Domestic apple

Domestic apple (Lat. Malus domestica) – a long-lived (30-100 years) deciduous tree of the genus Malus and the Rose family (Rosaceae). The native range is considered to be Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Widely distributed around the world.

The tree is of medium vigor, 3-6 m in height, some cultivars grow 10-14 m. There are also dwarf and prostrate cultivars. Fast-growing, annual increase up to 60 cm in height and width. The trunk is large, can reach up to 90 cm in diameter, covered with fissured bark. Crown broad, spreading, less often spherical, ovoid or weeping, can reach 6 m in diameter. Young shoots are pubescent, especially near the tip, slightly ribbed. Branches are divided into fruiting and vigorous shoots. Buds are ovoid-conical in shape.

The root system is highly branched, lies at a depth of 1 m, individual roots can grow up to 2.5 m.

Leaves 3-10 cm long, petiolate, coarsely serrate, ovate with an acuminate tip and rounded cordate base, wrinkled, pubescent on the upper and lower surfaces. The petiole does not exceed 1/3 of the leaf blade.

Blooms in April-May for 8-12 days. Flowers 4-5 cm in diameter, on short pedicels, white or pink, darker on the outside. Pollen gray-yellow. A flower lives 3-4 days. Flowers are cross-pollinated.

Fruits vary in size and shape, mainly globose or oblong-globose, up to 15 cm in diameter, yellow, green or red, on short stalks. Fruits ripen from August to October. By ripening time they are classified as summer, autumn and winter. Begins fruiting in 4-12 years.

Cultivars: about 10 thousand cultivars of the domestic apple are known. Summer: Белый налив, Мелба, Киевская роза, Эрли Женева. Autumn: Деличия, Антоновка, Пепинка золотистая, Путивка, Слава победителям. Winter: Глостер, Айдаред, Бойкен, Гала маст, Голден делишес, Джонаголд, Кальвиль снежный, Лиголь, Мутсу, Ренет Симиренко, Рихард, Чемпион.

Planting: It is preferable to plant a seedling in spring before bud break or in autumn 1-1.5 months before frosts. The hole should be at least 80x80x100 cm; the distance between seedlings should be calculated depending on the crown size of the mature tree (at least 5-6 m). The seedling is backfilled with a soil mix consisting of leaf soil, humus and sand in a 1:3:2 ratio; you can also add some peat and granular double superphosphate (250-300 g per planting hole).

Diseases and pests: Diseases: witches' broom, bitter rot of fruit, milky shine, apple mosaic disease, pear mosaic ring, мухосед of apple and pear, powdery mildew, true polypore, common canker of fruit trees, branch dieback, scab, fruit rot of pome fruits, subcutaneous viral spotting, gummosis, rust, flattening of branches, glassiness of fruits, cytosporosis, black canker. Pests: hawthorn circular moth, hawthorn moth, brown fruit mite, upper-surface fruit moth, apple blossom weevil, oriental fruit moth, pear sawfly, pear shoot borer, oak-leaf silkworm, xylophagous borer, western spruce budworm (western unpaired bark beetle?), green apple aphid, winter moth, geometer (kazarka), ringed silkworm, red-gall apple aphid, red apple mite, blood aphid, leaf-mining moth, gypsy moth (unpaired silkworm), common pear psylla, codling moth, fruit and subcortical leafroller, inchworm (pyadeniца obdiralo?), rowan moth, currant leafroller, turnip moth (owlet moth), fruit striped moth, apple spot-like scale, psyllid (medyanitsa), apple moth, apple moth and leafroller, apple codling moth, apple clearwing, apple-plantain aphid, apple sawfly.

Care: In the second year after planting, a complete mineral fertilizer (phosphorus, nitrogen, potassium) should be applied. In winter, protection from freezing and rodents is necessary. Whitewashing of apple trunks is applied in the 5th-6th year after planting the seedling. In the spring-summer period, supply nitrogen fertilizer and moderate watering. Feed the apple after flowering, then after fruitlet drop, and the last feeding at the end of August - beginning of September.
Pruning is carried out in two ways: thinning and shortening. For shortening, remove half of the upper parts of the shoots, and for thinning remove the shoot or branch entirely. The optimal period for pruning is early spring - March-May. Apple trees planted the previous autumn should be pruned before the onset of sap flow. Summer pruning (pinching) can also be applied.

Propagation: propagated by sowing seeds (in autumn - freshly collected, in spring - after 1.5-2 months of stratification), by grafting and by layering.

Uses: apple fruits are consumed fresh, dried and canned, used to make compotes, jams, preserves, wine and cider. Flowers are readily visited by bees.