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Plum Blue Egg has become a favorite fruit crop of Russian gardeners due to its resistance to unfavorable climatic conditions and excellent taste of the fruit. The variety is unpretentious in care, and yields of the plum are rich.
Breeding history of the variety
The Blue plum, bred in 1986, has been widespread in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus in just a few years. Russian breeders VS Simonov, Kh. K. Yenikeev and SN Satarova bred a new variety by crossing the old Skorospelka and Renklod Ullensa.
Description Plum Egg Blue
Plum Egg is adapted to the temperature regime of a temperate climate. Grows in the central zone of Russia, the Baltic States, Ukraine.
The tree reaches a height of 6 meters or more. The crown is dense, in the form of a dome. Plum Blossoms Blue with large white flowers with oval petals. The color appears only on young annual shoots. Plum Egg - the plant is durable, the lifespan is up to 30 years.
The leaves are elongated, dark green, with small notches.
Fruits are dense, round, dark blue in color; there is a whitish coating on the surface. The shape is ovoid. The aroma is pronounced, plum. Weight ranges from 30 to 35 g.
The pulp is bright yellow, sweet, rather soft, and gives off a lot of juice. Contains a large percentage of sugar, no sour taste. Reviews about the taste of egg plum fruit are positive.
The fertility of the Blue plum does not differ: 12 kg of fruits from one tree. The first harvest of Blue Egg plum will give 5 years after planting.
Pollinators Blue Egg Plum does not require, as self-fertile. It tolerates frosty winters well at temperatures below 30 degrees Celsius. Egg plum is more difficult to tolerate drought - additional watering and irrigation are needed.
Plum blooms in early May; in mid-August, you can start harvesting. Egg Blue Plum is used only in private garden land - the variety does not attract farmers. Growing Egg Blue plum will not make it difficult even for novice gardeners.
Description of plum variety Egg Yellow
The tree grows up to 5 m or more, with a sparse rounded crown and massive branches.
- Shoots are massive, green, smooth.
- Carved leaf, dark green, in autumn - with yellow spots.
- The fruits are large, weighing up to 50 g, oblong ovoid. The peel is dense, bright yellow, with veins visible underneath.
- Egg plum is prone to rot during heavy rainfall. The bone is easily affected by fungal diseases.
- Plum pulp Egg has a juicy, with a pronounced sour taste. Egg yellow plum does not have good taste.
Variety characteristics
Characteristics of the Egg Blue plum variety: the fruits are sweet, juicy, about 12 kg of harvest can be harvested per season. Begins to bear fruit 5 years after planting.
Egg Blue Plum does not require pollinators, as it is self-fertile. Plum Blue tolerates strong frosts well. Temperatures below 30 degrees Celsius are not terrible for young kidneys.
Drought resistance frost resistance
For gardeners, the undoubted advantage of the Blue plum is its resistance to frost and drought.
- Frost resistance. Egg plum is able to withstand frosts down to -30 ° C. But it's still worth wrapping up the trunk for the winter.
- Drought resistance. Plum Blue tolerates heat well and does without watering for a long time. Prolonged lack of moisture can affect yields. When watering, make sure that the water does not stagnate at the root. Also, Egg is watered after leaf fall before the onset of frost.
Plum pollinators
Plum Blue Egg is pollinated by bees. During the flowering period, there are frosts, and the bees do not always have time to fly out. Gardeners know that the more different varieties grow side by side, the higher the yield of the plum. Do not plant only self-pollinated trees nearby. It is necessary to alternate self-fertile with self-fertile. Young trees of different varieties are planted at a distance of 10 m from each other.
For Blue Egg, the following pollinators are suitable:
- plum Eurasia 21;
- plum Early;
- plum Renklod Tambovskiy.
These plums bloom in early May. Fruiting - at the end of August - beginning of September.
Productivity and fruiting
Blue plum (Smolinka) is not very productive. During the season, one tree can be harvested from 10 to 12 kg of the crop. Plum Egg Yellow has a high yield. In September, up to 40 kg of fruits are removed from one tree.
Plum Blue bears fruit in late summer. Depending on weather conditions, the harvest period may be early fall.
Scope of berries
Plum Egg Blue is well suited for freezing, preservation, drying. Jams and jams, alcoholic drinks, juices, fruit drinks, compotes are made from it. Housewives prepare such delicacies from fruits as marmalade, marshmallow, jam.
Disease and pest resistance
Blue is not resistant to disease. Quite often, aphids and moths grow in fruits and leaves, and the crown is affected by clasterospirosis or fruit rot.
For prophylaxis, in the spring, the crown is treated with fungicides and the affected areas are pruned.
Advantages and disadvantages of the variety
Homemade Plum Egg Blue grows in most of the European continent. Gardeners loved her for the following qualities:
- frost resistance;
- drought resistance;
- self-fertility.
Disadvantages:
- lack of immunity to garden pests and diseases;
- perishable fruits;
- low yield.
Landing features
It is necessary to plant seedlings in the spring. Sandy soils with a high humus content are suitable. Groundwater - no closer than 1.5 m to the surface of the earth.
Experienced gardeners place the seedlings under the cover of a garden house. So in winter, the Blue plum will be protected from drafts and blowing snow.
Recommended timing
Egg seedlings are planted in March, before the buds swell on the shoots. A warm and dry day is chosen for planting. Planting is possible in autumn, in September - early October, before the onset of cold weather.
Choosing the right place
For planting Blue, a warm, lit place without drafts is suitable. Plum Egg takes root in the south, southwest, in the eastern part of the site. It is good to choose a location adjacent to other varieties. So it is possible to increase the yield of self-fertile plums.
What crops can and cannot be planted nearby
- Plum Blue Egg does not tolerate neighborhood with apple, pear, black currant, raspberry.
- It is good to plant a maple tree next to it. Neighborhood with it increases productivity.
- The Blue Egg Plum grows well next to the elderberry. This shrub prevents the appearance of aphids.
- You can not plant representatives of the Russian selection (Plum Yachnaya, Memory of Timiryazev, Kuban comet) with southern Manchurian species, such as Chinese and Amur plum.
Selection and preparation of planting material
- Choice. Egg Blue Plum can grow from seeds, cuttings and seedlings. Growing seedlings and cuttings is fun, but undesirable. A cultivated plant is unlikely to work. It is best to choose a healthy, sturdy seedling in the nursery.The tree should be with a developed root system and strong branches.
- Training. The seedling is left in a dark, humid place to avoid drying out the roots. Eliminate the impact of drafts. Before planting, egg seedlings are dropped into shallow holes along the entire length of the root. The soil should be loose, the voids between the roots are carefully filled.
Landing algorithm
- Dig a shallow hole based on the length of the root collar.
- A peg is hammered in the center of the hole, which will become a temporary support for the tree.
- The seedling is lowered into the hole carefully, without harming the root.
- They are dug in with loose earth. In this case, the root collar remains 3-5 cm above the soil level.
- After that, abundant watering and fertilization with humus is necessary.
Plum follow-up care
The grown tree must be periodically thinned out. Plum Blue Egg has a lush crown - the branches are cut once a year.
Pruning
Pruning is carried out in the spring, at the end of March, after frosts, before the formation of buds at the plum, by means of thinning and shortening.
The overgrown crown is thinned out by removing old branches and last year's shoots.
Plum pruning is carried out with special garden tools, the cut site is processed with garden varnish.
You can learn more about how to properly cut the Blue plum from this video:
Preparing for winter
When preparing young seedlings for wintering, you need to think about insulating the plum trunk. A sheet of old slate is fitted in front of the tree to protect it from drafts. After a sufficient amount of snow falls, it is periodically thrown over an impromptu fence.
If the winter turned out to be snowless, the trunk of the Blue plum is insulated with spruce branches or sawdust.
Read more about how to prepare a plum for winter in the video:
Top dressing and watering
If the autumn is dry, the plum must be watered several times before the onset of frost. Particular attention is paid to the stagnation of water in the hole. The soil around the trunk should be completely dry before the next watering.
Seedlings are fed several times a year. The first time in the spring, after planting, once in the summer and once again in the fall, before the cold snap. Top dressing is carried out by irrigation with humus diluted in water or fertilizers containing potassium and magnesium. In the spring, egg feeding is made with nitrogen-containing fertilizers.
Rodent protection
In autumn, in order to protect the egg plum trunk from rodents, it is wrapped with protective materials: spruce branches, raspberry and juniper branches. Such a barrier will protect not only from vole mice, but also from debate during the winter thaw.
A protective layer is applied around the trunk close to the soil and tied with a cloth or rope. You can wrap a layer of coniferous insulation on top with burlap or roofing felt.
Diseases and pests, methods of control and prevention
Clasterospirosis - a serious disease, the main pest of the Egg Plum. The disease is manifested by the appearance of red spots on the surface of the leaves. Over time, they turn into holes. The peculiarity of clotterospirosis is that it quickly spreads throughout the garden. Fungicides will help to cope with it. They need to be changed periodically.
Moth - another pest of this variety. Caterpillars eat up the ovaries, love to feast on ripe fruits, reducing the yield. In this case, the old bark is scraped off and the trunk is treated with chemistry.
Aphid settles on young leaves in spring. Egg plum is processed from pests for 1.5 months before fruiting.
Fruit rot appears on unripe fruits. It is a gray loose coating on the surface. Distributed in regions with a humid climate.
In order to prevent diseases, the affected shoots are cut off, the affected carrion is removed and burned in time.Places of cuts are treated with copper sulfate. Fungal diseases are removed by spraying with a 1% solution of Bordeaux liquid.
Spraying with fungicidal preparations before flowering helps from pests.
Conclusion
Plum Blue is an unpretentious plant widespread in our latitudes. The Blue Egg Plum will bear fruit for many years and will give more than one crop if you carry out regular feeding, pruning and protection from pests.
