The wonderful summer variety of the Orlinka apple tree is universal: its apples are famous for their excellent taste, and the tree, in addition to decorative qualities, has an excellent ability to produce generous crops annually.
This publication is dedicated to this culture, its preferences and growing characteristics.
Grade description
Orlinka is an apple tree loved by many Russian gardeners who claim that it is impossible to find a fruit tree more unpretentious than this variety, zoned for the territories of the Central Chernozem Region with its difficult climatic conditions. Notable for its low winter hardiness, Orlinka is successfully cultivated in the Moscow Region, Oryol, Perm, Kaliningrad and Vladimir regions, but in more severe areas (in the Urals and Siberia) it is irrational to grow a tree.
Orlinka is an apple tree, the photo of which is demonstrated in the article - is decorative and productive. Ease of care, annual abundant harvests and palatability are the main advantages of this early variety. Eating apples coincides in timing with the celebration of the Orthodox Church of the Savior by the Orthodox - August 19-20.
Despite the short consumer period of 2-3 weeks (after all, many early varieties are practically not stored), the fruits are eaten or processed at a remarkable speed. For short-term storage, apples can be placed in wooden crates and, sprinkled with chips, placed in the basement with an air temperature of + 2-6 ° C. Short shelf life of the fruits suggests placing them in the refrigerator, but apples are not placed in plastic bags.
The crop yield is very high, with one young tree harvesting up to 30 kg of fruit per summer season. Orlinka is a self-fertile apple tree and does not need pollinators; it itself often acts in this role for other varieties. Beside her, Papirovka, Moscow Grushovka or Melbu will bear fruit well.
When to plant apple trees
Early varieties, including Orlinka (an apple tree described in the publication), are more often planted in late spring, when positive temperatures are established and frosts recede. If necessary, autumn plantings are also carried out, but they do this in early September so that the seedling has time to take root before the arrival of real cold weather.
The choice of a landing site is taken seriously, since the tree grows much better and bears fruit in open sunny areas with loose, neutral, water- and breathable loamy soils without close standing of groundwater. It is advisable that the selected locations are located on the south, southeast or southwest side of the garden.
Landing Features
Having decided on the place, they prepare a landing pit of standard sizes - 0.4 * 0.4 m. The surface soil layer is mixed with 10 kg of humus, 300 gr. wood ash and 50 gr. superphosphate. With this mixture, one-third of the hole is filled, pouring it with a slide. The seedling is set in the center of the pit, gently spreading the roots down on this makeshift embankment, they fill it with the remaining soil and compact it well (in no case with your feet). In this case, the root neck should be 3-5 cm above the soil level. It cannot be deepened - this will negatively affect the apple tree. With proper planting, the young tree gives its first fruits already at 4-5 years of age.
Crop care
It’s easy to take care of summer varieties, all the events are simple and understandable even to a novice gardener. The Orlinka apple tree is no exception. Reviews of knowledgeable gardeners unanimously emphasize the fact that it is not difficult to grow this fruit tree, you just have to adhere to some rules.
Watering
The apple tree is watered regularly, but it is reasonable, since excess moisture significantly affects it. To remove excess moisture, gardeners practice the device grooves for its outflow in the trunk circle. When hot dry weather occurs, the intensity of irrigation is increased, and they are carried out exclusively in the evening. The soil under the tree is periodically loosened, removing weeds and fragments of their roots.
Loosening enhances aeration of the roots and stimulates their growth. In autumn, it is necessary to clean the fallen leaves. Particular attention is paid to young plants.
Top dressing
Orlinka is an apple tree, which in the first year of life in the garden does not need to be fed - it will have enough nutrients obtained during planting. Fertilizer start next year. The plant needs a complex of minerals - potash, nitrogen and phosphorus. Starting from the age of 4-5 years old, carbamide and humates or well-rotted manure are added to the trunk circles . The best way to make fertilizers is considered to be their dissolution in water for irrigation.
Pruning
Another required caring procedure for a fruit tree is pruning. This fully applies to such a variety as Orlinka. An apple tree suffers losses during the winter: branches break and freeze, bark is damaged. In the spring, before the plant starts to grow, unproductive, sick, old, broken, and incorrectly growing (in the center of the tree) branches are removed with a sharp secateurs. A young plant needs forming pruning, it is during this period that the crown is given the right shape, determining the main branches and regulating the growth of side shoots. Thus, thinning the crown, minimize the occurrence of infections and attack of various pests.
The plant is prepared especially carefully for the winter: they clean the soil under the tree, mulch the trunk circle with a thick layer of humus or
wood chips, young boles protect them from rodents, encircling them with fir spruce branches.
These are the characteristics of growing an excellent early variety called Orlinka. The apple tree, the description of which we presented, with minimal care gives excellent yields of tasty and, no doubt, healthy fruits.