How the variety was developed
A new cherry variety, called Michurinskaya, was bred in 1994 by breeder T.V. Morozova. At the Michurin Institute, experiments were carried out with the seeds of Leningrad yellow cherries. As a result of selection, the Michurinsky variety appeared.
The new variety of cherries is represented by 2 subspecies:
- late - the berries ripen in the second half of July;
- early - the berries ripen in late June and early July.
Varieties of Michurinskaya cherries (late and early) have the following common features:
- trees begin to bear fruit at the age of five;
- berries - round, large, dark red, heart-shaped;
- tree height - 3-4 meters;
- crown - medium density, round-oval, raised.
general description
Michurinskaya cherry has a cone-shaped crown directed upward. The root system is branched. The roots are located predominantly horizontally. The taproot is formed in the first years of life, and over time it goes deeper into the lower layers of the soil by one and a half meters. The bark of young trees is smooth, brown-red, covered with stripes or lentils. Later it begins to peel off in separate films.
Advantages
Positive characteristics of Michurinskaya cherries:
- abundant and annual fruiting;
- ripe fruits do not fall off;
- Different varieties can be harvested in early and mid-summer;
- large, sweet and juicy berries;
- compact trees;
- After picking, the berries retain their shape well, do not spoil, and can be transported over long distances;
- cherries can be grown in different regions;
- the culture is adapted to a temperate continental climate.
Flaws
Cons of Michurinskaya cherries:
- trees can freeze in frosty winters;
- For pollination it requires planting near pollinating trees.
Bud
Leaves, flowers and twigs develop in spring from buds formed in the previous growing season. Leaf buds are sharp, elongated, tightly adjacent to the branch. Flower buds are round, egg-shaped, and have a slightly pointed top. They protrude slightly from the branch.
Leaf and flower
The leaves are simple, dark green, smooth, shiny, petiolate, medium in size. The shape resembles an elongated ellipse with a serrated edge. Petioles are short. At the base of the petioles there are 2 glands. The flowers are bisexual, large, white, pink-shaped, collected in umbrellas. The shape of the petals is round. The stigma of the pistil is located above the stamens. They bloom earlier than the leaf buds.
Fetus
The berries are round, with shiny skin, drupes on long petioles. During the ripening process, the fruits turn dark red. The berries have a wide heart-shaped shape. There is a small depression at the base of the fruit. The berry has a subtle ventral seam.
Weight
The weight of one berry of the early variety is 5.5-6.5 grams. The weight of the late-ripening variety reaches 6.5-7.6 grams. In drought, the berries become small. With abundant watering at the time of flowering and fruiting, the fruits grow large and juicy.
Height
All berries are approximately the same height. The length of one is 2.3-2.5 centimeters.
Width
The width of the cherry berry reaches no more than 1.8 centimeters. Larger specimens reach 21 millimeters.
Thickness
The diameter of one cherry is 20-25 millimeters. Thickness - 15 millimeters. The berries are heart-shaped, wide at the base, narrowing towards the tip.
Color
The color of the berries is dark red, with a small (almost imperceptible) number of subcutaneous dots. The pulp is bright red and juicy.
peduncle
The peduncle is short in length and of medium thickness. It comes off the branch quickly and well.
Bone
Medium size, oval, smooth. Excellent separation from pulp.
general characteristics
The berries are red, tender, juicy, medium firm. The aroma of Michurin cherries is weaker than that of cherries.
Taste qualities
The taste of Michurinskaya cherries is sweet, with a slight sourness. Tasting score: 4.95 points out of 5.
Nutrient content
Cherries are rich in vitamins (C, A, B1, B2, E, PP) and minerals (potassium, iron, iodine, magnesium). It differs from cherries in its increased sugar content (almost 13 grams per 100 grams of fruit). The berries perfectly satisfy hunger and are useful for hypertension and atherosclerosis. Due to its high content of iron and vitamins, it is used to treat anemia. This is an excellent diuretic.
Tree height and growth rate
Cherries grow quickly when young. The tree can live 30-40 years, but produces an excellent harvest only for the first 15-20 years.
Flowering and ripening period
Cherries begin to bloom late. The flowering period falls on May 10-15. The berries ripen at the end of June or in the second ten days of July.
Productivity
Michurinskaya cherries are distinguished by high yields. It begins to bear fruit 4-6 years after planting. From one mature tree you can collect 55-60 kilograms of cherries. 80-140 centners of berries are harvested from 1 hectare.
Transportability
Retains its shape for a long time. Transports well to the required distance. It doesn't spoil for a long time. The variety is recommended for industrial cultivation.
Drought resistance
Michurinskaya cherries tolerate drought well. Young seedlings need regular watering. It is advisable to grow in warm southern regions.
Frost resistance
This variety tolerates frosty winters well. However, during severe frosts the tree may die. It is advisable to grow in regions with mild winters or to insulate (cover) before wintering.
Disease resistance
Cherry is highly resistant to coccomycosis. However, in rainy and cool weather there is a possibility of the spread of this disease. Most often, cherries suffer from moniliosis and clasterosporiasis.
Application of fruits
The berries are eaten fresh, used for making compotes or juices, or canned. The fruits make sweet jams and preserves. The berries can be frozen and used to produce candied fruits, glazed or alcoholized fruits, and dry jam. Cherries are used in the production of sweets and as a decorative element in desserts.
Basic soil requirements
Cherry is a heat-loving crop. Prefers areas well lit by the sun and protected from the wind. Grows well in fertilized, neutral acidity, light sandy loam or loamy soils. The groundwater level is 1.5 meters. The distance to the neighboring tree is 3 meters. Does not like waterlogged, acidic, or too clayey soil.
Tree crown formation
Cherries of this variety do not like frequent and pedantic pruning. Therefore, where it is not pruned, the healthiest, strongest trees are found. At a young age, if it is pruned, it is only for the purpose of shaping.
After creating the trunk and crown, pruning is reduced to a minimum, limited to cutting out diseased, dry branches and intertwining branches from the tree.
With age, when all the energy of the tree is spent on the formation and maintenance of short growth of numerous bouquet branches, the tree develops weak terminal growth, as a result of which almost no new bouquet branches appear and the yield decreases.
During this period, more severe pruning and partial rejuvenation are used (for 3-5 year old wood). When pruning adult cherries of this variety, one must keep in mind that its ability to produce tops is weakly expressed, since its dormant buds do not germinate. Michurinskaya cherries are pruned in early spring, late autumn or winter.
Landing Features
Michurinskaya cherries can be planted in your garden plot. You must first purchase young seedlings. Trees are planted in early spring - before the buds awaken, or in late autumn - after leaf fall.
Selection of seedlings
It is advisable to buy young seedlings from a nursery. Trees purchased at spontaneous markets do not always correspond to the declared variety. Before purchasing a tree, you need to carefully inspect it. It is not recommended to buy seedlings with cracks in the bark, wounds, or mold. Annual or biennial plants with a height of 80-100 centimeters take root best in a new place.
Root system
Young seedlings should have a well-developed, moist, lush, healthy root system. The rhizome should not have dry shoots, growths, rot, or fungi. The plant should have many roots of different lengths. Before planting, the roots are immersed in water or a nutrient solution (Kornevin, Heteroauxin) for 12 hours.
Trunk
A young tree should have a straight trunk and several side shoots extending from the main one at an acute angle. The bark should be brown and smooth.
Age
The preferred age for planting is 1-2 years. During this period, plants take root better and get sick less. However, older trees can also be planted.
Availability of vaccinations
It is advisable to buy seedlings with grafting. It is done at a distance of 5-8 centimeters from the root. Trees with grafting take root better and get sick less often.
Choosing a landing time
Young seedlings are planted in early spring or autumn. Spring planting is preferable for regions with cold climates. Trees are planted before buds open, when the soil warms up well. Autumn planting is desirable for the southern regions.
The root system grows best in the fall. Trees are planted when the trees lose their leaves. Seedlings are planted in October, a month before the onset of frost, so that the trees have time to take root and adapt to the new habitat.
Site selection
Cherries grow well in fertilized or fertile soils. Trees are planted on sandy or loamy soil. It is not advisable to plant plants on peat bogs, clayey, sandy, acidic or marshy soils. Cherries do not like to grow in the shade. Prefers a well-lit area. Michurinskaya cherries are planted near pollinating varieties. There must be at least 3 meters to the neighboring plant. Cherry does not tolerate proximity to pear, plum, or apple trees.
Pit preparation
Regardless of the planting period, the hole for seedlings is prepared in advance. If the plant is planned to be planted in the spring, then the pit is dug in the fall. You need to give the soil time to shrink. It is advisable to plant cherries where fruit trees have not grown before.
The turf and top fertile soil layer are carefully removed and set aside separately. Then select soil from the hole to a depth of 70 centimeters (width - 70 centimeters). Drainage is laid at the bottom of the dug pit, then sod is laid with the grass facing down.
Fertile soil is mixed with wood ash (500 grams), leaf compost, and a bucket of rotted manure (it is not advisable to use bird droppings). Add a little sand to clay soil. You can add 60 grams of potassium sulfate and superphosphate.
Landing
First, a little fertilized soil is poured into the hole. A seedling is placed on a mound and the roots are straightened. Then the tree is sprinkled with fertile soil up to the root collar. The grafting site should be 8 centimeters from the ground. The soil near the tree is slightly compacted and watered generously. The tree trunk circle is mulched with peat. You can install several pegs near the tree. A seedling tied to them will be more resistant to wind.
Pollinators
Cherry Michurinskaya is a self-sterile crop. It does not bear fruit without pollen from trees and bees growing nearby. A garden with a single Michurinskaya cherry will not produce a harvest. Pollinator plants should be planted near this tree. It is advisable that suitable trees grow at a distance of 3-5 meters from each other. You can graft cuttings from other varieties onto Michurinskaya cherries.
Michurinka
Cherry pollinator for the Michurinskaya variety. A productive and winter-hardy crop. It blooms in the same period as Michurinskaya. The fruits are round, burgundy, weighing 5.5 grams.
Pink pearl
Cherry with large, pinkish-orange fruits. Berry weight - 6 grams. For pollination, replanting of pollinators is necessary: Michurinskaya, Adeline, Ovstuzhenka.
Bigarro Burlat
A variety of large cherries native to France. The fruits are black and red, with dark cherry juice, weighing 6.4 grams. It blooms at the same time as Michurinskaya, the fruits ripen in June.
Adeline
Table variety of medium ripening period. The fruits are red, weighing 5-6 grams. To pollinate this variety, Michurinskaya, Poezia or Rechitsa are planted nearby.
Poetry
The tree blooms in mid-May, the fruits ripen in July. The berries are medium-sized, yellow, with a ruddy cover. The weight of one fruit is 5.5 grams.
In memory of Chernyshevsky
Dessert variety with large red juicy fruits. The weight of one berry is 4.6 grams. The pulp is tender, melting, sweetish-sour.
Reproduction
Michurinskaya cherries are propagated mainly by grafting on antipka and wild varieties. When grafted on antipka, the plant takes root well in the nursery, develops somewhat weaker than when grafted on wild cherries, but it enters the fruiting season earlier.
Antipka is less demanding on the soil, more drought-resistant and frost-resistant than wild cherries. Therefore, in more northern regions, Michurin cherry should be grafted on antipka. The longevity of cultivated cherry trees grafted on antipka is no less than that of trees grafted on wild cherries.
The Michurinskaya cherry variety is self-sterile. Therefore, for this variety it is necessary to plant other pollinating varieties nearby. These varieties include: Pink Pearl or Michurinka.
Secrets of care
Michurinskaya cherries require a minimum of attention. Trees are watered during dry seasons, fertilizers are applied to the ground, branches are pruned, they are insulated for the winter, and they are protected from diseases and pests.
Watering
It is advisable to organize abundant watering for young, newly planted seedlings. Mature trees are watered only during the dry season, which occurs at the time of flowering and formation of ovaries. During the period of fruit ripening, watering is stopped, otherwise the berries will crack.
Top dressing
Cherries are fed with nitrogen fertilizers in early spring. The tree is watered with mullein infusion (0.5 kilograms of fertilizer per 10 liters of water). Instead of organic matter, you can take mineral supplements (urea, ammonium nitrate). After flowering, superphosphate and potassium sulfate are added to the ground (35 grams per 10 liters of water).
Trimming
Cherry branches are pruned in early spring or late autumn. Crown formation begins in the first year of life. Formative pruning is carried out in the spring. The crown is thinned out and the length of the branches is reduced.
Sanitary pruning is carried out in late autumn. Remove dry, broken, diseased branches. Top shoots are removed from the tree. Once every five years, rejuvenating pruning is carried out, cutting off old branches, leaving young branches.
Preparing for winter
Before wintering, the plant is treated with a lime solution. The ground is mulched with peat or humus. The trunk is wrapped in agrofibre or burlap. To protect against frost in winter, a snowdrift is thrown to the tree.
Prevention from diseases and pests
To protect against fungal diseases, cherries are treated with fungicides or folk remedies. Insecticides, homemade solutions or traps help control insect pests.
Insects that cause significant harm to cherries: cherry aphids, leaf rollers, cherry flies, pipe rollers, fruit mites. Sweet berries are eaten by birds. Sticky traps are used to control cherry flies. Insecticides (Confidor, Actellik) help against these insects. They can be saved from the tubeworm using the drug Aktara. The remedy ZOV or Confidor helps against aphids. Tobacco dust and elderberry decoction can be used against these small insects.
To protect against birds, rustling or shiny objects (foil, cellophane), homemade pinwheels, and strips of white fabric are hung on branches.
Sackcloth
To protect trees from crawling insects (caterpillars, aphids, mites), a hunting belt is used. It is made from burlap soaked in insecticide. A belt is wrapped around a tree trunk at a distance of 1 meter from the ground, tied in the center with a rope, leaving the top and bottom open in the form of a skirt. Such a trap will not allow insect pests to climb the tree or descend.
Ruberoid
You can save cherries from numerous pests that overwinter in the soil near the tree using ordinary roofing felt. From this material you need to cut a circle with a radius of 50 centimeters. In the center, make a hole for the trunk and cut a circle. The trunk circle covered with roofing felt will protect the tree from insects. It can be removed in late autumn.
Snow
In winter, snow should be sprinkled on the tree. It will protect the plant from freezing. True, after a snowfall, the snow needs to be trampled down to prevent rodents from getting close to the tree.
Horus
This fungicide is used against many fungal diseases (moniliosis, clasterosporiasis). For the solution, take 3 grams of the substance and 10 liters of water. Trees are treated 3 times a season.
Aktara
An enteric-contact insecticide used against sap-sucking and leaf-gnawing insects (aphids, beetles, bedbugs). Take 4 grams of the drug and dissolve it in 5 liters of water. Spray the tree with the mixture and pour a little liquid under the root.
Hom or solution of Bordeaux mixture
Hom is a copper-containing fungicide. Used against fungal infections (moniliosis, clasterosporiasis). Prepare a solution (40 grams per 10 liters) and spray it on the tree during the growing season.
Bordeaux mixture is a fungicide that protects cherries from fungal diseases. The mixture consists of lime and copper sulfate. The drug is diluted with water. The solution is sprayed on plants in early spring and during the growing season.
Treatment in spring
After the snow melts and the soil warms up, the cherry trunk is whitened with freshly slaked lime. Clay, copper sulfate, and the preparations Dichlorvos, Dnok, and Khom are added to the whitewash mixture. Before the buds awaken, the tree can be treated with a solution of copper sulfate, Bordeaux mixture, Dnok, Nitrafen.
If leaves appear on the plant, you can spray it with a solution of urea, ammonium nitrate, ammonium sulfate or the ZOV preparation. The soil near the tree is loosened and dug up. The tree trunk circle is watered with a solution of urea and copper sulfate.
Diseases and pests of Ovstuzhenka cherries
The Ovstuzhenka variety is slightly susceptible to the fungal diseases moniliosis and coccomycosis. Additional treatment is required for clasterosporiasis. It is identified by brown spots on leaves, buds and shoots. Gradually, holes form in the leaf plate. To combat clasterosporiasis, the affected parts are cut off and the wounds are disinfected with a solution of copper sulfate.
Advice! Chemicals are not used for cherry fruiting.
Cherries are susceptible to attack by aphids, moths, leaf rollers, cherry flies and other pests. To get rid of insects, insecticides Iskra or Karbofos are used. When the fruits ripen, they turn to folk remedies: infusions of onion peels, wood ash, tobacco dust.
