Apricot Manchurian rootstock. Ornamental shrub Manchurian apricot

“Apricot steps north” and got inspired. I decided, not yet realizing what a difficult task it was, to grow an apricot at all costs on my plot, in the Moscow region - 80 km along the Novoryazanskoe highway...

I immediately ordered cuttings and seeds. In addition, I bought seedlings of varieties from the Sadko nursery ‘Favorite’, ‘Tsarskiy’, ‘Lel’, ‘Countess’ selection by A.K. Skvortsov and L.A. Kramarenko. The next season turned out to be very successful. Vaccinations on cherry plum (on a standard at a height of 80 cm) gave a huge increase. All 11 seeds sown in a bed (0.3 m high) sprouted and gave an increase of 1 - 1.2 m. Of the 4 purchased, grafted onto the cherry plum into the root collar, three overwintered, and the ‘Tsarskiy’ froze. Others reached 1.5 - 2 meters. In order to repeat Zhelezov’s feat in the Moscow region, I ordered cuttings of the variety 'Academician'. Zhelezov strongly recommends vaccinating seedlings Apricot Manchurian (Armenia With a mandshurica ). I had 11 of them.

Apricot Manchurian.

I was going to plant adapted European varieties on them. But the results of the next wintering somewhat puzzled me - almost all the seedlings died and only three of them had buds close to the soil. I transplanted them to a friend’s plot on mounds, as Valery Konstantinovich requires. Grafts of European varieties also died. We were pleased only with the Skvortsov-Kramarenko varieties. Considering the powerful growth, I decided to take advice from N.I. Kurdyumov’s book “Shaping instead of pruning,” and carefully stretched their branches not horizontally, but at an angle of 55-65 degrees. It turned out to be a kind of vase. The trees grew very well again; at the beginning of summer I was forced to pinch the ends of the vertical shoots.

I really wanted to tame the apricot: in winter I began to attend lectures at the Moscow Institute of IP, bought the book by Skvortsov and Kramarenko “Apricot in Moscow and the Moscow Region” and even met Larisa Andreevna herself. After studying the book, I realized that I had repeated many of the mistakes of my predecessors. After all, in the fall I again sowed apricot pits from Khakassia and the Moscow region, which sprouted together. But Far Eastern apricots do not survive in the Moscow region: they have too short a period of forced dormancy.

It was interesting to learn how other local gardeners grow apricots. visited state farm named after Lenin(agronomist Lyudmila Anatolyevna), Arkady Sergeevich Deev near Kolomna, near Alexander Kotelnitsky, y Ivan Dmitrievich Lukovnikov. I saw with my own eyes both the flowering and fruiting of apricots near Moscow. I was especially impressed by the landings, which L. Kramarenko produced in monasteries, which, as a rule, are located on high places and have thick stone walls, which creates a unique microclimate.

The trees are well-groomed, and therefore bear fruit abundantly every year. The apricots in Lyudmila Anatolyevna’s garden, located in the south-east of Moscow, feel quite good and bear fruit well. I also saw ripe fruits in the garden of I.D. Lukovnikov, located in Kratovo on a former swamp surrounded by forest. There were very few of them. 5-7 year old apricots are grafted onto plum and cherry plum and produce a growth of 50-70 cm. Although the flowering is always abundant, few fruits are set, and not every year. They seem to be missing something.

Not at all suitable conditions for apricots A. Kotelnitsky. His garden is located in the east of the region. Spring comes two weeks later, and autumn comes two weeks earlier than mine. But here's the paradox. My apricots are destroyed by temperature changes in the spring: then it’s warm up to +10 and the buds on the apricot and cherry plum wake up, swell, and then the frost is -5 and below. The buds die, and then the entire tree. And in March, Sasha’s daytime temperature is always 4-5 degrees lower than mine, and the nighttime temperature is approximately the same. We decided that in his situation we should look for the earliest varieties that would have time to better prepare for winter. However, early varieties wake up earlier than others. It must be said that Kotelnitsky knows the location of many wild apricots in Moscow and the region, which grew from seeds accidentally dropped. But they can do a good job in spreading this culture.

Apricots made the biggest impression on me A.S.Deeva- two huge ones, 5-6 meters high, with the same crown diameter, strewn with fruits, and a real carpet under them. Arkady Sergeevich says that in a bad year they give 9 buckets each, but in a good year they don’t even count after 15.

The fruits on these poles are beautiful, fragrant, juicy, tender, sweet and sour. The jam and compote made from them are beyond praise.

Deev went to this for 20 years: he planted, grafted, a lot fell out and he planted again. Finally, he received the first harvest and sowed the seeds from it, and then sowed the seeds from the harvest of those seedlings. Thus, the current trees are already the third generation.

He sows the seeds directly to the place where the tree grows. This significantly increases the apricot's chances of survival. In principle, he does not prune trees; he only removes dry or broken branches. This is probably why the fruits are not large, but there are a lot of them. It seems that this method of cultivation is ideal for the Moscow region: a hill of earth and crushed stone, sowing seeds of local varieties.

Let's summarize. Through the selfless work of A.K. Skvortsov and L.A. Kramarenko, worthy varieties have been created that are capable of growing and bearing fruit in the Moscow region. Provided that a suitable place is selected for it - high, sunny, protected from cold winds. The ideal place turned out to be monasteries, where apricots are also guaranteed perfect care. Not every one of us will be able to provide our pets with a “monastic” microclimate, but everyone can care for them no worse than monks.

I believe that the “northernization” of apricot is even more difficult than the problems that S. I. Isaev with an apple tree and S. T. Chizhov with a pear once solved in Moscow. Apple trees have been growing in Moscow gardens for centuries, and there were at least some pears too. Isaev purposefully crossed local reliable varieties with the elite of Europe and Crimea, and thanks to his efforts we now have the opportunity to choose. Chizhov crossed the Ussuri pear with European varieties and we finally got pears similar to the southern ones. But there were no apricots here since birth; now we already have 14 varieties created by L.A. Kramarenko and her teacher A.K. Skvortsov. Larisa Andreevna is selflessly devoted to her work: she is engaged in the selection and cultivation of apricots, and in promoting them to the north. Anyone who wants to grow apricots here should definitely read her articles and books, attend her lectures at MOIP, where from her hands you can get the seeds and from each of them the one and only apricot tree can grow.

Despite the fact that I have so far had more failures than achievements, my years of working with apricots have not been in vain. I am beginning to understand this culture, its requirements, characteristics. What do you need to make an apricot “succeed”?

Firstly, a suitable place, as we have already said, high, protected. And it is not always possible to find such a place. And sometimes everything seems to fit, but not grow together. For example, for both me and L.A. Kramarenko, apricot varieties from Khakassia live for 2-3 years and disappear. And on my friend’s plot they have been doing great for 5 years now. Here's the paradox. I choose the warmest place, and there is a forest nearby, and in early spring from 11 to 14 o’clock the apricots are in the shade. Maybe this is what protects them from a premature start, and planting next to the house, near the southern wall, on the contrary, provokes an early awakening of the plants. Each site is special, with its own pros and cons. We must work persistently, without giving up, observe, draw conclusions and gradually move forward.

Secondly. We take the seeds of varieties near Moscow and sow them on mounds of fertile soil, mixed with crushed stone, 30-40 cm high. Why a mound? Because the seedlings of varieties near Moscow, which delighted me for two summers, died in the third year. And not from the frost, they woke up early, but the ground remained frozen for a long time and the roots did not have time to connect in time. I have grass in my garden.

I mow the grass and scatter it under the crowns of weakened or newly planted plants. Grass growing between the rows, in the case of “black” conditions, i.e. in the absence of snow cover and frosts, will protect the soil from excessive freezing and root system trees. But at the same time, the ground underneath it warms up more slowly in the spring, and this turns out to be very dangerous.

From the same category is the most harmful advice, often found in the gardening press, to trample the snow under the trees in the spring, sprinkle sawdust there so that the trees wake up as late as possible and their flowers do not fall under recurrent frosts. This is just stupidity. Cut a twig from a tree in winter, put it in water in the house and in the warmth it will immediately come to life, leaves and flowers will appear, but as soon as the reserve of strength runs out, everything will end, the twig will wither. The same thing happened to me when the ground was deeply frozen. That is why it should be planted on a hill, which is cleared of snow earlier and warms up quickly (because it is black). In this case, stagnation of melt water is eliminated, which leads to heating of the root collar, especially in apricot, cherry plum, and felt cherry.

Thirdly.If you decide to re-graft an apricot, then it is best to graft it onto a seedling that is already growing in place. You can graft on both cherry plum and plum, but it is better on apricot, so as not to bother with shoots, which are abundant in other rootstocks. Having listened to a lot of other people's advice, I tried to graft on the turn. My experience has taught me, leaving no doubt, that this should not be done: the blackthorn influences the scion too much - the growing season shifts, the fruits become smaller, and their taste deteriorates. Plus the constant struggle with growth. I refused him.

As a rootstock for apricots I use plum and cherry plum seedlings. But I was convinced that it is best to graft onto apricot seedlings. V. Zhelezov proves that this improves the taste and size of the fruit. Now I even graft plums and cherry plums onto apricots.

Fourthly.I vaccinate as low as possible. It is believed that at an altitude of 1.2 m the temperature is higher than at the level of snow cover. But who knows how high the snow cover will be: 1 m or 20 cm. My grafts taken high fall out not because they freeze, but because they wake up early after the first spring thaw. I am friends with V.K. Zhelezov, he willingly shares his experience and annually sends me cuttings of his the best varieties. However, not everything that bears fruit well in the south of Siberia takes root here. Some varieties of cherry plum, for example, can wake up already in December if it is warm. They “think” that spring has come. It turns out that November frosts were enough for them to go through the dormant period. If the vaccinations are done below, then they end up under the snow and have a much greater chance of survival.

Fifthly.I have seedlings in a low bed. I don’t indulge in fertilizing or watering. I only water it if there is no rain for a month. In May I cover the soil with a layer of 8-10 cm of mown grass, and in October with compost. For pests in early spring and autumn, when the leaves begin to fly off, I spray the trees with an 8% urea solution (800 g per 10 liters). I try to use only biological products. To increase the immunity of plants, I give them Albit or an infusion of herbs.

More than once I have seen apricots near Moscow both in bloom, with thousands of bees circling over them, and in fruit. I believe that soon, thanks to our efforts, such a sight will become familiar and the apricot will overtake the grapes on its journey to the north.

Irina MARAKHOVSKAYA, gardener-researcher, Moscow.

received from "Armenia", which was previously mistakenly considered the birthplace of apricot. From ancient Sogdiana (Central Asia), where apricot was widely cultivated, it was transferred by the Arabs to the Mediterranean countries. The Arabs called it "attaikuk", the Spaniards remade it into "albaricoque", the French in their own way renamed it "abricot", hence the German "Abrikosse" and the Russian "apricot".

The genus contains 8 species growing in Eastern, Central, Middle and Minor Asia, and the Caucasus. These are small trees 5-12 m tall or large shrubs with a wide crown and deep root system. The leaves are simple, up to 12 cm, oval, pointed, on long petioles. The flowers are regular, large, white-pink, with a pleasant scent. Fruits are yellow or orange, fleshy or dry drupes mostly velvety.

In 1654, near Moscow, in the royal Izmailovsky garden, 19 “overseas” trees were planted: among them 4 “peach plum” trees and 2 “apricot apple” trees. A few decades later, apricots could be found in the gardens of many boyars; they also grew in monasteries, and by the beginning of the 18th century they were already grown in open ground in regions of southern Russia. Now small apricot orchards and individual trees are found in the Oryol, Tula, Kaluga, Ryazan and Moscow regions.

Breeding work to create winter-hardy forms of apricot in middle lane Russia was started by I.V. Michurin in late XIX centuries. In the twentieth century, it was continued by breeders M. M. Ulyanishchev, A. N. Venyaminov in the Voronezh region and A. K. Skvortsov in the Moscow region. By changing several generations of trees, Professor A.K. Skvortsov managed to obtain selected forms of apricot, which are particularly resistant to the climate of central Russia. Here are their names: Iceberg, Alyosha, Varyag, Aquarius, Delight, Guiani, Countess, Yellow, Zeus, Lel, Monastic, Hurricane, Tsarsky, Edelweiss. The fruits ripening on these trees are not large, weighing 15-20 grams, and not as sweet as those from the south. But jam, compotes and jellies from them are of excellent quality. To preserve the collection, small apricot orchards are currently planted on the territory of monasteries in Moscow, the Moscow region and the Kaluga region.

Moscow apricots are quite frost-resistant and can withstand a gradual decrease in temperature to -30C. But frost resistance - just one of the many factors that determine winter hardiness. Winter hardiness refers to the entire range of known and unpredictable weather conditions that affect plants during the winter. Apricot trees, especially their flower buds, are very sensitive to sudden temperature changes. Thaws provoke the beginning of chemical, biochemical and structural changes in them. If a thaw is followed by a sharp drop in temperature, the flower buds are seriously damaged or even die. Low negative temperatures that persist for a long time also lead to their damage. The death of flower buds in the spring during flowering, which often happens in the southern regions, is almost never observed in the Moscow region; over a twenty-year period, such cases were noted only in certain areas with an unfavorable climate.

In addition to the widely known common apricot (Armeniaca vulgaris) is grown in central Russia Apricot Manchurian(Armeniaca mandschurica) and Siberian apricot (Armeniaca sibirica). The last two species are much more winter-hardy and grow successfully in Siberia and the Far Eastern region of our country. Of course, the fruits of the common apricot, which spread with the help of humans from Italy to Armenia (in honor of which the genus of these trees received its Latin name) and from Europe to Australia, compare favorably in size and taste with the fruits of the “Manchurian” and “Siberian”. But it’s extremely difficult to grow them in a harsh climate. The gardener should also think about fungal diseases and insect pests, which cause a lot of trouble in southern apricot orchards. In this regard, his brothers are also more resilient.

When eaten fresh, the fruits of Manchurian and especially Siberian apricots are unlikely to bring much pleasure - they do not have a very sweet, rather grassy taste. But in processed form (dried, jam, jam, compotes) they are not inferior to the fruits of cultivated apricots. From the point of view of obtaining a harvest, it is preferable to use Manchurian apricot, whose fruits are larger, more juicy, and the tree itself is more impressive in size. This species can rightfully be considered an ornamental fruit species.

Pictured on the left: apricot blossom

	Apricot Manchurian- Armeniaca mandschurica (Maxim.) Skvortz. It grows in groups or singly on dry, steep southern slopes, in oak forests of the Primorsky Territory, the northern part of Korea and Northeast China. Quite widely distributed in culture both in the collections of botanical institutions and in the landscaping of cities in Europe, Central Asia, Siberia, East Asia, and North America.
	Pictured on the left: apricot Manchurian

Deciduous tree 10-15 m high, with a trunk diameter of up to 45 cm, with a spreading openwork crown. The bark on the trunks is dark gray, deeply cracked, reminiscent of velvet bark. Young shoots are green or reddish-brown, shiny. Leaves are 5-12 cm long, from lanceolate-oval to ovate or broadly oval, on growth shoots much larger than on fruiting shoots, glabrous, long-pointed, roughly double-serrate along the edge. In spring they are light green, in summer - green, light green below, in autumn - cinnabar-red, remaining on the branches until deep frosts. The flowers are large, light pink or pink, solitary or in bunches on short stalks. Flowering duration is 10-11 days. The fruits are up to 2.5 cm, orange-yellow, pubescent, and contrast beautifully with the dark foliage.

	Apricot lives for more than 100 years. Winter-hardy. It is photophilous, undemanding to soil, grows on any type of soil, including rocky ones, but develops best on fertile, drained, loamy soils. It responds well to liming and does not withstand soil salinity. The best planting time is April. Wind, smoke and gas resistant. Gives abundant growth. Tolerates pruning. Grows quickly.
	Pictured on the left: apricot Manchurian

Exclusively decorative appearance. Effective during flowering and fruiting, in single and small group plantings in combination with birch, oak, and conifers. The deep root system of apricot allows it to be used to secure slopes, river banks and irrigation systems. In culture since 1900.

Winter hardiness is high, it grows in the north of the middle zone up to St. Petersburg, slightly freezing in particularly cold winters. Propagation by stratified seeds and spring cuttings, the rooting rate of which reaches 75% without treatment with stimulants.

According to the size of the fruits they are distinguished large-fruited(f. macrocarpa) and small-fruited(f. microcarpa) forms.

Location: apricots are light-loving, undemanding to soil conditions, grow best in deep, well-aerated soils containing lime. They are drought and wind resistant, avoid stagnation of moisture and salinity, and grow quickly. The best areas for growing apricots are the southern, southeastern and southwestern directions from Moscow. The site must be protected from north winds. Lowlands where cold air flows are unsuitable. Choose a sunny place: apricots need to get as much heat as possible during the summer, this will help them survive the winter safely.

Care: in the middle zone, apricot needs regular watering, especially after transplants and during growth, in May - June. In the second half of summer, plants are watered only during drought, which is rarely observed in the Moscow region. In other cases, excessive watering in August can cause protracted growth of shoots that will not ripen by winter and will freeze. WITH early age In late autumn and early spring, the trunks and main skeletal branches of the tree are whitened, adding copper sulfate to the whitewashing. Wounds and frost holes on the trunk at the end of April - in May are cleaned down to living tissue and covered with garden varnish or kuzbaslak.

Apricots grow quickly and produce their first harvest on average in the fifth to seventh year. For more effective pollination, it is advisable to have at least two seedlings on the site, and even better - three or four. With continuous cultivation and proper care, trees can bloom in the third or fourth year. Flower buds are formed on plants every year, even when they are heavily loaded with harvest. The crown of apricots is formed naturally.

Reproduction: seeds that remain viable for up to a year, and grafting. Seeds are sown in autumn or spring after three months of stratification.

Locally adapted apricot trees can be grown from seed kernels extracted from fruit purchased at the market. There is no need to take seeds of Armenian and imported, too large fruits for sowing. They are planted immediately, without drying out, to a depth of 5-6 cm, which ensures almost 100% germination. Unlike pomaceous plants, in which, as a rule, wild plants grow from their seeds, stone fruits produce both wild plants and seedlings, which can later even surpass the parent forms in the quality of fruits.

Early in spring, in March, annual seedlings are pruned. This pruning is then carried out annually. First of all, weak, frozen branches and their ends are removed, shoots that are too long and powerful are shortened, and excess shoots that thicken the crown are cut out into rings. All sections are covered with garden varnish or thickly rubbed paints (red lead, ocher, soot), diluted natural drying oil. If seedlings grow in a garden bed, they are transplanted to a permanent place at the age of two, immediately after the snow melts or in September - October. On fertile, structural soil, it is enough to dig a hole the size of the roots. On clay, peat or sandy soil, make it deeper and wider, arrange drainage at the bottom and fill the hole with a nutrient mixture. The very best - grow trees without transplanting.

Having collected the first harvest, the seed seeds are planted in the ground immediately after being extracted from the fruit. The grown seedlings will be a second generation of apricots, much more tolerant of the local climate.

Usage: exceptionally beautiful during the flowering period, when the shoots (before the leaves bloom) are completely covered with large pink flowers. They are elegant in the autumn decoration of bright leaves and at the time of fruiting. Can be used to decorate gardens, parks, forest parks, squares, in intra-block landscaping, in single and group plantings. Apricot flowers exude a pleasant honey aroma - After all, the apricot is a wonderful, the earliest honey plant. Among the beautifully flowering tree species, low almond, Daurian rhododendron, and forsythia bloom at the same time.

Apricot Manchurian - incredible beautiful plant, capable of becoming the pride and central place of a garden plot. An exceptionally beautiful tree during the flowering period is completely strewn with large pink flowers.

It is no less elegant in the autumn decoration of bright foliage, as well as at the time of fruiting. Characterized by durability (life expectancy more than 100 years), Manchurian apricot is planted on garden plots, used to decorate parks and squares in both single and group plantings. Thanks to its deep root system, such a tree is used to secure river banks, slopes, and irrigation systems. IN natural conditions grows in the Far East, in Eastern Siberia, northeastern China.

Breeders have bred decorative Manchurian. In particular, the East Siberian apricot is a derivative of the Manchurian apricot and is characterized by aromatic, tasty fruits.

Apricot Manchurian: description

The height of the plant is 10-15 meters with a half-meter trunk diameter. The crown is spreading and openwork. The bark is dark gray and deeply cracked. Leaves are 5-12 cm in size, oval in shape; in the fall they turn red and remain on the tree until frost.

The pink flowers of apricot, which is the earliest honey plant, exude an incredible honey aroma. Small in size (about 2.5 cm), they are located on short stalks in several pieces or singly. Manchurian apricot blooms annually and profusely. Such a magnificent spectacle is observed in April-early May and lasts only 12 days.

The first harvest of Manchurian apricot, reviews of the beauty of which encourage you to acquire such a plant on your plot, comes in the 5-7th year of planting. For effective pollination, it is recommended to have several such trees on the site.

The fruits are flattened-oval, medium-sized, pubescent, orange-yellow, weighing from 15 to 20 grams, ripen in mid-summer and are inferior in sweetness to their southern relatives. Bitter-sour taste. But despite this seemingly small drawback, they make excellent jams, jellies, preserves and compotes.

Apricot Manchurian: planting

The seeds of such a plant remain viable for several years and, when planted in autumn, produce from 50 to 90% of young plants. It is recommended to first immerse the seeds in water: the floating specimens must be removed, as they are not suitable for planting. It is useful to stratify. When planting, the planting depth is 1 cm. The emerging seedlings need careful care: watering, loosening, removing weeds, mulching the soil. After 2 years, young plants can be transplanted to a permanent place of growth.

Features of care

This tree is not fussy to care for: it is important to provide it with regular watering, especially after transplantation and during the growth process. In the second half of summer, feeding should be done only during drought. Excessive watering can cause prolonged growth of shoots, which will not have time to ripen by winter and will freeze.

Manchurian apricot (photo in the article) is a frost-resistant plant that can survive temperatures below 30 o C.

It grows on any type of soil and produces abundant growth and loves plenty of light. If groundwater is close, the plant should be provided with good drainage. This could be a 20 cm layer of crushed stone.

Pre-winter preparation includes covering young plants with spruce branches near the root collar. If frost damages annual shoots, the latter must be pruned.

Twice a year it is necessary to whitewash the tree trunk. If there is damage, such places must be cleaned down to the living area and applied to them.

Plant pruning

It is recommended to promptly remove dry and diseased branches from the tree. It is also worth keeping in mind that Manchurian apricot does not have the ability to control its own harvest: almost all normally formed ovaries will turn into fruits firmly attached to the branches. The plant may be overloaded with the harvest, which will weaken the growth of new shoots. Therefore, annual anti-aging pruning is a necessary factor in plant care.

Of the pests, Manchurian apricot can be affected spider mite, cherry elephant, aphids; diseases - perforated spot and verticillium.

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Apricot Manchurian - photo on the left ( Prunus mandschurica, Armeniaca mandschurica) . This is a deciduous tree growing in Eastern Siberia, northeast China, and the Far East. Its maximum height is 10 - 15 meters. Manchurian apricot is grown not only as a fruit tree, but also decorative.

Apricot Manchurian as a decorative tree. It has a spectacular appearance in single and group plantings. Good for creating hedges. Wind-, smoke-, gas-resistant. Combines when planted in a group with conifers, birch, and oak. Thanks to its deep root system, it can be used to secure slopes and the banks of reservoirs.

Manchurian apricot as a fruit tree. The fruits are edible, but slightly sour and medium-juicy, so they are used to prepare desserts and are almost never consumed fresh. They ripen in the summer: July - August. The fruits themselves have a flattened oval shape, small size (about 2.5 cm), orange-yellow color and pronounced pubescence. The kernels are used as an almond substitute.

Frost-resistant fruit varieties are hybrids. There are fruit varieties of Manchurian apricot, or rather hybrids of Manchurian and ordinary apricot, which have increased frost resistance, due to which they can be grown in the middle zone, in Siberia and the Urals; they can also be large-fruited or small-fruited. In particular, a hybrid of the Manchurian apricot and the common apricot is the East Siberian apricot with very tasty aromatic fruits, in no way inferior in taste to the southern species.

These varieties include: “Pikantny”, “Uralets”, “Pervenets”, “Akbashevsky”, “Honey”, “Chelyabinsky early”, etc.

Toothed leaves of various shapes, lighter below, give the crown an openwork and decorative appearance. The shape of the leaves ranges from elongated-pointed to ovoid, broadly oval. Wider leaves are located on growth shoots. The leaves are red in autumn and remain on the tree for a long time (until severe frosts). The bark is dark gray, with deep cracks.

Manchurian apricot blossoms. Apricot blossoms are very decorative. The tree usually blooms at the end of May for 10 days. The flowers are pinkish-white or pink, five petals and appear before the leaves, collected in groups or found solitary. During flowering and fruit ripening, Manchurian apricot looks good next to coniferous trees, also in group plantings with birch and oak. The flowers emit a honey smell, and the tree belongs to the group of early honey plants. The flowering period coincides with the flowering of forsythia, Daurian rhododendron, and low almond.

Apricot Manchurian:frost resistance, planting,care, use. It is one of the most frost-resistant apricot species. Suitable for growing in central Russia, and in the conditions of St. Petersburg it can freeze slightly in harsh winters.

Landing. Unpretentiousness to soil is another important property of Manchurian apricot. It grows well even on rocky and calcareous soils, and grows naturally on mountain slopes and rocks. However, it is preferable to choose well-drained fertile loams for planting it. The tree is smoke and gas resistant, so it is not afraid of urban conditions and drought. The rapid growth of Munchurian apricot slows down somewhat over the years. It is better to choose a sunny location where fruiting is more abundant.

Care. Manchurian apricot is not difficult to care for. In central Russia, a tree can be watered in May - June, and then only in drought conditions. Prolonged drought causes slower growth and later ripening of fruits. Whitewashing the trunk can be done twice a year: in late autumn and early spring. In principle, such care is recommended for all fruit trees. In the presence of damage and wounds, the trunk is first cleaned to an area of ​​healthy tissue and smeared with garden varnish. For the correct formation of the tree crown and better yield, apricot needs pruning, which it tolerates well. Also, it should be remembered that Manchurian apricot is not a self-fertile tree, and therefore requires cross-pollination to obtain good harvest. Therefore, there should be several additional varieties of apricot on the site, ideally 3 - 4 trees. The first fruiting is observed at 5 - 6 years of life, and with careful care and the absence of transplants - at 3 - 4 years. Fruiting occurs annually.

Usage . Manchurian apricot is decorative during the flowering and fruiting period. It invariably decorates gardens, city parks, and public gardens. Looks good both in single and alley and group plantings (next to conifers, Mongolian oak, Manchurian birch, Amur linden, Amur velvet, etc.). Manchurian apricot can be planted along reservoirs to strengthen coastal soils, as well as slope soils, which it reliably protects from landslides. The fruits of this type of apricot are rarely eaten raw, but they are used to make aromatic jam, preserves or compote.

Manchurian apricot is a picturesque tree that can become a decoration and pride orchard on your personal plot. These trees also look beautiful in the form of hedges along fences or forest belts. During the flowering period, apricots are enveloped in an amazingly beautiful pink haze of large fragrant flowers. The features of growing this ornamental tree with edible fruits at home will be discussed in the article.

Botanical description

Manchurian apricot, in Latin - Prúnus mandschúrica, belongs to the Plum genus. This tree is up to 15 meters in height, with filigree foliage and a lush crown, throwing out many shoots. The bark is dark gray in color and cracks in deep furrows.
The flowers are pink, more than 2 cm in size, arranged on branches in groups or singly, on short stalks. The tree blooms profusely, every spring from April-May, for about 12 days.

The leaves grow up to 12 cm, have a broadly oval, double-serrate shape, with pointed tips.

The fruits are small, up to 2.5 cm in diameter, yellowish-orange, velvety-pubescent. Ripening time is from the end of July. The fruit seed easily grows into a tree that can live for more than 100 years.

Distribution and ecology

Manchurian apricot is a rare plant listed in the Red Book. It grows in China in the northeastern provinces, northern Korea, as well as in the vast southern territory of the Primorsky Territory in Russia.
This tree can tolerate both drought and low temperatures. Loves a sufficient amount of light, but is not demanding on soil: it can grow even on dry mountain slopes.

Manchurian apricot has a large and branched root system, so it is good to plant it along reservoirs to strengthen the coastline, as well as slopes to protect them from landslides.

Did you know? Manchurian apricots got their name in the 18th-19th centuries from the area in northeast China - Manchuria, where they were widespread. Later, when these trees from China came to the European territory of Russia, the namepreserved behind them.

Application in landscape design

When planting these ornamental fruit trees on your site, you will need to decide on their purpose: these will be trees in the form of a hedge, a single planting or an entire garden.

You will benefit from any option: these trees will decorate your yard from April to October and delight the eye with a riot of colors.

1. Since the flowers of this tree are pale pink in color and larger than 2 cm in size, these are the very first spring honey plants, spreading their honey aroma far beyond the gardens.
2. When the fruiting period arrives, small golden lantern fruits will shine among the bright greenery of the openwork foliage.
3. In autumn, the leaves will acquire a blood-red hue and will burn on the tree until the first frost, illuminating the empty garden with their radiance.

If this spreading tree is used as a tapeworm in landscape design, it will attract all the attention and dominate the background of the building facade, gazebo or decorative fence.

In green construction, apricot trees of this variety are well planted together with other trees. They go well with Manchurian birch, Mongolian oak, and Amur linden, dimorphant and other trees and shrubs.

Did you know? Europeans did not know about apricots until Alexander the Great brought them to Greece from the East. The Greeks liked them and soon spread throughout Europe.

Fruits of the tree

The first harvest of fruits from apricot trees can be expected 5-7 years after planting. They begin to ripen in late July or early August.

Apricots have a flattened oval shape, yellowish, with orange splashes. They are not very juicy in taste, more sour than southern varieties, and have a slightly bitter taste. Because of such taste qualities Not everyone likes to eat them in their natural form.

But they make aromatic jams, preserves and compotes.

Each individual fruit weighs up to 20 grams.

Growing at home

To grow such beautiful trees in your yard, you need to follow some general recommendations. Below we will talk about the nuances of growing Manchurian apricot.

Features of planting and propagation

The most suitable time for planting Manchurian apricot is considered to be the end of April. Thanks to a sufficient number of sunny days, the soil warms up well and persistent frosts no longer threaten. The main requirement for planting is to do it before the fruit buds begin to swell.

If you purchased seedlings in the autumn, you need to take their planting more seriously. During winter frosts, the fragile root system can be damaged, so it is necessary to mulch the soil around the trunk. What means to use - we will talk about this below.
When planting, you must ensure that the seedlings are provided with good air drainage, so that in the spring the trees will be better warmed by the sun. To do this, you need to carefully consider which location will suit them best.

Having decided on a place for planting, you need to prepare landing hole. The optimal size is 70 cm deep and the same width. For spring planting such a pit is prepared in the fall and filled with compost, the composition of which will be described below.

Important! The highest yield of Manchurian apricot is ensured by planting trees in groups with other varieties, as it allows cross-pollination of flowers. If the size of the plot does not allow this, then one tree is grafted with branches of other varieties.

When planting, it is advisable to have two people present: one of them should hold the tree by the head, and the other at this time will sprinkle it with earth, compacting it around the roots. After planting, be sure to water the seedlings with enough water and cover them with mulch.
There are two ways to grow this wonderful tree in your garden: from seeds and by cuttings. Below we give a detailed description of these methods.

From the seed

There are some peculiarities in planting an apricot tree from seeds. When planting them in the fall, you can expect different germination results: from 0 to 90%. This planting material can be stored in the soil, maintaining germination for years, or it can suddenly awaken in any season, even one not suitable for the growing season.

To be sure and get the maximum result, it is better to plant immediately before the winter cold, otherwise, during the autumn thaw, seeds planted before this period may germinate ahead of time and die at the first frost. By the way, this can happen in the spring.

The first thing you need to do is fill the seeds selected for planting with water and remove all that have surfaced - this way, low-quality material will be rejected.
Then high-quality seeds must be planted to a depth of about 1 cm, preventing the root collar of the seedling from ending up underground and rotting.

It would be good to carry out a 3-month stratification before planting: keep the seeds in a cold room or refrigerator at a temperature of about 0°C, after placing them in a container with damp sand, without covering it. Such freezing will additionally ensure their good germination.

Important! Manchurian apricot can grow in any type of soil. However, if the site has close groundwater, the tree needs good drainage. A layer of crushed stone 30 cm thick is suitable for this.

After planting and germination of seedlings, they need careful care: they need to be watered, loosen the soil around them, remove weeds and mulch. After a two-year period, the young trees are ready to be transplanted to a permanent location.

Planting apricots from the pit

By cuttings

To propagate Manchurian apricots by cuttings, they need to be prepared in late June - early July, and planted in the last ten days of September.

To prepare future planting material, you need to cut a cutting from the most powerful and strongest branches of the parent tree with two or three internodes on which a pair of leaves grow.

From above, the cutting is cut perpendicular to the growth of the trunk, approximately 1 cm above the bud, and from below the cut is made beveled. The cuttings prepared in this way are placed in a vessel with a liquid growth stimulator and brought into a warm room (at a temperature not lower than 24°C) for 15 hours.

It is very important to consider the water level in containers with cuttings. In order for roots to actively form, a sufficient amount of oxygen is needed, because they are formed in the place of the cutting where the border of air and water passes.
If the container is deep and filled with more water than necessary, it means that there will be little oxygen below, and this will lead to rotting of the planting material.

The landing site must be prepared in advance. To do this, you need to make a small track of the required length, up to half a meter deep and 85-90 cm wide. Lay out the bottom of the track with broken bricks, and sprinkle river sand on top. The height of this layer should be up to 5 cm.

The next layer in the rut will be a soil mixture consisting of sand, soil, manure and wood ash (1: 3: 1: 1.5). Next, you need to evenly distribute the mixture along the bottom of the rut, compact it and moisten it with a weak solution of potassium permanganate.

The seedlings are planted in such a way that the base of each of them only lightly touches the layer of soil mixture at the bottom of the track. To do this, one person holds the seedling at the required height, the other fills it with the same soil mixture to the level under the top bud with leaves.
To hide the seedlings from sudden temperature changes, a small wooden structure and cover it with film on all sides.

Soil and fertilizers

If you plan to immediately plant seedlings in their permanent place of growth, the planting hole must be prepared in the fall.

Humus is poured into it, consisting of one or two buckets of mullein with the addition of one glass of wood ash, 400 g of potassium sulfate and 700 g of granulated superphosphate. When spring arrives, the hole is cleared of humus, and an apricot seedling can be planted in it.

As soon as the first signs of growth are noticed, you need to feed the cuttings with water and manure: take 6 parts of water for 1 part of manure and let it sit for 7 days. It is better to fertilize trees during watering.

Important! In the spring, when the snow melts, apricot plantations need potassium and phosphorus fertilizing, and during the period of abundant fruiting, the need for nitrogen increases.

Watering and humidity

Having planted the seedlings and wrapped them in greenhouses, you need to provide them with further proper care. It consists of creating an optimally moist environment for the trees: spraying the cuttings themselves, and not the ground around them, until they begin to actively grow.

Although Manchurian apricot is drought-resistant, it needs regular watering during transplantation and active growth. This is especially true for months such as May and June. Afterwards, the tree needs watering only during drought, which occurs in July - early August.

Irrigation rates are calculated as follows: per 1 square meter trunk soil needs at least 50 liters of water. During dry weather, the rate should be doubled.
It is important to remember that seedlings should not be over-watered in August, since the growth of shoots may be delayed and they may not ripen by the beginning of winter, as a result of which they will freeze.

Loosening and mulching

In the second or third year after planting an apricot tree, you need to not only regularly water and feed it in the summer, but also loosen the soil under it, as well as mulch the tree trunk.

When it rains, the soil usually becomes crusty, so it needs to be loosened periodically. This should be done not only for aeration, but also to keep it clean. You cannot dig up the soil, as this can damage the roots of the plant.

Mulching is done with grass or grass.

After fourth year After planting, it is better not to mulch trees, as this risks the formation of surface roots, which may freeze in the subsequent winter period.
It is better to sow lawn grass under the tree, which needs to be mowed occasionally. In this way, the quality of the soil will also improve.

In winter, you can use peat chips or sawdust to mulch the soil near the tree trunk. This will insulate the roots and protect the young tree from frost. As soon as the first stable layer of snow falls, it must be carefully compacted around the tree.

Important! If the Manchurian tree does not receive enough moisture, this contributes to a decrease in the size of the fruits in the current season, as well as a decrease in the formation of flower ovaries and low yields for the next year.

Preparing for winter

Although Manchurian apricots Known for their winter hardiness, they still need preparation for cold weather. You need to start preparing trees in August. In order for the wood on the shoots to mature well, you need to fertilize the seedlings with phosphorus-potassium fertilizers. As already mentioned, during this period watering is reduced.
We have already talked about how to insulate the root system for the winter. However, the root neck of the tree also needs insulation, because in this case it is not so much frost and cold that is scary, but sudden changes in temperature.

This can lead to the formation of ice on the neck, which will not allow oxygen to reach the roots, and the tree may subsequently weaken and die.

Therefore, the protective layer of mulch must be at least 20 cm in height, and the trunk itself must be wrapped from the very root to the first branches with agrofibre or spunbond (industrial insulation).

If you approach the insulation of apricot trees in a comprehensive manner, this can guarantee protection even from extremely low temperatures.
It is also recommended to wrap the trunks of wintering apricots with roofing material to protect them from rodents. The barrel should not be wrapped tightly with this material, leaving air cushion. The roofing material can be wrapped with agrofibre on top. This will provide additional insulation and support air exchange.

You can also build a small greenhouse above each tree. To do this, you need to wrap the seedling with any heat-insulating material, then install 4 pegs around it and wrap it with plastic wrap.

Pests and diseases

Most of all, Manchurian apricots are affected by fungal diseases. This usually occurs during frequent and heavy summer and spring rains. Due to increased humidity, leaves and fruits may develop cleasterosporiasis, verticillium, etc.

To avoid this, apricot trees must be regularly sprayed with fungicides, as well as whitewashed trunks and skeletal branches.
Another enemy of apricot trees is the plum aphid. This pest lays black eggs in the fall, placing them at the base of the buds that belong to annual shoots.

In early spring, when the first leaves appear, larvae emerge from the eggs. They begin to feed on the tissue juices of the leaf, attaching themselves to its underside. Aphids also prefer the juices of tender shoots of the plant.

Although apricot leaves affected by aphids do not curl, they still gradually dry out.

To avoid damage to trees by this pest, it is necessary to spray with the insecticidal preparation “Decis” or its analogue even before the buds open, and then during their opening in the spring.
Thanks to its positive characteristics and qualities, Manchurian apricot can take a central place in the green construction of your garden.

By caring for these trees throughout the year, you will receive pleasant emotions and a bountiful harvest of fruits, which make excellent jams, compotes and jellies. In addition, you will contribute to the spread of a rare and useful plant.

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