Cherry plum “Gift to St. Petersburg” - a deduced stone fruit variety obtained by hybridization of Chinese plum “Skoroplodnaya” and cherry plum “Pioneer”. This pollination was carried out in the city of Krymsk, Krasnodar Territory, at the experimental-breeding station of the city. Hybrid seedlings were cultivated by the St. Petersburg Pavlovsk Experimental Station VNIIR. This variety has high productivity and good taste of the fruit.
Cherry plum "Gift to St. Petersburg": description
The tree is weak or medium-sized, depending on climatic conditions. Cherry plum “Gift to St. Petersburg” (photo can be seen in this article) has a wide-spreading weeping dense crown and a short stem. The leaves are small, elongated, oval in shape. The tip of the sheet is slightly pointed, and its base is curved in the form of a boat. Their color is light green. Leaves are bare with a glossy surface, the edges are wavy. Flowers and fruits appear on sprouts and bouquet branches. One bud throws up to 4 flowers. The flower itself has a white color and saucer shape. Its corolla is small, its diameter is only 16 cm. Petals are small in size and wide oval in shape. Their edges do not have a clear outline, like the leaves have a wavy edge. Each flower has 15 stamens with straight threads, the length of which is 7 mm. Pollen is yellow. The pestle itself has a slightly curved shape with an oval stigma at the end. It is located above the anthers. The flower has a goblet cup with oval-shaped sepals, the inner part of which is slightly pubescent.
Description of the fetus
Cherry plum "Gift to St. Petersburg" has fruits of elongated ovoid shape, the mass of which is on average 12 g. Their apex is slightly pointed, and on the side there is a shallow vertical seam. Bright yellow-orange fruits have a delicate aroma. They are covered with a thin elastic peel having a slight wax coating. A ripe fruit under the skin appears slightly noticeable light yellow dots. The fine-fiber pulp also has a bright yellow color. It is juicy with a sweet and sour taste. The fruits have a rounded oval smooth bone, the tip of which is slightly pointed. Their mass is about 0.8 g.
The fruits on the seedling appear for 3-4 years. Inflorescence occurs in mid-May, and ripening occurs in late August.
Landing place
Cherry plum “Gift to St. Petersburg” is not demanding on growing conditions. Planting is recommended to be carried out at a place that is protected from gusts of cold wind, which can harm flowers during flowering. The most favorable are sites located on the south side of the house or other garden buildings. They will play the role of a kind of shield that protects plants from the cold wind in the spring. In addition, in winter time, such a site will have a higher temperature, and in the early spring - faster snowmelt. In addition, it should be borne in mind that the cherry plum variety “Gift to St. Petersburg”, however, like all others, does not have self-fertility.
Planting a seedling
Cherry plum is planted in the spring. The soil of the landing site begins to prepare after the snow melts. In most cases, this occurs in early spring. Seedlings must be planted before buds begin to bloom on them. For this, special pits 60x80 cm in size are prepared. They are dug up to a depth of 50 cm. This is necessary so that the roots of the seedling can be evenly distributed in the pit, without bends and creases. Humus, 200 g of phosphate fertilizers and 60 g of potash are added to the excavated soil. Instead of the latter, you can add 0.5 kg of wood ash. All this is mixed up. When the nutrient earth mixture is ready, a small part of it is poured into the prepared pit. She will play the role of a pillow. Then the roots of the seedling are placed in it. It should be noted that the root neck should not be located above the soil level.
Plant care
To get a good harvest, it is necessary to ensure that there is no thickening on the cherry plum tree. Otherwise, the yield decreases sharply, and the mass of fruits decreases. In addition, the tree must be shaped. During the growing season , long annual growths can form on it (some of them reach 60 cm), which must be shortened. If broken or dried shoots appear, they should also be removed in a timely manner.
At the beginning of summer, a series of events are held that are aimed at preparing for the winter period. In order to increase the winter hardiness of flowering buds, one needs to perform tweezing. It consists in pinching the shoots. This event slows down the development of kidneys located on annual growths, thereby preserving them in the winter. This subsequently leads to the fact that flowering on these shoots is delayed, reducing the likelihood of their damage during spring frosts.
In order to prevent rodents such as mice and hares during the winter from damaging the bark, in late autumn a tree trunk is tied at the base with fir spruce or reed. If there are no such materials, you can use glass wool.
Cherry plum "Gift to St. Petersburg": reviews
The leading place in the list of advantages, according to gardeners, is high productivity. Good winter hardiness is also a plus. Cherry plum “Gift to St. Petersburg” has excellent restorative ability of its vegetative part after receiving mechanical damage. The tree is resistant to diseases and pests. If disease damage occurs, it is negligible.
disadvantages
Cherry plum “Gift to St. Petersburg” collected reviews mostly positive, but the variety also has some drawbacks. One of the significant disadvantages is that this variety is not self-fertile. With temperature differences in the early spring period, damage to the flower buds occurs. When fully ripened, the fruits do not stay on the branch and crumble. In severe frosts, wood suffers.