Apple 'Fukutami'

Apple (Malus domestica 'Fukutami') – a summer cultivar of domestic apple with an early to mid-early ripening period. Obtained from a cross of Jonathan x Ralls Janet in Japan in 1933 at the Aomori Experimental Station. Named in 1948.

It is a medium-vigour tree 3–3.6 m high with a rounded crown. Blooms early, in mid-May. Begins to bear fruit 3 years after planting.

Fruits are medium, up to 150 g, spherical with a slightly elongated apex. Skin is yellow-green with a dense raspberry blush over the entire surface. Flesh is juicy, crisp, moderately sweet. Ripens in late July to the first half of August. Keeps for up to 3 weeks.

Hardiness zone: 4a (-34°C)

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

Planting: Ideally plant the seedling in spring before bud break or in autumn 1–1.5 months before frosts. The hole should be at least 80×80×100 cm; spacing between seedlings should be calculated depending on the crown size at maturity (at least 5–6 m). The seedling is backfilled with a soil mixture consisting of leaf soil, humus and sand in a ratio of 1:3:2; you can also add a little peat and granulated double superphosphate (250–300 g per planting hole).<

Diseases and pests: diseases: witch's broom, bitter rot of fruit, milky gloss, apple mosaic disease, pear mosaic ring-spot, mukhosed of apple and pear, powdery mildew, true polypore, common canker of fruit trees, branch dieback, scab, pome fruit rot, subcutaneous viral spotting, rubbery fruit disorder, rust, branch flattening, fruit glassiness, 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 tube-former, oak-leaf silkworm, cambium borer, western bark beetle, green apple aphid, winter geometrid, kasarka moth, ringed silkworm, red-galled apple aphid, red apple mite, blood aphid, leaf-mining moth, gypsy moth, common pear psylla, fruit moth, fruit and subcortical leafroller, peeling geometrid, rowan moth, currant leafroller, silver Y moth, fruit striped moth, apple spot-like scale, honeydew-producing insects (lapidary?), apple moth, apple moth and leafroller, apple codling moth, apple clearwing, apple-plantain aphid, apple sawfly. Disease resistance: high

Care: in the second year after planting, apply a complete mineral fertilizer (phosphorus, nitrogen, potassium). In winter, protection against freezing and rodents is required. Whitewashing of apple trunks is applied in the 5th–6th year after planting the seedling. In spring–summer supply nitrogen fertilizer and moderate watering. Feed the apple tree after flowering, then after fruitlet drop, and the last time in late August – early September.

Pruning is done in two ways: thinning and shortening. For shortening, remove half of the upper parts of shoots; 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 sap flow begins. Summer pruning (pinching) can also be used.

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

Use: since fruit maturity occurs fairly early, they are mainly consumed fresh.