Description and characteristics of the Candy apple tree variety, cultivation in regions and care features

The Candy apple tree, like many other sweet apples for growing in temperate latitudes, was bred by biologist-breeder S.I. Isaeva. The fruit of the cross-pollination of Korobovka with the pollen of the Papirovka variety is called a candy apple, and in some regions the tree has firmly been nicknamed the caramel apple tree. The improved Korobovka received juicier pulp.

Characteristics of the variety

There are no areas favorable for growing the Candy variety; it can be grown in almost any conditions; fertilizing, pruning, and planting will differ by 1-2 weeks from the recommended average period.

The apple tree stands out for its aesthetic beauty during flowering and fruiting. The apples are smooth, approximately the same diameter and weight, their average weight is 120-130 g. Fruiting begins depending on the selected rootstock. By the 6th season, you can already get up to 50 kg of apples from a seedling. Every year the growth of fruit increases, an adult tree produces a harvest of up to 100 kg.

Despite the fact that Confectionery is positioned as a summer variety, ripe fruits collected from an apple tree can be stored for more than 2 months.

Taste qualities

The recognition of apple lovers does not quite coincide with the opinion of professionals, who rated the taste only 4.2 points. It is quite difficult to say definitely what the fruits of the caramel apple tree taste like. According to the description of gardeners from different regions, it contains the taste of pineapple, honey, bananas, and pear notes.

Low temperature resistance

High frost resistance was inherited from the Candy era from the varieties that participated in its breeding. Just like its ancestors, Candy is well adapted to the conditions of the Moscow region, Northwestern regions, and Leningrad region. The Pskov region, Belarus and Ukraine are the best climate in which garden apple trees will not get frostbite in winter.

Positive and negative ratings

Excellent taste of fruits, rapid restoration of the crown after pruning and frostbite, adaptability to different soils and weather conditions are the best qualities. The disadvantages of the Candy variety are susceptibility to scab during prolonged cool, humid weather conditions, and extremely poor resistance to damage during transportation.

Wasps love these fragrant apples. Which negatively affects the presentation of the fruit.

Crown parameters

The height of the Candy variety is determined when it is grafted onto a rootstock of a certain type. The maximum height of the trunk is 5 m, while the diameter of the crown is 2.5-3 m. The layering of the crown is set when it is trimmed correctly. The formation of tiers begins in the second spring after planting due to thinning and strict monitoring of the length of skeletal branches.

Self-fertility

The variety is self-fertile, but its yield increases sharply if varieties whose flowering period coincides with Candy grow in close proximity.

Pollinators

The best pollinating varieties for Candy in Russia and Belarus are considered:

• Anise Pink Striped;
• Bellefleur-Chinese;
• Malt Bagaevsky;
• Melba;
• Padding;
• Glory to the Winners;
• Stark John Grimes;
• Yandykovskoe;
• Belevoye.

Bloom

Flowering occurs in the middle - end of May, which largely depends on the onset of consistently positive temperatures.
Fruiting period

Fruit ripening begins a month before the apple Savior, which is extremely rare in the central part of Russia.

Harvesting

Harvesting must be done carefully, removing apples from the branches and carefully placing them in storage containers. UA fallen apple can be stored for no more than 3 days; it must be processed before it becomes soft and brown inside from the bruise.

Existing subspecies

The summer Candy apple tree is more resistant to scab, the description of its leaves is very similar to Korobovka, they are just as hard to the touch. Candy is similar to its ancestor in terms of apple harvesting time, only the fruit pulp is more tender and juicy.

Ranet Candy

This variety is not recorded either in the register of fruit trees or in the descriptions of amateur breeders. Obviously, someone used the trunk of the old Ranet tree to grow Candy. But this looks more like a marketing ploy when distributing seedlings that do not meet all the standards of the Candy variety.

Candy-2

Apple tree Candy-2 is an improved version of the main variety in terms of transportability and a crown that is more convenient for care and collection of fruits.

Candy summer

This is a misconception, this type does not exist. Simply Candy, ripening long before August 19, the traditional harvest date for most varieties of apples. The seller who puts such a name includes unjustified advertising in it.

Tree care

Spraying with Fluazinam before the leaves begin to peck is one of the reliable ways to protect a tree from scab. Autumn mulching of the tree trunk area, above the roots of the apple tree, and winter increase in snowdrifts near the trunk help the tree to overwinter in a comfortable microclimate, which will affect the size and quality of the crop.

Applying fertilizers to the soil

The first stage of feeding a tree is carried out when it is planted, when the enriched soil is placed directly into the planting hole. In spring, dry fertilizers are traditionally scattered before watering onto the soil loosened above the roots. Nitrogen fertilizer is applied with watering before flowering and the period of ovary formation; it is necessary for the entire crop to ripen on the branches.

Irrigation

Watering when applying root fertilizers and after distributing foliar fertilizers is mandatory, the same as when planting a seedling. To water or not water the apple tree During the ripening process of apples, you will have to decide on your own, based on soil moisture. The amount of watering depends on the air temperature.

Attention! Plants are never watered during the daytime when the sun is at its zenith. Watering is done early in the morning or late in the evening, when the foliage does not get sunburn.

Pruning for sanitary purposes

For sanitary purposes, pruning can be carried out at any time of the year. If this is due to broken branches or infection of the tree, then the affected areas should be trimmed and destroyed by fire immediately. Thinning and crown formation is carried out in late autumn or early spring, while tree sap flows slowly.

Whitewashing the trunk

The trunk is covered with lime mortar both in spring and autumn. Additives in the form of copper-containing components provide additional protection against fungal infections, and the lime itself insulates the tree trunk and prevents insects from settling under the bark.

Main rootstocks

Amateur gardeners, when independently grafting seedlings onto old fruit tree trunks, do not particularly think about what results await them in 10-15 years. Seedlings arrive from nurseries with strict parameters that can be predicted before planting.

Semi-dwarf

The candy apple tree on this rootstock is more common in the southern regions. It does not tolerate cold climates as well as seed varieties.

Dwarf

The height of the trunk barely reaches 170 cm, while the weight of each fruit is almost 200 g. In the second season, up to 35 kg of apples can be obtained from this small tree.

Columnar candy

Columnar apple trees of the Candy variety are not registered.The species corresponding to apple trees on similar rootstocks is produced by dwarf and semi-dwarf trunks.

Disembarkation dates

Depending on the climate of the region in which the apple tree is planted, the exact planting dates are determined.

Autumn landing

The period during which the apple tree should be in the ground in a new place is limited to when the average daily air temperature drops below +10 °C, but frost has not yet occurred.

Spring planting

Planting of seedlings is carried out after there has been only positive temperature outside day and night for more than 10 days. You need to have time to plant a tree before the buds on other trees begin to swell and open intensively.

Growing trees in different climate zones

In addition to the timing of planting, pruning, and fertilizing, there are other features for the Candy variety of apple trees in each climate zone.

Moscow region

For stable fruiting, the plant requires a lot of sunlight, this must be taken into account when choosing a planting site. There should be no tall trees, walls or high monolithic fences near the seedling. When planting, it is necessary to lay a 10-20 cm drainage layer in the hole.

Primorye

Planting in the Primorsky Territory is carried out in the spring, which involves preparing the hole in about six months - from the fall. Taking into account the characteristics of the soil, it must be fertilized with compost, saltpeter, superphosphate, and nitroammophos. This is based on the fact that mineral additives carry melt water through light soils. During heavy rains, which is not uncommon in the Primorsky Territory, excess moisture must be removed from the trunk, for which drainage grooves are laid.

Ural

Heterogeneous soils in the Urals, some of them are too loose, which requires constant replenishment of nutrients in the soil, while others do not allow sufficient water and air to pass through to the roots. As a result of the fact that water lingers on the surface, a beneficial atmosphere is formed for pathogenic microflora, which provokes diseases.

Such soil must be loosened by adding sand, ash, and peat when digging. Ash reduces soil acidity, which is also good for fruit trees.

Siberia

Although the Candy apple tree is resistant to frost, in Siberia, insulation for the lower part of the trunk is used in winter to protect it in winter - spruce branches of coniferous trees, hay, polyethylene or roofing felt. Be sure to carry out intensive mulching of the tree trunk space, and when digging, organic matter is introduced into the soil - manure or humus.

North-West region

Loamy and sandy soils, peat bogs are the main soils in the northwestern regions. They have a drawback - they are not rich in all the elements necessary for fertility. Systematic feeding with organic and inorganic complex fertilizers is a necessity.