Dwarf fruit trees have always been of particular interest to gardeners. This is easily explained - from a relatively small tree you can harvest a rich harvest. Perhaps one of the best representatives of such crops is the Bratchud apple tree, which gives gardeners juicy, aromatic and very tasty fruits.
Grade history
The full name of the variety is Brother the Wonderful, and the abbreviated Bratchud appeared a little later. A dwarf apple tree of winter ripening period was bred by specialists of the Research Institute of Horticulture in the city of Chelyabinsk. The variety was obtained during the crossing of the hybrid Vydubetskaya weeping and the Ural winter.
The undersized apple tree Bratchud was bred due to the painstaking work of breeders Mazunin and Putyatin. The variety was successfully zoned in 2002. Despite the fact that the first samples of the new plant were originally planted in Siberia and the southern Urals, a little later they were successfully grown in other regions of Russia - in the Altai Territory and in the north-west of the European part of our country.
Grade description
The Bratchud Apple Tree is called a natural dwarf. It has a flat-round crown with a diameter of about three meters. The height of the tree does not exceed two meters, if we are talking about a plant on clonal stocks. Using seed stock, it is possible to grow apple trees up to 2.7 meters high. On the main shoots and the stem, the color of the bark is dark brown. True, it depends on the growing conditions of the tree. In some cases, it has a lighter or darker shade.
Fruiting is distributed over all fruit branches, including last year’s growth. Young shoots of medium thickness, covered with greenish-brown bark, grow quite quickly. Large, oblong-rounded leaves are painted in dark green. On their upper part, slight pubescence is clearly visible. The edges of the leaves are jagged.
Fruit
Apples of this class are slightly elongated in shape, medium size. They can be ribbed, although their feature is the presence of a side seam. The outer surface of the fruit is dry and smooth, with a slight glossy tint and lack of wax coating. The relatively thin skin is greenish yellow with a fuzzy red blush. The stalks are not very long, but rather thick. They are placed at right angles.
In the fully ripened fruits of the Bratchud apple tree, the flesh is snow-white, and in the unripe, it has a greenish tint. The flesh is coarse-grained, with a pleasant sweet and sour taste, not too juicy. The chemical composition of fruits includes a number of useful substances: titratable acids, sugars, ascorbic acid, soluble solids, pectins. The weight of one apple ranges from 140 to 250 grams. From one tree you can collect up to 120 kg of selected fruits. Regular annual fruiting occurs in the fourth year after planting.
Grade Features
Apple-tree Bratchud tolerates severe frosty winters when the thermometer drops to -40 ° C. The main advantage of the variety is the possibility of winter storage of fruits for a long time. In the description of the Bratchud apple tree, the creators of the variety guarantee 140 days of fruit preservation, but provided that they are stacked in wooden boxes with holes immediately after harvesting and placed in a cellar with an air temperature not exceeding + 15 ° C.
Another feature of this variety is the intolerance of the neighborhood with potatoes during storage, so the boxes with fruits should be in different parts of the basement.
Selection of seedlings
In addition to the traditional rules for choosing planting material for fruit trees (selection without signs of disease, damage, etc.), dwarf varieties also have some quality indicators of seedlings. Buying a young plant in a nursery, you can rest assured that this is really a Bratchud apple tree. In markets or fairs, the situation is different, and you may well get instead of the desired variety of ordinary apple-wild game. To exclude this option, when examining a plant, pay attention to the area located between the root neck and the seedling stem: on the dwarf rootstock, a knee-shaped protrusion should be clearly visible, which indicates vaccination.
A two-year-old seedling has at least four well-formed branches with large buds - in the wild, there are many sharp branches without buds. The root system of the selected plant should be formed from many small and elastic roots. Rod-shaped roots indicate that before you is a wild apple tree.
Site selection
Like most dwarf varieties, the Bratchud apple tree prefers elevated, sheltered from the wind areas that are in the open sun or partial shade. Preparing for planting can be divided into two stages: treatment of the site, inspection and processing (if necessary) of the seedling. We will understand the intricacies of each of them in more detail.
Site preparation
If you intend to plant the Bratchud apple tree in the spring, then digging the soil and fertilizing it should be done in the fall. Remove all leaves and parts of the plants from the site, dig up the ground and add some mineral or organic fertilizers (depending on the composition of the soil).
In the spring, a month before planting, dig a square hole measuring 1.5 x 1.5 x 1.5 m and lay humus or peat on its bottom.
We prepare seedlings
Inspect the young plant carefully, paying particular attention to the root system, and determine its viability. If the shoots are dried, they must be placed in water for a day. The roots of the plant are cut off a little before planting in the ground to form a lower crown of the crown.
Planting seedlings
The best time for planting the Bratchud apple tree is spring, but this does not mean that you can not plant seedlings in the fall. True, in this case, the event should be carried out before the onset of the first frost, so that the plant has time to take root.
The twenty-centimeter topsoil from the landing pit is cleaned to the side. It can be used to prepare a nutrient substrate. Connect the earth with two buckets of peat or humus, add 600 g of superphosphate and 700 g of wood ash. After mixing the prepared substrate, it is poured into the hole, driving its stake in the center. You will get a mound on which the seedling will be placed.
The roots of the plant must be well spread, and then fill the hole with the rest of the soil. Please note that after planting, the vaccination site should be 3 cm above the soil level. Compact the soil around the young plants and make a roller out of the ground. Its height should not exceed 15 cm, departing from the trunk 0.5 m. Young trees are watered with 30 liters of water. After it is completely absorbed, mulch the area with peat and humus, with a layer of not more than three centimeters, but in such a way that the mulch does not come into contact with the tree trunk. Tie a seedling to the stake.
Seasonal Care
After planting the Bratchud apple tree, the gardener faces another task: it is necessary to ensure proper seasonal care for the young plant. Before fruiting, the seedling is periodically watered, but not more often than five times a year. Five buckets of water are poured under each young tree. After the liquid is absorbed, it is necessary to loosen the soil in the trunk circle.
In very hot periods and in preparation for winter, the trunk circles mulch in order to prevent excessive evaporation of moisture and protect the root system of even the frost-resistant apple tree from freezing. To do this, you can use sawdust, peat, mowed grass.
Top dressing
Naturally, every gardener, planting a tree, dreams of getting plentiful harvests. For this, watering alone is not enough. Three times a season, Bratchud apple tree is fertilized with organic fertilizers: infusion of chicken manure (1:20), infusion of mullein, which is bred in water in a ratio of 1:10. In addition, organic top dressing also includes:
- pigeon droppings;
- fish and bone meal;
- potato peelings;
- whey;
- eggshell;
- tobacco dust;
- nettles;
- onion peel.
After three years, trees can be fertilized with solutions of mineral fertilizers. In the spring it is nitrogen-containing or complex compounds.
In autumn, fertilizing apple trees with fertilizers should not contain nitrogen, since it causes active growth of new shoots, which delays the preparation of the tree for winter. At this time, the culture is most in need of potassium and phosphorus. To top up 1 square meter of soil, you will need to dissolve 1 spoon (tablespoon) of potassium and 2 tablespoons of double superphosphate in a bucket of water.
Pruning
For dwarf apple trees, Bratchud pruning is necessary not only for sanitary purposes, but for even distribution of fruits, as well as for removing weakened shoots. In addition to damaged branches that are too long, weak stocks must also be removed. This allows thinning the crown.
Sometimes gardeners also remove the upper buds so that the middle ones develop better. Forming pruning of the apple tree is carried out twice a year: in autumn and spring.
Apple tree Bratchud: reviews of gardeners
Most gardeners in the northern regions and the middle strip are satisfied with the Bratchud apple tree. According to reviews, this small tree that does not require complicated care, after three years, pleases with good and stable crops. Fruits that have a pleasant aroma and sweet and sour taste can be consumed fresh, as well as cook delicious compotes, preserves, jams from them. In addition, apples of this variety are preserved almost until the new harvest.