Manchurian apricot is an incredibly beautiful plant that can become the pride and centerpiece of a garden plot. Exceptionally beautiful during the flowering period, the tree is completely strewn with large pink flowers.
It is no less elegant in the autumn decoration of bright foliage, as well as at the time of fruiting. Characterized by longevity (life expectancy of more than 100 years), Manchurian apricot is planted in garden plots, used to decorate parks and squares, both in single and in group plantings. Due to the deep root system, such a tree is used to secure river banks, slopes, and irrigation systems. Under natural conditions, it grows in the Far East, in Eastern Siberia, northeastern China.
Breeders have bred decorative varieties of Manchurian apricot. In particular, the East Siberian apricot, a derivative of the common and Manchurian apricot, is characterized by fragrant, tasty fruits.
Manchurian apricot: description
Plant height - 10-15 meters with a half-meter trunk diameter. The crown is spreading, openwork. The bark is dark gray, deepcracking. Leaves 5-12 cm in size, oval; turn red in autumn and remain on the tree until frost.
Pink flowers of apricot, which is the earliest honey plant, exude an incredible honey aroma. Small in size (about 2.5 cm), they are located on short pedicels in several pieces or singly. The Manchurian apricot blooms annually and abundantly. Such a chic spectacle is observed in April-early May and lasts only 12 days.
The first crop of Manchurian apricot, reviews of the beauty of which encourage you to acquire such a plant on your site, gives the 5-7th year of planting. For effective pollination, it is recommended to have several of these trees on the site.
Fruits of a flattened-oval shape, medium, pubescent, orange-yellow, weighing from 15 to 20 grams, ripen in mid-summer and are inferior in sweetness to southern relatives. Bitter-sour in taste. But despite this seemingly small flaw, they make excellent jams, jellies, preserves and compotes.
Manchurian apricot: planting
The seeds of such a plant remain viable for several years and, when planted in autumn, give from 50 to 90% of young plants. Previously, it is recommended to lower the bones into the water: the floating specimens must be removed, since they are not suitable for planting. It is useful to stratify. When planting, the embedment depth is 1 cm. The emerging shoots need careful care: watering, loosening, removing weeds, soil mulching. After 2 years young plantscan be transplanted to a permanent place of growth.
Features of care
In the care of such a tree is not capricious: it is important to provide it with regular watering, especially after transplantation and in the process of growth. In the second half of summer, the supply should be made only during a drought. Excessive watering can cause protracted growth of shoots that will not have time to ripen and freeze by winter.
Manchurian apricot (photo in the article) is a frost-resistant plant that can survive temperatures below 30oC.
Grows on any type of soil and at the same time gives abundant shoots, loves an abundance of light. With a close location of groundwater, the plant should be provided with good drainage. It could be a 20 cm layer of rubble.
Pre-winter preparation includes sheltering young plants with spruce branches near the root collar. If frost damages annual shoots, the latter must be cut back.
Twice a year it is required to whitewash the tree trunk. In the presence of damage, such places must be cleaned to a living area and applied to them with garden var.
Pruning the plant
It is recommended to remove dry and diseased branches from the tree in a timely manner. It is also worth bearing in mind that the Manchurian apricot does not have the ability to control its own crop: almost all normally formed ovaries will turn into fruits firmly attached to the branches. The plant can be overloaded with a crop, which will weaken the growth of new shoots. Therefore, the annual anti-aging pruningis a necessary factor in plant care.
Manchurian apricot pests can be affected by spider mites, cherry elephant, aphids; from diseases - perforated spotting and verticillium.
