Papirovka apple

Synonyms: Alabaster, Calville White Royal, Baltic

Papirovka apple (Malus domestica) – a summer cultivar of the domestic apple (Malus domestica). A folk-selection cultivar, presumably originating from the Baltic region. Popular in Polesie and the Forest-Steppe. Often found in homestead gardens.

It is a medium-sized tree with a broadly pyramidal crown when young, later becoming broadly ovoid or rounded, not dense. Main branches are covered with light-gray bark. Fruits on short spurs. Shoots of medium thickness, brown-olive, heavily pubescent. Lenticels white, sparse, elongated. Vegetative buds flat, small, flattened, grayish in color.

Leaves medium-sized, ovate or elliptic, gray-green in color, almost matte, finely serrated, heavily pubescent (especially on the underside), not curved, rather strongly folded in the middle part of the shoot, with tips turned upward in the form of "spoons". Petioles medium length or long, at the base pale-colored or not colored at all.

Flowers large, saucer-shaped; buds pink, petals white, slightly pink, oblong, with raised edges, closed or overlapping; the pistil stigma at the level of or slightly above the anthers. Blooms at mid-season.

Fruits of medium size, weighing 110–160 g, flattened-round-conical in shape, greenish-yellow, with a large number of subcutaneous lenticels. There is variability in fruit shape. Large fruits often appear three-sided. Many fruits show a seam (a sharp longitudinal fold of the skin). Skin thin, tender, smooth and easily damaged. Flesh white, tender, juicy, of good sweet-and-sour flavor, with a faint aroma. Peduncle medium or long. Calyx basin of medium width and depth, sometimes with slight russeting. Basin shallow and narrow. Calyx closed. Core large, bulb-shaped. Seed cavities large, open or semi-open into the axial cavity. Seeds short, irregular in shape, angular, light brown. Hypanthium tube short, conical. When overripe the flesh becomes mealy. Picking maturity occurs in early August. Keeps for 2–3 weeks. Begins fruiting in the 4th–5th year after planting. The cultivar has medium productivity due to pronounced alternate bearing.

Frost hardiness zone: 4 (-28°C)

Location: prefers sunny, wind-protected sites. Does not tolerate waterlogged or very dry places. Groundwater should lie no closer than 2.5 m from the surface. Not demanding to soil, but prefers fertile, fresh soils.

Planting: It is preferable to plant the seedling in spring before bud break or in autumn 1-15 months before frosts. The planting hole should be at least 80x80x100 cm; the distance between seedlings should be calculated depending on the crown size of the tree at maturity (at least 5–6 m). The seedling is filled with a soil mixture consisting of leaf soil, humus and sand in the ratio 1:3:2; a little peat and granulated double superphosphate (250–300 g per planting hole) can also be added.

Diseases: the cultivar is resistant to scab.

Pests: hawthorn ring moth, hawthorn moth, brown fruit mite, upper-side fruit moth, apple blossom weevil, oriental fruit moth, pear sawfly, pear tube-maker, oak-leaf silkworm, sapwood borer, western unpaired bark beetle, green apple aphid, winter moth, kasarka, ringed silkworm moth, red-gall apple aphid, red apple mite, blood aphid, leaf-mining moth, tussock moth, common pear psylla, fruit moth, fruit and subcortical leafroller, geometer (stripper) moth, rowan moth, currant leafroller, owlet moth (blue-headed), fruit striped moth, apple blotch-like scale, psyllid, apple moth, apple moth and leafroller, apple fruit moth, apple clearwing moth, apple-plantain aphid, apple sawfly.

Care: In the second year after planting it is necessary to apply a complete mineral fertilizer (phosphorus, nitrogen, potassium). In winter, protection against frost damage and rodents is necessary. Trunk whitewashing of apples is applied in the 5th–6th year after planting the seedling. In the spring–summer period provide nitrogen fertilization and moderate watering. Fertilize the apple after flowering, then after fruitlet drop, and the last time at the end of August–early September.

Pruning: the cultivar is suitable for spindle-shaped crown pruning.

Propagation: propagated by grafting onto rootstocks.

Use: the cultivar is valued for its high fruit eating quality, early onset of fruiting, and early fruit ripening.