Alycha Mara - description and cultivation

Cherry plum Mara was originally obtained in Belarus. Soon she moved to Russia and got comfortable on the whole European territory south of St. Petersburg. Why it happened, what properties of the variety it caused and whether it is worth the gardener to plant it on the site - we will try to figure it out.

Grade description

This cherry plum comes from Belarus. The variety was isolated in 1987, and in 1999 it was included in the State Register of the Republic of Belarus. In the State Register of Russia - since 2002. Zoned in the Volga-Vyatka, Central and North-Western regions.

According to VNIISPK (All-Russian Research Institute for Fruit Crop Breeding), the tree near Mara is medium-tall, with a strong-growing tree that has slightly curved maroon-brown shoots. The crown is raised, rounded, sprawling. The density of the crown is average.

The advantages of the variety are good winter hardiness for all components - wood, roots, flower buds - and high resistance to fungal diseases, including kleasterosporiosis. After planting on a seed stock, cherry plum comes into bearing for 2-3 years. When planting according to the scheme of 5 x 3 meters, 35 c / ha are collected annually. According to the State Register, the ripening period is average, and according to the All-Russian Institute of Agricultural Research, late (September). Judging by the reviews, gardeners are more prone to the latest version.

The variety is self-infertile, pollinators are required. The best are cherry plum varieties Vitba and wild cherry plum. Blossoming later - the end of April - the beginning of May.

Berries are flat-round with an average weight of 22-23 grams. The skin color is yellow, the same color and juicy, fleshy flesh. The taste is pleasant, sweet or sour-sweet. Tasting assessment - 4.2 points (according to VNIISPK - 4 points). The bone is small, fused with flesh. A variety of universal purpose. Shelf life is pretty good - in a cool room the berries are stored for up to three weeks.

Yellow cherry plum berries

Cherry plum landing

Planting cherry plum is available to the beginning gardener. The first thing to do is to choose the best place for the future tree. Cherry plum Mara is a winter-hardy plant, but does not like northern cold winds. In places with a close location of groundwater or swampy, the tree also will not grow. Alycha needs the sun, good ventilation, but without drafts. Based on these requirements, we can summarize - cherry plum will best grow on the south or southwest slope with a deep occurrence of groundwater. It is highly desirable to have wind protection in the form of a wall of a structure, a fence or thick trees from the north or north-east side. The soil needs loose with a neutral or slightly acid reaction.

Cherry plum should be planted in early spring when the sap flow has still begun and the plants have not left their dormant state. Seedlings with a closed root system can be planted at any time - from April to October.

Step-by-step instructions for landing cherry plum

Cherry plum should be treated responsibly. You need to be guided by the following rules:

1. Start with the acquisition of a seedling. Do not do this in the markets of unknown sellers - the purchase of a seedling in a nursery will save you from unpleasant surprises. Seedlings with an open root system are harvested in the fall, since it is at this time that there is a wide selection. They prefer one or two-year-old plants - they take root better, grow faster and enter fruiting. The root system of the seedling should be well developed, the roots are fibrous, without cones and growths. If leaves remain on the plant, they should be cut off.
   

   Cherry plum seedlings should have well-developed roots.

2. Until spring, the seedlings are dug in the garden, after dipping the roots in a mash of equal parts of clay and mullein. Put the tree in a prepared hole. It should be oblong, 30–40 cm deep. The roots are covered with a layer of sand, watered, then the ground is covered with a small mound. If the seedling is stored in the basement, you need to ensure a temperature of 0 to +5 ° C.
   

   Until spring, the seedling is stored dug in the garden.

3. Prepare a landing pit in the following order:
   1. They dig a hole 80x80x80. At the same time, the upper part of the soil is laid aside (if it is fertile and rich in humus).
   2. On heavy soils, drainage 10-15 cm thick should be laid at the bottom of the pit. For this, improvised materials are used - crushed stone, expanded clay, broken brick, etc.
   3. The pit is filled with a nutritious mixture of chernozem, sand, humus and peat, taken in equal quantities. 2-3 liters of wood ash and 300-400 grams of superphosphate are added. Stirred with a pitchfork or shovel.
   4. Shelter until spring with a roofing material or a film to avoid leaching of nutrients.
4. In the spring, a tree is planted in the following sequence:
   1. Inspect the seedling. If frozen or dried roots are found, cut out with secateurs.
   2. Roots are placed in water with the addition of root formation stimulants, for example, Kornevin, Heteroauxin, Epin, etc.
   3. After 2-3 hours, a small mound is formed in the pit, on top of which a seedling is placed. The roots are neatly straightened.
      

      In a prepared hole on a knoll, a cherry plum seedling is placed and the roots are carefully straightened

   4. Fill the pit with earth in stages. Each layer is compacted, taking care not to damage the roots.
      

      When filling a hole, carefully tamp each layer

   5. It is important that the root neck after backfilling and watering is at the level of the soil. To do this, at the beginning it is placed just above the ground level - it will settle and the neck will be at the right height.
   6. It will be better if the seedling is tied to a pre-hammered peg - so it will withstand possible winds.
   7. Using a plane cutter or chopper, a near-stem circle is formed along the diameter of the pit.
   8. Water the soil with plenty of water - this will provide a good covering of the roots and elimination of air sinuses.
      

      Water the soil with plenty of water - this will provide a good covering of the roots and elimination of air sinuses

   9. The next day, the near-stem circle should be loosened and mulched with hay, humus, sunflower husk, etc.
   10. Immediately you should start forming the crown of the future tree. For this, the seedling is cut to a height of 60-80 cm, and the branches (if any) are shortened by 30-40%.

Features of cultivation and subtleties of care

Cherry plum care consists of standard agricultural activities.

Watering and feeding

Of course, any tree needs to be watered and fertilized. This is not a problem. Recall the basic rules briefly:

• Cherry plum watering interval is about once a month. Young trees may need to be watered more often. But one should not arrange a “swamp” in the near-stem circle - the cherry plum does not like this.
• When watering, you should be guided by the rule - the soil should be moistened by 25-30 centimeters.
• When the soil dries up - it is loosened and mulched.
• In the third year after planting, they begin to feed.

Table: types of top dressing cherry plum and timing of application

Pruning

Pruning helps maintain the tree in a healthy state, contributes to an increase in yield and longevity. The most important shaping and regulating trim.

Crown formation

A properly formed tree crown will allow you to get higher yields. When growing cherry plums, sparse-tier and cup-shaped formations are common. The latter is more preferable. It provides good ventilation and illumination of the crown, which contributes to a more rapid ripening of berries and increased sugar content. There are simple and improved forms of the "bowl". They differ in that in the first case skeletal branches grow from the stem at the same height, and in the second case they have an interval of 15-20 cm. For cherry plums loaded with high yields, cherry plums prefer an improved "bowl" shape.

Step-by-step instructions for forming a crown:

1. The first step is pruning the seedling when planting. If this has not been done - cut off in the spring of next year.
2. The second step is to select four generative buds on the trunk below the cut point with an interval of 10-15 cm. They should be multidirectional.
3. All buds that are lower than those selected should be blinded, and the branches (if any) cut into a "ring".
4. In the second and third years, 1-2 shoots of the second order are formed on each skeletal branch at a distance of 50-60 cm from each other. They should be shortened by 30-40%, the rest should be removed.
5. In subsequent years, support the length of the branches so that not one is pulled forward. Otherwise, such a branch will be able to assume the role of a central conductor, and its presence with such a formation should not be.
   

   The crown shaped like a bowl is well lit and ventilated

Adjust cropping

No less important than formative. Especially for the crown "bowl", in which a large number of shoots are formed inside the crown. So that they do not thicken the crown beyond measure - their number is regulated. Every year in the spring, shoots are first and foremost cut, growing up and inside the crown. All slices are performed by the “ring” technique.

Video: regulating pruning plum

Support Crop

This is the so-called chasing. Spend in early summer, when young shoots are booming. They are shortened by 10-12 centimeters. Such an operation provokes branching of shoots with the formation of additional flower buds that will yield a crop next year.

Sanitary pruning

The most famous and simple. It consists in the removal of dry damaged and diseased branches. They spend it in late autumn and, if necessary, in early spring.

All scraps, except for coinage, must be carried out in the absence of sap flow. This will avoid gumming.

Diseases and Pests

Cherry plum and plum have common pathogens and pests. The high resistance of cherry plum Mara to fungal diseases and pests should be complemented by regular sanitary and preventive measures.

Table: measures for the prevention of cherry plum diseases and pests

Possible plum disease

It is worthwhile to get acquainted with the signs of probable diseases.

Polystigmosis or red leaf spot

Fungal disease, manifested in the appearance of red spots on the leaves. Soon the leaves fall off. Berries on a diseased tree become tasteless. As a rule, this does not happen with regular spraying with fungicides in the first half of the growing season.

Polystigmosis begins with the appearance of red spots on the leaves of cherry plum.

Gummosis or gum disease

Appears on untreated bark damage. It can be eliminated by cleaning wounds to healthy wood, followed by disinfection with 1% solution of copper sulfate and coating with a layer of garden varnish.

With gummosis, a significant amount of gum is released

Milky shine

A dangerous disease, named so because of the sign of its occurrence. Leaves become light, silvery. And this already indicates that a fungus has spread inside the wood, affecting the branch from the inside. If you cut it, you can see a significant darkening of the wood. The affected shoots should be cut "into the ring", if the whole tree is infected, you will have to say goodbye to it.

Lightening leaves is the first sign of illness

Possible pests

Pests often attack cherry plum, especially when neglected preventive measures.

Plum moth

Larvae of the codling moth appear from the eggs that the butterfly lays when the cherry plum blooms. Eat berries from the inside. Small droplets of gum may appear on the surface of the fetus. When the larvae are already inside the berries, it’s too late to fight. But you can prevent the further spread of the pest by spraying with insecticides, for example, Fufanon, Spark, Spark-Bio, etc.

Plum moth does not neglect cherry plum

Plum sawfly

The female sawfly also lays eggs in flower buds. The larvae emerging from them eat away the buds from the inside, then they can move to still intact flowers. Further, the larva feeds on ovaries and berries. Eliminate the problem with regular insecticide treatments.

The plum sawfly larva eats cherry plum berries from the inside

Bunny

Unlike the previous ones, this is a bug. But the mechanism is the same. He lays eggs, from which larvae appear, climbing into the plum bone. The core is eaten up - as a result, the fruits fall off before they reach maturity. Insecticide treatments can be supplemented by manual collection of beetles. They also use pheromone traps.

Having seen the leaves of a cherry plum beetle, you need to process the crown with insecticides

Grade Reviews

Good afternoon, who is growing Alycha Mara tell us about her photo, taste, frost resistance, is it worth it to plant it in your country house?

very good good. Wild yields. Start with a photo. Once the “Gardens of Mordovia” was stolen and posted my photo under his signet. There, on a 70cm twig, 8 kg of fruit were placed. He tied the twig in a timely manner, but the severity broke all the ties. The trick is that the photo was rotated 90 degrees. It turned out that the screed, bursting, remained horizontal ... The fruits have a dense skin. Unlike other varieties, they do not crack in rainy weather. It ripens late, when other cherry plums have already gone to rest. At the same time, cherry plum Soneika (her daughter) matures. Larger, but less hardy. If Mara m. to 25-30, then Sonya to 35-40g. With full aging, very good. juicy. The taste of grapes. The bone, unfortunately, does not separate.

toliam1, St. Petersburg

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Opinions on cherry plum maras were distributed.

Fresh in taste compared to others, the juice is of course. From yellow is the sweetest Scythian Gold. It's all for my taste, The gift of St. Petersburg is small, sour, I left one branch for the collection)

plash, Moscow

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The reliability of Mary is delightful - every year with fruits despite the fierce resistance of the weather. And to taste, most varieties of cherry plum surpass it. But we eat with pleasure, the taste is very grape, and very juicy. Skoroplodnaya, again, is good in terms of reliability. Sweeter than Mara, get better, and ripens early.But I do not like that the fruits fall off very much upon ripening. And why do you expect fruiting vaccinations not earlier than 2010? Even the seedlings of 2-year-old Mary and Skoroplodnaya are already blooming. And if vaccinations were done in the crown, then next summer should be the first fruits.

Chamomile13, Mordovia

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Alycha Mara - a good choice for gardeners of the Middle lane. Early maturity, high productivity, good taste of berries and unpretentiousness are an incomplete set of advantages of this variety. Minor flaws do not interfere with confidently recommending this variety for cultivation.