Many gardeners grow plums on their plots. These fruits fell in love for their versatility in application, of which you can make preparations for the winter, plenty of vitamins to fresh plums in the warm season. Most summer residents prefer blue varieties, because they are endowed with a number of advantages: good winter hardiness, excellent taste of ripe fruits, which is important, self-fertility, that is, there is no need to plant pollinating varieties nearby. We suggest today to learn about plum "egg blue". Description of the variety, photos and reviews are collected in this publication. In addition, you can learn about the rules of planting and caring for a tree, about what pests are terrible for him.
Selection history
The "egg blue" plum, the description of which is given in the further contents of the article, was born a long time ago, it was bred in 1986. Agronomists of the All-Union Institute of Horticultural Engineering and Technology for the selection selected the old, beloved by many, a variety of domestic origin, "early ripening", and the West European variety "Ullensa" variety became a pair for it. The hybrid turned out to be more than successful and is still popular only among amateur gardeners, but not among traders. Why? We will tell in the further contents.
Recommended for cultivation in the central regions of Russia. The variety tolerates harsh winters well, so it can be found in Moldova, the Baltic States, Belarus and Ukraine.
Plum tree "egg blue": description, photo
The variety is distinguished by its size. The adult plum tree can grow up to six meters, its crown is thick, spreading in moderation, has an oval shape. The shoots are painted in dark brown color, bare, on the side of them are loosely pressed buds.
Leaves have a dark green color. Their shape is oval, elongated. The surface is smooth, shimmers with gloss, petioles are small, teeth are distinct.
Plum "egg blue" in mid-May blossoms beautiful flowers that are located only on annual shoots. The flowers are white, large, oval-shaped petals, collected in small brushes. If during the flowering of the plum frost is expected, then you can not worry. The flowers and buds of the variety are well adapted to lower the temperature to -4 degrees. Harvest can be harvested from mid-August, the peak of ripening falls on the last days of summer.
With proper care, the "blue egg" plum tree will live up to thirty years, and will bear fruit stably, starting from the fifth year of growth.
Fruits and their taste
The variety got its name because of the shape of the berries. They are rounded, reminiscent of chicken eggs, firm and smooth to the touch. The peel is strong, it may seem dense, but in fact it is soft and is practically not noticeable when eaten. The color of the fruit is blue, on the surface of the peel there is a small amount of white coating, and it seems that the berries are covered with hoarfrost.
The pulp has a beautiful yellow color, it is very juicy, sweet, and contains little acid. Inside is a small oval-shaped bone, it is quite simply separated from the fetus. If the berry is fully ripe, then the bone itself exfoliates.
The average weight of one plum is about thirty-five grams. The berries are smooth, all of the same size. The aroma is not bright, but palpable.
Productivity
Egg blue plum, the description of the variety of which is given above, does not differ in high productivity. As we already wrote, an adult plant grows up to six meters, and from it every year you can remove only twelve kilograms of fruit. The first crop appears five to six years after planting. The dignity of the variety is self-fertility, it does not require pollinators.
The winters are quite simply plum "egg blue". The kidneys will not suffer even when the temperature drops to -35 degrees. The variety does not tolerate heat very well. In the dry season and with a stable "roasting" sun, the tree needs additional moisture. It will need to be watered and moistened with foliage by spraying from a hose or a special system.
The variety is grown by gardeners who use fruits for personal consumption. Industrial agricultural companies do not deal with this variety, since it is not productive.
Advantages and disadvantages
Like any culture, plum "egg blue" has its own good qualities and not very. What can be attributed to the pluses?
- Self-fertility.
- High winter hardiness.
- Good transportability.
- Sweet, vivid taste of the fruit.
From the minuses of the variety, we highlight:
- low productivity;
- the height of the tree.
As you can see, plum can be grown for yourself. Jams, compotes, jellies are obtained from fruits unusually tasty, beautiful. There are many vitamins in plums, and fresh fruits are consumed with a bang. The tree will become a decoration of the site, it is especially beautiful and fragrant during the flowering period.
Landing area
Plum variety "egg blue" loves well-lit places, it is afraid of winds and excessive moisture. It is necessary to choose a place for planting, where groundwater passes at least one and a half meters underground. Landing is recommended on the south side of the house, so that the wall protects from the wind, and the place is lit as long as possible by the sun.
Ideal soil quality is loam with a high calcium content and low acidity. If there is acidification, it is necessary to neutralize.
Site preparation
As popular wisdom says, prepare your sled from the summer! We’ll change it a bit and say: prepare a landing site in the fall. At the chosen place, you need to dig a hole with an average depth of 60 centimeters, the diameter should be from 70 to 80 centimeters. The dug up soil should be well loosened, the lumps are crushed, liming is carried out. At the bottom of the finished hole you need to pour a pound of wood ash. After this, the prepared place must be buried back, but the soil removed during the excavation must be enriched. To do this, mix it with rotted manure or compost, two buckets will be enough, add one hundred grams of potassium superphosphate and a pound of superphosphate.
Landing
When choosing a seedling, pay attention to its condition. There should be no traces of diseases or pests; the stem should have a vaccination mark. Sapling roots should be strong, without rot and dried particles.
Before planting, you need to immerse the roots in water for six hours, then treat with a growth stimulator so that the young tree takes root more quickly and forms a strong root system.
You need to plant a drain before the buds open, that is, in the early spring, when not all the snow has melted yet. In the prepared site for planting, you need to dig a hole, first place a tall, strong peg in it, and then a seedling, carefully immersing it in the ground, sprinkling it. The plant should be located so that its root neck is four centimeters from the ground. Only in this way will the tree begin to develop well.
After the main work is done, do the following: tie the seedling to the installed peg, dig a trench around them for more convenient watering, so that the water does not flow to the sides. The soil around the planting should be mulched with peat or sawdust by two centimeters. Pour seedlings abundantly.
Follow-up care
In the year of planting, weeding and cultivation are necessary, the main worries will begin from the next season. What will need to be done?
At the beginning and end of June, nitrogen fertilizing for the tree is necessary. For the third and fourth year, we need the following plan of fertilizing measures:
- top dressing in May - three large spoons of urea per bucket of water;
- in June - the same amount of nitrophosphate per bucket of water;
- in August, potassium sulfate and superphosphate in the same volumes.
In the fifth year, fertilizing is carried out with the same fertilizers and in the same order, only the scheme will be as follows: the first - before flowering, the second - when the plums ripen, the third - at the end of the season after the harvest.
It is also necessary to stably loosen the soil around the tree, eliminate weed grass, which takes nutrients, watering, mulching to maintain the required amount of moisture.
The very first pruning is done immediately after planting the plant. It is necessary to remove all unnecessary branches, leaving about ten of the strongest and strongest. This will be the basis of the crown of your future tree.
When pruning, do not act randomly, it is impossible that the branches grow in a mess, avoid thickening the crown, this will lead to insufficient light for the fruits.
In spring, all diseased, frozen and dried shoots are eliminated. Good gains should be shortened.
Rodents are very fond of plum bark, so you need to protect it. To prevent the teeth of rabbits and other pests from reaching the trunk, wrap it with a polymer net. Do not forget about preventive spraying from diseases and harmful insects.
Egg blue plum: reviews
For many years, the variety has been grown on its plots by residents of the Central Strip. They write that this is an ideal plum, it grows and bears fruit even where other fruit trees simply freeze in winter. They praise for unpretentiousness and delicious fruits, write that the harvest is enough to eat plenty of fresh food, and for harvesting you can grow other varieties that are more productive.
Garden blue plum, the photo of which you see in the article, is liked by gardeners, they recommend it to those who appreciate the taste of the fruit, and not their quantity. They write that it is rarely possible to meet such a surprisingly delicious variety.