Description and characteristics of the Melba apple tree, tree height and ripening time, care

Apples are the most beloved and common fruit grown by gardeners. Among the huge variety of apple varieties, Melba is especially distinguished. The Melba apple tree gives you such juicy, aromatic, sweet apples, the taste of which you will not confuse with any others. And for many of our compatriots it became the taste of their childhood.

The world learned about Melba apples thanks to breeders from Canada, who developed it at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries and gave the new variety the name of the famous opera diva from Australia Nellie Melba. Very soon the Europeans were landing them, and a little later, Melba was recognized in Russia.

For several decades it has remained incredibly popular, and has even given life to many apple hybrids.

Description and characteristics of the variety

Large yields and excellent taste are the very characteristic features that distinguish apples of this extraordinary variety. For those who grow them, it is very important to know that Melba is afraid of frost. This means that winter temperatures should not drop too low, below -30 ℃. Such extreme conditions will require additional protective measures from the gardener.

Height

This variety of apple trees is classified as medium-sized. The tree does not grow higher than three meters, less often four. On a dwarf rootstock - up to 2.

If you provide good care, the Melba apple tree will live:

• up to 55 years - on a seed rootstock;
• 20 – semi-dwarf;
• up to 15 – dwarf.

Crown width

In an adult tree, it is spreading, round, slightly elongated upward, reaches 7 meters in diameter, and is heavily leafy. This applies to Melba on seed rootstock. The semi-dwarf species has a crown up to 2 meters wide, and the dwarf species have a crown up to 1.5 meters.

Tasting assessment

Typically, the average size of a Melba fruit is 120-150 grams, but larger ones can be found. They have a dense, but not at all rough skin, smooth and tender. You can easily recognize its red stripes and sweet and sour taste.

The average rating is 4.4 (on a five-point scale).

Self-fertility

The Melba apple tree is a self-fertile variety, but it is better if pollinating apple trees grow nearby.

Winter hardiness

Melba exhibits average winter hardiness, and even at -30 ℃ it is capable of producing good yields, although additional protective measures will need to be taken, as this threatens the freezing of flower buds and shoots.

As a way out, container planting is often used when there is a suitable room for storage in winter conditions. In winter, you can also cover it with non-woven material folded in several layers.

Only the Melba apple tree variety grows and bears fruit much more successfully in regions located to the south.

Pollinator varieties

The greatest effect is achieved when apple trees of the following varieties act as pollinators:

• Antonovka;
• Borovinka;
• Bellefleur-Chinese;
• Quinty;
• Suislepskoe;
• Stark erlist.

Beginning of fruiting

As for the ripening period, the apple tree regularly bears fruit, on average, from the 4th year, and through:

• 4-6 years – on seed rootstock;
• 3-4 years – on semi-dwarf;
• in the 3rd year - dwarf species.

Melba blooms in early spring. And at the end of summer, from the second half of August and then another month and a half, you can harvest the fruits. The productivity of this variety of apple trees is high. At first, the harvests are harvested annually, from the 8th year - even abundantly, but after 12 years, an alternation is observed: one year the apple tree bears fruit, a year - without apples.

Seedling cost

Prices (in rubles) for seedlings in different regions of Russia vary:

	Seedling age, years
	3	4	5
Moscow and St. Petersburg	1000	2500	6000
Vologda	320	650	…
Temryuk Krasnodar region	220	450	…
Ekaterinburg	300	600	…

Advantages and disadvantages

The Melba apple tree is highly popular, and all thanks to its advantages. So, the variety is characterized by:

• the first harvest - in just 4 years;
• apples are strong and durable, and therefore transportable;
• perfectly stored;
• high productivity;
• wide possibilities for processing.

However, this variety cannot be called ideal. There are quite significant disadvantages:

• lack of resistance to scab;
• poor resistance to frost.

Gardeners have been fighting them successfully for a long time. So, it is enough to properly care for the apple tree, and it will delight you with high yields for many years.

Landing Features

Melba is considered a long-liver. It is not uncommon for her to live 70-80 years.

According to legend, the Melba apple tree, which was planted back in 1647, still bears fruit in Manhattan today.

In order for a tree to live and give its apples for many, many years, you need to know when, where and how to plant it and, of course, how to care for it.

Dates and place

Experienced gardeners call early spring the best time for planting, when the buds have not yet begun to bloom, or the period from mid-September to early October, when the tree sheds its leaves.

In both cases, being late can have very unpleasant consequences. Autumn planting is preferable. When a seedling is dug up, its roots are inevitably damaged, but over the winter they have time to recover. So in the spring the tree is already able to provide itself with nutrients in full. It is important to remember that from planting to the first autumn frosts there should not be less than a month.

But if your winters are cold and the temperature is below - 20 °, it is better to plant an apple tree of this variety in the spring.

When choosing a place to plant a seedling, pay attention: no groundwater close to the surface.There is too high a risk that in the spring the roots will be washed away, and as a result the tree will soon die. Gardeners often dig channels specifically to drain excess moisture.

But it is better to plant apple trees on a natural hill, in a place protected from gusts of wind.

Loam is the best soil for Melba. Clayey or swampy is not the best choice. When the acidity level does not reach the norm, the soil should be fertilized by adding dolomite flour or slaked lime (500 grams per 1 square meter).

Selection of seedlings

Only strong and healthy trees that meet the following parameters are selected for planting:

• age – 1-2 years;
• from half a meter to 80 centimeters in length;
• the presence of 2-3 side shoots,
• well-formed root system.

Two days before planting the seedling, its roots should be dipped in water, and immediately before planting, dipped into a clay mash, having first gotten rid of the leaves (cut them off).

Preparing for landing

The hole should be prepared 2 weeks before planting:

• in depth - up to 80 centimeters;
• wide – up to 1 meter.

A 30-centimeter layer of turf is cut off. Take the same amount of sand, peat, humus, mix with 1 kilogram of ash, plus 200 grams of potassium sulfate, 400 grams double superphosphate.

A 20-centimeter thick drainage layer should be placed at the bottom of the resulting hole. Any of the following materials will fulfill its role:

• broken brick;
• coarse river sand;
• fine gravel;
• nut shell.

If the groundwater level rises, this layer will protect the root system of the tree from rotting.

Planting a seedling

The soil mixture, which was prepared in advance, must be poured into the hole and formed into a slide; 20 centimeters in height is quite enough.On its northern side, you need to drive a wooden peg so that it rises 70 centimeters above the ground. It will serve as a support.

The Melba seedling is placed directly on a hill, and the roots are carefully straightened, after which they can be covered with earth. It is recommended to shake the tree a little, since there should be no voids between the roots.

Now you can trample down the soil, and around the seedling itself, with a radius of half a meter, a roller of soil 10-15 centimeters high is formed.

All that remains is to tie the tree to a peg, water it with 2 buckets of water and cover the trampled soil with a layer of pine needles, dry grass or peat.

Plant care rules

Caring for Melba means performing a standard set of actions, which does not only include watering, fertilizing and pruning. It includes preparation for winter, as well as prevention and control of diseases and pests.

Watering

From spring, when buds appear on the tree, until the first month of autumn water the apple tree need once a month. If the tree is not yet bearing fruit, 2 buckets of water at a time is enough. With the appearance of fruits, 4 buckets are required.

First, the tree is surrounded with a roller with a radius of half a meter in order to pour water into the resulting circle. After this, the soil is leveled and covered with mulch.

Top dressing

If the land in which Melba seedlings are planted is fertile, then you will not have to feed them immediately.

But next year this procedure cannot be avoided. At the beginning of May, a urea solution is applied to the soil for the first time (half a kilo of the product per 10 liters of water); The procedure will have to be repeated again in the first days of summer.

By the end of July, it is time to add dissolved chicken manure (1 part of the manure per 12 liters of water). It can also be a solution of cow manure (1 part per 8 liters of water).

When you dig up the ground at the beginning of autumn, you should simultaneously add:

• potassium sulfate (50 grams);
• superphosphate (100 grams);
• wood ash (0.7 kilograms);
• compost humus or peat.

Trimming

The next year after planting, young Melba apple trees should be pruned. And it is recommended to do this before the buds hatch.

Over the next 3 years, the tree’s crown is formed. In this case, a third of the central branch is cut off. As for the shoots on the main branches, they should have 3 buds left intact, and on all the others only one should remain. Those that grow crookedly or touch each other are removed.

In the future, damaged, improperly growing, dry branches should be pruned.

It is important to know! The cut areas must be treated with garden varnish.

Preparing for winter

The Melba variety is unpretentious, if not for one of its features. You should always remember that these apple trees do not tolerate severe cold and frost. Therefore, they must be prepared especially carefully for winter. Various measures are being taken:

1. The trunk and lower branches are whitened.
2. They are additionally insulated by wrapping the trunk with 3-4 layers of burlap or tarpaulin, and laying straw between the layers. The structure should be strengthened more reliably.
3. Cover the apple tree with a snowdrift.

Diseases and pests

Let's talk about what threatens these fruit trees.

Melba's diseases and ways to combat them

All plants get sick, the Melba apple tree is no exception.

1. Scab.

Gardeners call the lack of resistance to this infection the main disadvantage of this variety. It all starts with the appearance of brown spots on the leaves, and ends with cracks in the fruits and dark gray spots.

Control methods: in the spring, spray with a solution of Oksikhom or Horus, prepared in strict accordance with the instructions.

2. Powdery mildew.

Due to the plaque that covers the tree, oxygen access to the leaves is blocked. They also do not receive moisture; they cannot even bear fruit.

Control methods: Spray budding leaves with Topaz, copper chloride - after flowering.

3. Fruit rot.

It appears on apples as brown spots and whitish growths. Infected fruits should be destroyed immediately.

Control methods: spray three times:

• as soon as the leaves bloom - Soon;
• as soon as it blooms - by Horus;
• 3 weeks before harvest - Fundazol.

Apple tree pests and their control

The very names of the most common pests speak volumes about their dangerous effects. And the most common ones are:

1. Apple leaf roller.

You can expect a lot of trouble from this little butterfly. She lays eggs on young leaves, causing them to curl. Newly hatched caterpillars are able to eat a leaf down to the veins.

They move from one apple tree to another too quickly. So you will have to treat, along with the sick person, all the surrounding trees.

You can destroy leaf rollers physically, for which:

• burn the rolled leaves;
• attract birds to the garden;
• create special traps.

There are folk recipes. Some people use tobacco infusion, while others use a decoction of potatoes or tomato tops.

But if the damage is significant, only chemistry will help.

2. codling moth.

Their butterflies select flower buds to lay their eggs. A caterpillar is born and breaks out, gnawing out the seed, and very quickly occupies the apple next door.

You can use a sticky belt. Placed on an apple tree, it will become a trap for pests.

If you clean the bark (twice a year - in spring and autumn), you can get rid of the cocoons remaining in it.

You can resort to the “help” of insects that are hostile to the stalks, planting more flowering plants on the site to attract them. And it’s very good if tomatoes grow nearby. The stalks do not like their smell.

3. Apple scale insect.

This pest feeds on apple juice. Once it is colonized, small dark growths are observed on the bark. The insect is unusually tenacious, its eggs easily survive in frosts of 30 ℃, and the strong shell makes the scale insect not particularly sensitive to the influence of various chemicals. If you do not want the growth of the apple tree to stop, you will have to chemically treat the apple tree with copper sulfate in the fall, and with Nitrafen in the spring.

You can make a solution of tar soap and ash and wash the trunk and branches of the apple tree with it.

4. Apple flower beetle.

These bugs lay their larvae in the bud, thereby practically destroying it. Spraying with chlorophos solution helps a lot.

Sticky films are used to clean the bark. Works well whitewashing apple trees slaked lime solution (1.5-2 kilograms per 10 liters of water).

Harvest and storage

The end of August is time to harvest. It is not uncommon for the collection to drag on into September. Moreover, it is recommended to do this in dry weather; if collected after rain, they will not be preserved. If:

• pick fruits before they are fully ripe;
• Do not allow apples to fall or damage the skin when picking;
• place in a wooden container in 2-3 layers, wrapped in paper or layered with wood shavings so that the fruits do not come into contact with each other;

then, by ensuring the storage temperature is -1- +7 °C, you can store them without problems until early to mid-January.

The Melba apple tree has become very widely known due to its incredible taste. There are many apple varieties that ripen at different times and differ in taste characteristics from one another. But true apple connoisseurs will not stop growing Melba.