Apples are perhaps one of the most popular and favorite fruits. The high content of vitamins, minerals, including iron, combined with excellent taste, put apples in high positions among a huge variety of fruit desserts. Among the many different varieties, Renet Semerenko is especially worth highlighting. - apples, the taste of which is well known to everyone from childhood.
Description of Semerenko apples
Semerenko is called differently, however, the correct name is Renet Platon Simirenko in honor of the father of the Ukrainian breeder, who discovered this variety back in the 19th century. Fruits of pleasant green color, asymmetric shape with multiple light dots, somewhat flattened. Fruits harvested in the South have a slight raspberry blush on the sunny side. The variety is considered winter.
Harvested from late September to mid-autumn... Apples are considered winter apples, since the harvested crop is perfectly preserved during the winter months, without losing either taste, presentation, or their useful properties. Trees begin to bear fruit after 3-5 years. Productivity is high with proper care.
Apple trees of this type are self-fertile varieties, that is, not capable of high-quality self-pollination. For high yields, Renet Semerenko trees must be planted in close proximity to other varieties of apple trees, which will be pollinators.
Semerenko cannot be attributed to frost-resistant crops. They are most common in the southern regions.... In areas with more severe winters, trees require additional insulation of trunks in winter with special materials. Heat retention in the soil around the tree is achieved with mulch. To protect against rodents and other pests, the trunks are whitewashed with lime or covered with a chalk solution.
Breeding history
The origin of the species is not known for certain. Lev Platonovich Simirenko, naming the variety after his father, assumed that apple trees belong either to long-forgotten varieties in the West, or occurred as a result of accidental crossing. They were entered in the state register of the Soviet Union in 1947... In Russia, they are widespread in such regions as Krasnodar Territory, Stavropol Territory, the Republic of Adygea, KBR, KCR, North Ossetia and in other areas.
Characteristics of trees and fruits
Semerenko apples can be classified as large enough - average weight is about 150g, the weight of larger fruits reaches 200g... As a rule, apples are round, sometimes cone-shaped, of a pleasant light green hue with a large number of specks, similar to light dots. The pulp is white, juicy with a delicate sweet and sour taste. Apples keep well for several months. After long-term storage, the flesh becomes looser, and the skin becomes yellowish.
Flowers of this species are large, white, saucer-shaped. The trees are not very large, rather slightly above average.... The spreading crown forms a rounded or arched shape. The upper branches grow almost at right angles to the trunk. The bark is a dark gray-brown shade, turning into reddish on the sunny side. The foliage is rich green with a matte sheen, the leaves are elongated, rounded, with longitudinal small notches at the edges.
Advantages and disadvantages
Renet Simirenko's apples have a number of advantages, thanks to which they managed to gain popularity both in Russia and the CIS countries, and abroad. The benefits include:
- Possibility long-term storage harvest.
- Relative unpretentiousness in the process of growing.
- Excellent heat tolerance and lack of moisture without reducing fruiting.
- Early fruiting.
- Taste characteristicsthat are in constant demand by consumers.
But the species has its own disadvantages. Here are the main disadvantages of the variety:
- Low winter hardiness... Not suitable for cold winter regions.
- Low resistance to fungal diseasessuch as scab and powdery mildew.
- The need to plant a pollinator tree of a different variety due to the fact that Renet Simirenko not capable of self-pollination.
- The need for frequent pruning due to strong overgrowth.
The benefits of fruits
Apples are one of the earliest fruits introduced to complementary foods for young children. This is because, with its hypoallergenicity and easy digestibility, apples are a whole storehouse of vitamins, minerals and trace elements necessary for a person. For instance, vitamin C content in ripe fruits it reaches about 7 mg per 100 g. Wherein low fructose content, about 7-12%, which makes the fruit ideal for people who care about their figure. Among other things, pectin in apples helps to improve intestinal motility, lowers cholesterol levels and frees the body from accumulated toxins and harmful substances.
Landing rules
Young trees are planted in spring in early April or in autumn from mid-September to mid-Octoberwhen there is at least a month before the first frost. If planting did not take place until the second decade of October, it should be postponed until spring by digging the tree into the ground. Young seedlings are planted at the rate of 1 m in diameter around the tree and 2.5 m free space around. The landing pattern is as follows:
- First of all, you should prepare a suitable pit... This is done about a week before planting. The hole is pulled out 0.6 m deep, 1 m in diameter. The fertile soil layer on top is folded in a separate heap next to the hole in order to fill the hole after planting the seedling.
- Separately peg should be taken care ofto be used to support the young tree. A suitable stick is burned on the fire from the end that will be in the ground in order to avoid rotting.
- The next stage is soil preparation... It is preferable if it is clay soil with the addition of river sand and humus.
- The bottom of the pit must be loosened, then pour out the prepared soil with a height of about 20 cm.
- After planting the seedling, the pit is filled with prepared soil, fertile land until a small mound about 20cm high is formed. In addition, one or two buckets of wood ash mixed with manure as fertilizer can be poured into the pit as fertilizer.
- After the manipulations the seedling must be watered and tied to a pegusing a figure eight knot for reliability. Watering will require 30-40 liters of water.
- Finally, mulching the earth, for example, using sawdust.
The place from which the trunk passes into the root system, called the root collar, must be located above the surface, otherwise the tree will die.
Tree care
After planting, the seedlings need some care. Apple trees by Renet Semerenko do not cause much trouble to gardeners, subject to a few simple rules:
- Despite the fact that Semerenko endure a lack of moisture, their need to be watered three times per seasonusing about 30-50 liters of water per watering. Fruiting trees are watered before flowering, then before fruit set and, finally, a couple of weeks before the harvest ripens. Watering of young seedlings is completed around the second decade of July, giving the trees an opportunity to prepare for winter;
- Apple trees are fertilized twice a year.... In the spring, fertilizing is made based on nitrogen fertilizers. This is done at a stage preceding the period of vegetative development of the plant. In autumn, fertilize with manure and mineral fertilizers;
- Young trees need regular pruning, overgrown by more than 60 cm. Thus, the preservation of one-year growth occurs, on which the ovary of the main part of the fruit takes place. For more mature specimens, crown thinning is carried out using pruning in order to avoid extreme density and, as a result, a decrease in the level of fruiting;
- Particular attention is paid to the warming of this garden culture with the onset of cold weather... Renet Semerenko perfectly tolerate heat, heat, wind, but frosts can adversely affect them. Before the onset of cold weather, the ground around the trunk is mulched, the trunk itself is tied with special heat-insulating materials. Such measures also help to protect the seedlings from pests, such as hares. With age, the need to tie the trunk disappears, since the tree regenerates well, replacing with new fast-growing shoots those that have suffered from the cold. And the more durable and dense bark ceases to be attractive to rodents and similar pests.
Diseases and pests
Unfortunately, apple trees of this species are very susceptible to fungal diseases such as scab and powdery mildew... The best way to prevent these parasitic lesions is the cleaning and subsequent burning of all fallen last year's leaves, twigs, dried fruits. The apple tree trunk is whitewashed to protect against pests... If it is not possible to prevent the disease, garden crops are "treated" by spraying with special preparations, for example, Euparen or Polycarbacin at the beginning of the season.
In particularly hot and dry years, re-processing is recommended two weeks before harvest, otherwise there is a high risk of scab contamination of ripe fruits. Same experts recommend treating apple trees with special preparations containing copper, in early spring, in order to protect against pests and parasites. Another prophylactic method is to regularly treat Renet with Zircon, which improves the general resistance and endurance of garden crops to harmful factors from the external environment.
Conclusion
Gardening can be a very profitable occupation, be it a large orchard or one or two trees on a small backyard, provided that there will be a responsible approach to business at all stages... An excellent option for gardeners living in zones with warm and temperate climates can be the cultivation of Semerenko apples - Renet Platon Simirenko. Not requiring significant costs and efforts, apple trees of this type bring a wonderful tasty harvest, perfectly amenable to storage throughout the long winter months.