size, can reach a maximum height of five and a half meters (on a dwarf rootstock – 4 meters);
• the crown of a young apple tree is oval, older trees become flattened-spherical;
• Red Delicious blooms very beautifully, there are always a lot of inflorescences on the shoots, they are large, painted in a pinkish tint;
• branches of medium thickness, many shoots, all of them are well branched – the crown of the apple tree is dense;
• leaves on apple trees are large, dark green in color, their edges are jagged;
• fruits in a mature state are painted in saturated red color;
• sizes of apples from medium to large – 100-300 grams;
• greenish apples with a pronounced crimson blush may occur;
• the taste of Red Delicious fruits is sweet and sour;
• pulp of light green shade, juicy, very fragrant, crispy;
• the peel on apples is rough, thanks to which they are well stored and can be transported over long distances;
• the taste characteristics of the Red Delicious variety are very high, this was the reason for such a wide distribution of apples;
• resistance to disease in Delicious is weak: young apple trees are often affected by scab, the core of the fruit can rot, and the pulp becomes infected with vitreousness;
• apple trees have immunity to fire blight and powdery mildew;
• fruiting begins in the fifth or sixth year after planting (on a dwarf rootstock a year earlier);
• frost resistance is average;
• the yield is very high – about 150 kg from a ten-year-old tree;
• Delicious needs pollinators, for the Red variety, Golden, Idared, Fuji, Gloucester, Everest, Gala and other varieties with suitable flowering times are suitable;
• Delicious apples are suitable for fresh consumption, they can also be processed, canned or dried.

Gardeners from different regions may notice some differences in the taste of Red Delicious fruits. The fact is that apples grown on dry soils in warm climates contain more sugar than acid, their taste is rated by tasters as sweet and sour. In cooler and wetter climates, the fruit becomes sweet and sour.

Advantages and disadvantages

The Red Delicious apple tree is a frequent visitor to household plots and dachas of s. A few decades ago, this variety was cultivated on an industrial scale, hectares of orchards were planted with trees. Today, the demand for seedlings has fallen sharply, but private gardeners do not change the Red Delicious variety, still distinguishing it from the rest.

The reason for this popularity is considered the strengths of the variety:

• presentation of apples;
• the possibility of long-term storage of fruits;
• resistance of apples to mechanical damage;
• high yield of Delicious;
• suitability for growing in difficult climates;
• unpretentiousness to the composition of the soil;
• excellent taste;
• average resistance to frost;
• immunity to certain dangerous diseases.

Red Delicious also has disadvantages, such as:

• poor resistance to scab, rot and vitreousness;
• low adaptive capabilities, which complicates the cultivation of the Delicious variety;
• not very strong frost resistance – in cold regions, trees are recommended to be covered for the winter.

Proper agricultural technology

Reviews of gardeners indicate that the yield indicators of the Delicious variety are highly dependent on the growing conditions of apple trees. Red winter apples will be tasty and large if all the rules for planting seedlings were followed, and subsequently the trees were properly cared for.

How to plant a tree

The gardener must take into account the low frost resistance of Delicious, therefore, for planting an apple tree, it is better to choose a place protected from the cold wind, located on a small hill. The variety does not like high humidity, so groundwater should lie no closer than two meters to the surface.

In advance, the soil in the selected area is dug up on a shovel bayonet, about five kilograms of humus or rotted cow manure are added, half a kilogram of wood ash and a tablespoon of nitroammofoska are added.

The planting hole should correspond to the size of the root system of the seedlings. Usually, pits about 80 cm deep and 70 cm wide are prepared for Red Delicious apple trees. Drainage is poured into the bottom of the pit (broken brick, expanded clay, pebbles or something similar). Then comes the nutrient layer, consisting of peat, river sand and humus.

Planting a seedling is carried out as usual:

1. A seedling is placed in the prepared hole.
2. Straighten the roots of the apple tree.
3. Sprinkle the root system with dry soil.
4. Shake the seedling lightly several times so that there are no voids between the roots.
5. After planting, the root neck of the apple tree should be a few centimeters above ground level.
6. Water each seedling with two or three buckets of water.
7. The soil around the apple tree is mulched with a few centimeters of peat or humus.

How to care for a tree

Good care is the key to a great harvest. All gardeners know this, so they do not save time and effort by paying enough attention to their orchard. You need to take care of the Red Delicious apple tree like this:

1. Loosen the soil or mulch it with organic material to prevent the soil from drying out and weeds. When the tree gets stronger (3-5 years after planting), the grass or lawn around the trunk can simply be mowed.
2. You need to water the Delicious apple tree 5-6 times per season, pouring 2-3 buckets of water under each tree. Watering is especially important during the dry season and in spring, when the apple tree is actively growing shoots and forming ovaries.
3. Top dressing is very important for this variety. The apple tree needs to be fed several times a season, using mineral fertilizers: in the spring – a tablespoon of nitroammophoska under the root, during the flowering period – 300 grams of ash in the trunk circle, when the fruits begin to ripen – potassium salt and superphosphate diluted in water for irrigation. In the fall, the gardener can add organic matter.
4. Apple trees are pruned regularly. In Red Delicious, from the fourth year of life, shoots growing in depth are removed, the crown is thinned out, and dry and diseased branches are cut out.
5. Mandatory preventive treatment of apple trees from scab, rot and other diseases characteristic of the variety. Spraying is necessary even before the flowering of apple trees.
6. Young apple trees need to be warmed before the onset of winter. In the northern regions, it is recommended to plant seedlings highly on winter-hardy rootstocks of local varieties.

Picking apples begins in mid-September. You can not rush to collect, as the Delicious fruits are well preserved on the branches. Store the crop in a cool and dark place with a constant temperature and low humidity.

Variety review

Conclusion

Planting and caring for the American Delicious apple tree is no different from ordinary, local varieties. For a change, you can plant this variety in your garden, but you should not forget to take care of the tree: water, feed, warm.

The gardener must remember the partial self-fertility of the Delicious apple tree: its pollen is only 20% effective, so the tree definitely needs pollinators.