Content
The most famous and popular apple tree in Russia is Antonovka. An ancient 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 flexible; there are a large number of varieties with closely related traits.
Description
One of the most vigorous-growing apple trees 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 a diameter of 10 m. The skeletal branches of the Antonovka seedling are directed upward, over time they take a horizontal direction and bush. They have many branched ringlets, where fruits ripen on the wood for 3-4, less than two years.
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 to the oblong petals.
The fruits of the Antonovka apple tree, as they say about them in descriptions and reviews from gardeners, weigh from 120 to 180 g. Apples slightly ribbed, rounded, and also with a flattened shape, which depends on their location on the fruit shoot. Many Antonovka apples taper toward 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 blush, greenish during harvest, and later turn yellow.
The white-yellow pulp is dense, granular, juicy, with a characteristic sourness and inherent apple variety Antonovka has a magnificent smell. 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.
Characteristic
The result of folk selection of the 19th century on the territory of the Kursk province is the famous Antonovka. An apple tree that poses many mysteries not only in its origin, but also in the abundance of varieties. I.V. Michurin emphasized that only 5 varieties can really be called Antonovka. Ripening time The fruits are also different. They also differ in the duration of storage. Trees growing north of Bryansk, Orel, Lipetsk bear early winter fruits and ripen by mid-September. Apple trees bearing fruit south of this conventional border bear autumn apples in early September.
The Antonovka common apple tree variety is known for its high yields - up to 200 kg. Individual trees produce 500 kg. A record harvest of over a ton was noted. The peculiarity of the tree is to preserve the harvest until harvest; very few fruits fall off. Antonovka remains the main variety for 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 years or more, and grows for over a hundred years.
The first fruits of the Antonovka common apple tree, according to gardeners’ descriptions, are tasted 7-8 years after grafting. It really bears fruit from the age of 10, before that the yield is low, no more than 15 kg. At first, the variety blooms and produces a harvest annually, and with age comes periodicity in fruiting.
The apple tree owes its longevity and productivity to the characteristics of its compact root system. The main, very dense mass is concentrated within 1-1.2 m. This underground center of the tree is located shallow, only 50-70 cm from the surface of the earth. The roots spread deeper and further, but with less density.
Pollination
Like most garden crops, the Antonovka apple tree is among the self-sterile. The varieties are considered the best pollinators
- Anise;
- Pippin;
- Welsey;
- Calville snowy;
- Autumn striped.
Gardeners believe that the apple tree can normally be pollinated by any other varieties. Apple tree Antonovka, according to the description, has an average flowering period.
Fruit quality
The 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, they last for 3 months, treated with antioxidants - four months. The taste and smell become more intense during storage. Sometimes during storage, apples suffer from the disease “tanning” - the color of the skin changes, brown spots appear. The facts apply to winter apples. Those that are collected in the fall, growing south of Bryansk, lie quite a bit. They need to be processed on time.
The Antonovka apple variety is famous for its beneficial properties.The fruits contain many vitamins and minerals necessary for humans, in particular a large percentage of iron. Apples are consumed fresh, baked, or soaked. They make an ancient delicacy - marshmallow, as well as marmalade, jellies, and jams. The apple tree is a favorite of private gardens. Only its fruits are the most delicious for economical preparation: soaking in barrels.
Wood properties
The Antonovka apple tree was bred in a region with unstable, cold winters and summer heat. The tree is frost-resistant and can tolerate short droughts. Characterized by relative resistance to scab, powdery mildew, and 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 did not go unnoticed. 25 varieties created on its basis are registered. The most famous are Memory of the Warrior, Friendship of Peoples, Bogatyr, Orlovim, Martovskoye and others. And some researchers count more than 200 species of the original variety. The characteristics of this apple tree vary slightly depending on the rootstock and soil properties.
Variety options
The most popular are several varieties of the Antonovka apple tree. Their common properties are tree durability, productivity and taste.
Dessert
Created by S.I. Isaev. The Antonovka dessert apple tree, according to the breeder’s description, is a mid-winter variety, obtained from Antonovka vulgaris and Pepin saffron. The tree is medium-sized in height and crown width. The flowers are large and pink. The color of prominent fruits of the Antonovka dessert apple variety is light green, with a tint of cream color and striped blush.The weight is greater than that of the ordinary Antonovka - 150-180 g, up to 200 g. The pulp after collection is hard, medium-grained, sweet, sourness, in comparison, is insignificant. The apples retained their characteristic fragrant aroma.
The Antonovka dessert apple tree has good productivity. An adult tree yields 40-56 kg, the figure can reach more than a hundredweight. Apples with excellent keeping quality can be tasted in March. You just need to maintain a cool storage temperature. Tasters gave the Antonovka dessert apple tree variety 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. Its cultivation area extends to the central regions and the Volga region. In the northern regions, those areas that are located 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 light. Pollinating neighbors are placed no closer than 6 m apart. Using frost-resistant shale-shaped seedlings for rootstocks, the Antonovka dessert apple tree is also planted in the Urals, Siberia and Altai.
Golden
This is also a common and popular mid-early variety. The Antonovka golden apple tree ripens by the end of August. Late summer apples do not last long; it is better to eat 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 part of the aroma of the mother form. Weight from 160 to 260 g.
The Antonovka golden apple tree variety is productive, winter-hardy, medium-sized, with a spreading crown.It produces its first fruits after 6-7 years. According to reviews, it is rarely affected by scab. Demanding on water and air permeability of the soil. Does not tolerate heavy, stone-laden, marshy 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.
One and a half pound
The closest variety to the common Antonovka is the Antonovka one and a half pound apple tree. The variety I.V. was noticed. Michurin in his garden. The tree is frost-resistant, tall, and has winter fruits. Harvested in September, ready to eat within a week. Ribbed, greenish-cream apples reach a weight of 600 g, with an average weight of 240 g. The pulp is aromatic, fine-grained, sweet, with a gentle sourness.
Growing
An old or young Antonovka apple tree grows in almost every garden. Planting 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 planting hole for the Antonovka apple tree variety is large: 0.8 x 1 m, it is better to dig it in six months or at least two weeks.
- The top layer is placed on the bottom with turf, watered, then soil mixed with compost, humus, 300 g of lime, 1 kg of complex fertilizers, 800 g of wood ash is added;
- The roots are straightened, the root collar is placed above ground level;
- After watering, the soil is mulched with a layer of up to 10 cm.
Care
Planting and caring for young Antonovka apple trees requires regular watering. The seedlings are watered abundantly, 10 liters, twice a week. If the spring is dry, pour 15-20 liters at the root.
In the second year after planting, the seedling is pruned: the conductor is shortened and thickening branches are removed. Every year, in autumn and spring, the apple tree is thinned out from diseased and damaged branches. Each gardener, at his own choice and depending on the climate, shapes the crown of the 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 tree trunk circle;
- With the first flowers, dissolve 200 g of potassium sulfate and superphosphate, 100 g of urea and 5 l of mullein in 50 liters of water;
- Before loading the fruits, Antonovka is fertilized with 100 g of nitroammophoska per 10 liters of water;
- After picking the apples, use 300 g of potassium sulfate and superphosphate.
Tree protection
As a preventative measure, in early spring the apple tree is treated against pests with 3% Bordeaux mixture, and later with a 0.1% solution of karbofos. Diseases are prevented by spraying with falling petals with a 0.4% solution of copper oxychloride or 1% Bordeaux mixture. It is better to spray before sunset, late evening.
The tree, although unpretentious, requires minimal attention for excellent harvests.
