The apple tree is the most common crop grown by gardeners around the world. In order to get a good harvest of apples every year, you need to choose the right variety for cultivation. Gardeners living in regions with moderate climatic conditions should pay attention to the Eliza apple tree, which is distinguished by good winter hardiness and resistance to diseases. About the characteristic features, planting technology and crop care - will be discussed in our material.

Variety Selection Information

The Eliza apple variety is considered to be a reference in European countries due to the amazing taste of its fruits and general external data. It was bred in 1974 in Holland by crossing apple trees of the Coke variety Orange Pepin and Septer. The plant is cultivated in all regions of Ukraine, France, Holland and also in Russia (Volga region).

Did you know? In Iran, the ancient Persian legend of 40 apples is still preserved, which says that if you make a wish and then eat 40 fruits, one after the other, after blowing on each one, the desire will certainly come true.

Tree morphology and properties of apples

A tree of medium height, reaches 4 m in height. The apex is wide, has an average density of leaves, the branches are drooping, growing downward. The bark and annual shoots are light brown in color. Leaf plates are rounded, wide, have a point at the end, their color is green, matte. The tree of this variety is early-growing, the fruiting period begins on the 3rd year of growth. Culture lives up to 35 years.

Fruits reach a mass of 180–280 g, their shape is conical, elongated, with a light ribbing at the base. Apples are dark pink in color, with a brown blush over the entire surface, some fruits may have bright spots. The skin is dense, shiny. The pulp has a white color, juicy, with a fine-grained, dense structure. The taste is sweet, a slight acidity may be present.

Detailed feature

A tree blooms in late May. The culture has a late ripening period: from late September to mid-October. The yield is stable: up to 65 kg of apples are harvested annually from one adult tree. The plant has high frost resistance - up to -30 ° C.

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The Eliza variety is famous for its resistance to diseases such as:

• scab;
• powdery mildew;
• bacterial cancer.

Apple tree Eliza is self-pollinated, but to improve the quality and quantity of fruits, it requires additional pollination, which can be the following varieties:

• Gala
• Red Delicious;
• Idared.

Rules for planting and further care of the variety

To grow a strong, disease-resistant tree, you must follow all the rules for planting and caring for it.

Landing dates and seat selection

Spring planting is carried out in mid-April, and autumn - in late September. In both cases, the planting pattern is the same: 3 m between trees and 2.5 m between rows. The landing area should be spacious, well-lit, because the fruits that grow without sunlight have a sour taste and poorly ripen. The occurrence of groundwater should be at least 1.5 m deep, otherwise the rhizome will be constantly at risk of flooding and infection with a fungal infection.

Important! This culture should not be planted in a strong draft, otherwise the tree will be attacked by pests and diseases that are carried by the wind.

During spring planting, the hole has been harvested since October, and during the autumn pit, it is prepared 3 weeks before the procedure. The hole is dug 60 cm deep and 70 cm wide. The excavated soil needs to be fertilized with 300 g of superphosphate, 300 g of wood ash and 15 kg of humus. The resulting soil substrate is poured to the middle of the hole, forming a mound in the form of a hill. The pit is covered with polyethylene and left in this form until the tree is planted.

Proper planting of apple trees: 1 - laying a seedling in a trench; 2 - a seedling dug for the winter. Planting is carried out after loosening the soil in the hole and inspecting the planting material for broken, damaged roots, which must be removed before planting in the soil. The plant is lowered into the pit, spreading the roots along the embankment from the soil, and then gradually add soil to the top of the hole and compacted densely. At the end of the planting, it is necessary to water the seedling of 20 liters of water.

Irrigation and fertilizer schemes

Watering a young plant is carried out every 2 weeks in an amount of 20 liters. After reaching 4–5 years of age, water should be applied once a month in a volume of 30 liters. When watering, you must comply with the measure, because the apple tree does not like waterlogging. After watering, a mandatory measure is loosening and mulching of the soil in the near-stem circle, which is necessary for better oxygen supply to the zone of suction roots and root hairs.

Important! Do not use mulching material that increases the acidity of the soil, for example, conifer needles. Better to use straw or sawdust. Mulch is scattered at a distance of 15–20 cm from the trunk, otherwise decomposition of plant debris can lead to infection of the plant with fungal diseases.

The mulching procedure can reduce moisture evaporation and prevent the formation of crust on the soil. It is mandatory to water the tree in the period before flowering, after flowering, and 3 weeks before the start of the harvest. They begin to fertilize the apple tree in the third year of growth, because the nutrients laid during planting will last for a long time.

Every 3 years, the tree needs organic top dressing, and mineral fertilizers are applied every year:

1. The first mineral fertilizer is applied in the period before flowering, from March 10 to April 15. It is necessary to dig up the soil near the near-trunk circle with the addition of 600 g of urea.
2. The second top dressing is applied after flowering in the form of liquid fertilizer, consisting of 6 kg of bird droppings, diluted in 30 liters of water (per adult tree).
3. With the advent of autumn, a third top dressing is carried out, consisting of 500 g of nitrophoska and 10 g of sodium humate, diluted in 10 l of water. On one tree, 30 liters of this solution are needed.
4. Before winter frosts, it is necessary to make the fourth top dressing (at the end of October). For one adult tree, 30 l of a solution consisting of 200 g of superphosphate and 90 g of potassium diluted in 30 l of water will be required.

Pest and Disease Control

The most dangerous pest for the apple tree is the aphid, which feeds on the juice of leaves and flower ovaries. The presence of aphids on a tree leads to a gradual withering of leaves and poor yield. One can notice the appearance of aphids on a tree by twisted sheet plates with a whitish, sticky coating.

Fighting aphids:

1. Manual cleaning of twisted leaves from an apple tree.
2. Harvesting weed grass near a tree.
3. Irrigation with a solution of dust soap (300 g per 10 liters of water). The procedure is carried out for 5 days in the morning and in the evening.
4. Spraying with the preparation “Karbofos” (90 g per 10 l of water).

Apple leafflake attacks the plant in the spring, when buds bloom on the trees. A small sucking insect reaches 3 mm in length, has small transparent wings.

You will be interested to learn how to get rid of rotting apples.

Leaf-shell eggs hibernate under the bark of a tree, and in spring small larvae emerge from them, which feed on the juice of flower ovaries, buds, and leaf plates. The presence of the pest leads to shedding of flowers, and subsequently to poor productivity.

Fight against a leaf cloud:

1. Timely cleaning of the site.
2. Whitewashing the trunk.
3. Irrigation of a tree with a soap-ash solution (for 10 liters of warm water you need to take 300 g of laundry soap and 300 g of wood ash and leave for 24 hours). With a solution, the tree is irrigated for 3 days.

With increased humidity and improper care on the apple tree, claustosporiosis, which is a fungal infection, may appear . The disease spreads along the wind or along with pests attacking a tree. The spores of the fungus have good vitality and survive in the bark of the tree even at low temperatures up to -30 ° C.

The disease manifests itself in the form of red spots that dry out over time, and holes form in their place. Leaf plates affected by claustosporiosis gradually fade and fall.

The fight against the disease:

1. Timely pruning of the crown.
2. Whitewashing of the trunk in the spring and autumn.
3. Loosening the trunk circle.
4. Harvesting fallen leaves and burning them.
5. Spraying with 3% solution of copper sulfate (300 g per 10 liters of water).

Also learn how to make an apple tree blossom and bear fruit.

Tree insulation before winter

So that the young tree does not freeze in the winter cold, its trunk is wrapped in burlap or wrapped in thick cardboard. From cracking the bark with strong temperature extremes, whitewashing with lime of the trunk and lower skeletal branches, which is carried out in early November, will help.

To protect the root system from freezing, you must:

1. Water the tree with 20 liters of water (provided that the autumn was not rainy).
2. Mulch the soil with sawdust.
3. Cover the trunk circle with a dense burlap.

Harvesting and storage of crops

To determine that the fruits have already ripened, you need to cut one of them and look at the bones - they should be dark brown. In addition, maturity is determined by the easy removability of apples from branches. They collect fruits in wooden boxes, the bottom of which is lined with paper. Fruits are laid in 3-4 layers, lining each of them with sawdust.

Fruits of the Eliza variety have a shelf life of up to 7 months, provided that the optimum temperature values ​​are observed within the range of 0 ... + 5 ° C and relative humidity of 80%. Crates with fruits are stored in a dark, cool room on special pallets. Every 3-4 weeks, it is necessary to inspect the fruit for rot, to change sawdust and paper, which is covered with a bottom.

Did you know? In esotericism, an apple tree is considered a tree of love and youth, as well as female strength, believing that it brings the representatives of the fair sex self-confidence and sensuality.

Gardeners need to pay attention to the variety of apples Eliza, because it is characterized by unpretentiousness in care, resistance to the most common diseases and frost resistance. And thanks to the early crop, you can get the first crop 3 years after planting.

Video: apple tree Eliza