Apple-tree March

Currently, there are a huge number of different types and varieties of such fruit crops as the apple tree. There are summer, autumn and winter subspecies. In this article, we will consider one of the many varieties - the Martovskoe apple tree. Let's dwell on its characteristics and features, consider all the pros and cons, and also tell you everything about caring for this tree.

Apple-tree March: description of the variety and characteristics

Apple variety March: photo of the variety

Let's start with the fact that the Martovskoe apple tree belongs to the winter subspecies. The variety appeared at the Michurin Research Institute. The variety was bred by crossing the fairly well-known and widespread Soviet variety Antonovka ordinary and a subspecies of foreign origin Mac. Thanks to its "parents", the Martovskoe apple variety received:

• High level of endurance in winter.
• Ability to long-term storage (about 5-6 months).
• Quite large fruits (each apple can weigh up to 200 grams. The fruits are round in shape, and their wide hips are softly smoothed. These fruits are endowed with a greenish-yellow tint with the presence of a red-brown blush, which can become even richer in color during storage).

The fruits of the Martovskoe apple variety also differ in their taste (tasting score - 4 points, out of five possible). Their taste is sweet, with the presence of sourness. The inside is juicy and has a dense structure. Often these fruits are eaten fresh, although they are great for processing.

Martovskoe apple trees are grown on various rootstocks.

If we describe the March apple tree briefly, then: a tall and early-growing tree, which has a rapid growth and ease of formation, and is still quite unpretentious in care. This subspecies is actively cultivated in different regions of our country, Ukraine, Belarus and the Baltic states.

Apple-tree March: features of the variety

The apple variety Martovskoe, like other varieties, has its pros and cons. The advantages of this variety include:

• Quite good yield with a high level of marketability of apples (about 91 percent).
• Sufficiently long shelf life of fruits, as well as good transportability.
• Good level of frost and drought tolerance of the crop.

The disadvantages of the Martovskoe apple tree are:

• Quite high crown of the tree, which makes it difficult to take care of it.
• Insufficient level of immunity to scab disease and other diseases of a fungal nature.

It is also worth noting that Martovskoye apples ripen unevenly, due to which it is impossible to harvest the entire crop at the same time, since immature apples do not tolerate storage well.

The apple tree of the Martovskoe variety is a tall plant, every year the apple tree gives a large increase and can have a height of 7 meters. The tree has a rather wide crown, which has a pyramidal or oval-truncated shape. The main skeletal stems have their location almost perpendicular to the trunk, and the stems of the second order go up at an acute angle.

Every year, young apple trees of the Martovskoye variety produce a bountiful harvest, and with age, a not very pronounced frequency of fruiting is formed.

The average yield of a tree at maturity is 100 centners per hectare, and the highest figure was 220 centners per hectare.By the age of 10, one such plant produces at least 100 kilograms of ripe fruits.

The Martovskoe apple variety has good tasting qualities, has an assessment of 4.2 points. The subspecies belongs to the dessert type, endowed with a sweet taste with a small amount of sourness, the sugar content in 100 grams of the product is about 12 milligrams, no less. The composition of these fruits contains a large amount of ascorbic acid, per 100 grams of the product - 17.6 milligrams. And also they have a high content of titratable acids and P-active elements. The subspecies can be consumed not only fresh, not processed, it is also good for processing. Basically, these fruits are used for juicing, due to their juice yield up to 65 percent, and it is quite sweeter than, for example, the Antonovka variety.

Apple-tree Martovskoe has a good level of endurance to low air temperatures. In rather severe winter periods, there is the possibility of only slight freezing. After the removal of damaged areas, this culture has the ability to quickly recover.

This tree is endowed with an average level of immunity to various diseases. Growing in dry climates, the risk of infection with diseases is low. But being in a cool climate, in rainy weather, diseases can spread at a fairly rapid pace and affect foliage, fruits, thereby greatly impairing the commercial characteristics.

Apple tree March: planting and care

Apple-tree March: photo of the variety

The best dates for disembarkation, depending on the climatic conditions of the area, are:

• In the spring - from March to the second half of April.
• In the autumn period of the year - From the last days of September to the second half of October.

Young trees planted in autumn should be able to take root and adapt before full frosty days arrive. Spring planting should be done before the buds open. If you are late with planting, then the process of rooting and adaptation of a young apple tree may deteriorate.

It is very important to do everything right when planting an apple tree of the Martovskoye variety. Not only the quantity and quality of the future harvest depends on this, but also the survival rate of the plant as a whole. Let's consider in detail the landing technology:

• The size of the planting hole should significantly exceed the size of the plant rhizome.
• At the bottom of the planting hole, a soil mixture prepared in advance is poured (the upper fertile soil layer is mixed with humus, or sufficiently rotted manure, and mineral fertilizers. Too acidic soil should be deoxidized with dolomite flour or wood ash. this is especially true for autumn planting.
• It is not necessary to deepen the root collar, it should be above the soil surface.
• A young planted plant is watered constantly until it is completely rooted.

Before planting, be sure to check the seedling for damage and infection, and you should purchase a young plant only from trusted sellers.

For good growth and development, this apple tree requires enough space, since this tree is quite tall and has a wide crown. Plus, in order to carry out high-quality care of such a crown, you need free access to it. Therefore, you should adhere to such a planting scheme for this apple tree on a vigorous rootstock - 4 by 6 meters.

Apple-tree Martovskoe loves to grow in sandy loam and fertile loamy soils. And also this apple tree requires enough free space, protected from the wind and sufficiently lit. Although this subspecies grows quite successfully in not such favorable conditions, you just need to spend more effort in caring for and attention for this tree.It is also worth noting that this fruit tree produces the highest yield on sufficiently moist soils.

Let us consider in more detail the features of agricultural technology for the Martovskoe apple tree, which include work related to the care and prevention of diseases:

• Timely procedure for weeding from weeds, harvesting tops, fallen fruits and foliage.
• Digging and loosening near the tree trunk.
• Watering and feeding procedure.
• Treatment of plants from harmful insects and diseases.
• Pruning branches and fruits showing signs of damage or infection.
• Whitewashing the tree trunk and processing the cuts with garden pitch.

For the Martovskoe apple variety, the pruning procedure should be carried out in the autumn, after leaf fall, at the moment when foci of infection and traces of damage to the bark are already visible, in which spores of fungi and other pests can spend the winter. Places of cuts and cuts are required to be covered with garden pitch afterwards. In the spring, pruning of branches frozen after wintering should be carried out, as well as shoots that thicken the crown of the tree, having a direction inside the crown, intersecting with each other. They also carry out shaping crown pruning. As a result, the central stem is shortened for second year seedlings at a height of at least 70 centimeters. This will help the rhizome and lateral stems to develop well.

When cultivating only this subspecies of apple trees on a personal plot, it will not be possible to harvest an excellent harvest. This will require pollination by related subspecies. Ideal for this will be: Renet Chernenko, Bogatyr, Sinap Severny.

Features of fruiting and ripening

As mentioned earlier, the Martovskoe apple tree is a tall plant. But this does not prevent him from having a fairly rapid development and early maturity. Reaching the age of five to six years, these trees bring a fairly good harvest, and when they reach 10 years, the yield begins to be at least 100 kilograms.

Apples of the Martovskoe variety have a uniform distribution over the crown and are formed on fruit twigs, as well as on ringlets. In young apple trees, fruiting occurs on a regular basis, but with age, a slight cyclicality begins to appear.

Ripening of March apples occurs in the autumn season, their ripeness comes to the end of September. The fruits ripen unevenly, due to which the harvest should be carried out in several stages, depending on the ripening of the apples.

The Martovskoe apple variety got its name due to the fact that its fruits can be easily stored until March, and without losing their taste and market characteristics. On the contrary, under optimal storage conditions, these qualities improve, while the juiciness is preserved.

Varieties

Apple-tree March: photo of the variety

On a dwarf rootstock. Not only to preserve all the qualities of the subspecies, but also to greatly facilitate the tasks of care can be grafted onto a dwarf rootstock. Moreover, on such a rootstock, the first fruiting begins 1-2 years after planting. This fruit tree on a dwarf rootstock produces less yield than a tall one, but in such an apple tree, efficiency is manifested due to planting density and less labor expended on harvesting. With such a rootstock, the optimal distance between trees when planting will be three meters. There are also disadvantages with the short stature of data trees - this is fragility, as well as underestimated endurance to adverse climatic manifestations.

Columnar. The main distinguishing feature of columnar apple trees is the absence of lateral stems at the crown of the tree. In this case, the crown is replaced by the trunk, on the stalks of which the fruits are attached. Such apple trees begin their fruiting period 1-2 years after planting. They are quite easy to care for, almost do not need crown formation.A lot of costs are spent on planting material, when laying a garden of columnar apple trees, and an irrigation system must also be present, especially in the southern regions of the country. To plant a certain number of seedlings near the house, you do not need a large space, you can make a hedge with such apple trees, or hide not very small landscape defects. It is worth noting that the distance when planting several trees at once on a dwarf rootstock should be no more than 60 centimeters, and on a vigorous plant this distance is 120 centimeters. The disadvantage of such apple trees is a shortened life span and high sensitivity to adverse weather conditions.

Growing regions

• Moscow region. The weather conditions in this region of Russia are quite favorable for the growth of this subspecies on all types of rootstock. Agrotechnical measures do not differ from other varieties, they are simple and do not need special, additional actions.
• Siberia. The main task when growing this subspecies in Siberia is to insulate young trees before the winter period. To do this, the near-stem circles of plants are mulched with humus, sawdust, or shavings. The trunk should be insulated with any covering material or coniferous branches.
• Ural... Due to its good level of frost tolerance, the subspecies winters quite successfully in this region, and also gives out a good yield. The only thing is to support the culture by introducing organic and mineral fertilizing.
• Northwest. In the conditions of cool and rainy weather in this region, the tree can be infected with scab and other diseases of a fungal nature, therefore, a timely chemical treatment is required, as well as the implementation of preventive measures.

Apple tree March: reviews of gardeners

Apple-tree Martovskoe, due to its main distinctive advantages (yield and excellent keeping quality), has become the undoubted leader in providing vitamins for a long winter. In addition to these advantages, a high indicator of marketability and transportability of fruits is also applicable to this variety, due to which all categories of farms can also receive good profits.

On the Internet, you can read a lot of different reviews about the Martovskoe apple tree. Here are some of them:

Apple-tree Martovskoe is a wonderful subspecies for long-term storage. And the main thing is that over time, the fruits only become tastier, and the color becomes redder.

Oleg

I have a Martovskoe apple tree on a dwarf rootstock, I got it after I saw a photo with a description. Every year the tree produces an excellent harvest, and we eat before the new year, and it is enough until spring. Fruits are well stored, we have them in a cold cellar.

Anna

I really like the Martovskoe apple variety, good, it tastes great and has a long shelf life. Some people really argue that scab often attacks. All this is nonsense. Also infects like other varieties, no more

Alexei

I can say about diseases - for the Martovskoe apple variety, elementary preventive measures are quite enough so that the apple trees do not get infected. But the result is excellent: excellent taste, bountiful harvest. I do not regret at all that I chose the Martovskoe apple tree!

Svetlana