Wellsie's Apple Tree is an old variety of American origin, still one of the most beloved throughout our country. Wellsie is planted in the Leningrad Region and Volgograd, Siberia and Altai; more than 30 new varieties have been obtained on the basis of Welsey. This is a disease-resistant apple tree, bringing annual abundant yields of excellent apples, notable for good keeping quality. Wellsie is trying to plant many summer residents at her site.
Grade description
The Welsey variety has been known in Russia since the 19th century, but is still cultivated in large quantities both in industrial gardening and in amateur gardens. It has a few more names (Fertile, Tartu Rose, etc.), but the name Abundant best conveys its properties: this apple tree brings very large crops every year.
When my children were very young, they just learned to speak, they called this apple tree "Uelis". Which, however, is not far from the truth: after eating one apple, I want more until the saturation limit is reached.
The variety was obtained in 1860 in the state of Minnesota. Its true origin is not exactly known, all versions are disputed by experts, so Welsey is considered to be derived from free pollination of an unknown variety. In our country, it was included in the State Register in 1947, recommended for cultivation in many regions (Northwest, Central, Central Black Earth, North Caucasus and Lower Volga). But this recommendation does not stop gardeners living in less severe regions of Siberia, the Urals and Altai.
The variety is considered to be early winter, the fruits are ready to eat immediately after harvest and are well stored until January-February. The tree is medium-sized, very convenient for caring for it. Depending on the nature of the stock, it grows to 4-5 meters. The crown is raised, wide-pyramidal, in old apple trees it becomes round, without skilled pruning it is prone to thickening. Skeletal branches extend from the trunk at sharp angles, which requires mandatory support as the crop ripens. The lower branches are usually drooping. Young shoots are brown in color.
This is not to say that apples cling to the branches of a tree, but yields are always very high
Leaves are smaller than average, with wavy edges. The tree blooms profusely with bright pink flowers; during flowering, Welsey looks very elegant.
During flowering, you can look at the Welcy tree endlessly.
The fruiting type is mixed, the present fruiting variety enters in the 4th year after planting. Yields are very high, but there is some periodicity with age: it’s not that there is a year, there is no year, but in some years the number of crops falls slightly. Partial autonomy: the variety necessarily requires pollinators, without them apples are tied with no more than 7% of the flowers.
Among the simplest, most widespread varieties, the best pollinators are considered to be blooming simultaneously with Welsey Antonovka, Autumn striped, Zvezdochka.
Winter hardiness is good, but not ideal: in the northern regions, the apple tree freezes in harsh winters, it normally withstands temperatures only -25 aboutC. The variety is not at all affected by scab and - very weakly - powdery mildew. Some disadvantage is the non-simultaneous ripening of fruits; ripe apples do not hang on trees for a long time and crumble. The approximate harvest time in most regions is mid-September.
The peduncle is long or medium length, thin. Fruits of medium size, weighing 100-130 g, of a regular flat-circular shape, the spread in size is small: giants and small things are rare. The main color is light yellow, the integument is cherry red. Red color is located almost over the entire surface of the apple with wide blurry stripes. There are also clearly visible light subcutaneous points.
Wellsie’s apple shape is often called "chiseled": indeed, irregularly shaped apples are almost never found.
The pulp is white, at the skin itself it can be slightly pinkish, dense, fine-grained. The juice content is high, the taste is dessert, pleasantly sour. The aroma of a ripened apple slightly resembles a strawberry.
Both the color and taste of the fruits are highly dependent on the light: the most beautiful and sweet apples grow on the crown of the tree and on the periphery of the crown, those that grow near the trunk and are poorly lit can remain yellowish-green to the end.
Apples are consumed both fresh (they are ready immediately after picking) and for all types of processing. They are well transported, which is of commercial interest. Wellsie apples are recommended for use in baby food.
Planting an Wellsley apple tree: step-by-step instructions
Planting an apple tree Wellsie has no features compared to planting any other medium-sized apple tree. It should be carried out in a place protected from cold winds, but well-lit, where meltwater does not stagnate, and groundwater does not come closer than 2 meters to the surface. You can plant an apple tree on a not too steep slope. When planting several trees between them withstand distances of 4-5 m.
The best soils are neutral or slightly acidic, medium in composition. Optimal - chernozem or nutritious sandy loam, even better - fertile loam. Clays must be corrected in advance by the introduction of large quantities of sand, peat, humus. In particularly problematic areas, it is required not only to dig a landing hole, but also to refine the soil at distances of up to two meters in all directions from it. You can plant Welsey both in spring and autumn, if only the seedling was good, with a powerful root system, large buds, but without leaves.
When planting in the fall, it is more reliable to buy a seedling of the required variety, sellers during the winter often, even not specifically, mix up everything that was not sold in the fall, and there is usually not enough time for a spring planting.
Therefore, it is better to slowly prepare a landing pit in the summer, and somewhere in October, after the majority of the leaves have fallen, purchase one or two years and plant it in accordance with all the rules. An approximate progress of work is known to every gardener.
- We dig a landing hole, it is better to do this already at the end of summer. The minimum dimensions are 60 x 60 x 60 cm, but bigger is better, especially in the case of heavy soils. The lower layer, infertile, discarded, the upper one is saved.
What goes below fertile soil can immediately be taken out of the garden
- In case of heavy soil, we lay a 10-cm layer of drainage (gravel, pebbles, in extreme cases, just coarse sand).
A layer of crushed stone is necessary to prevent the accumulation of excess water at the roots
- The removed topsoil is thoroughly mixed with fertilizers: two buckets of humus, 100 g of superphosphate, a liter can of wood ash. Pour this mixture into the pit.
The soil with fertilizers is mixed very carefully.
- The seedling acquired in October is lowered at least for a day in water (at least its roots). After that, dip the roots in a talker made from clay and mullein (3: 1) and diluted with water to the consistency of liquid sour cream. Well, or at least just a clay chatter.
From covering the roots with a layer of clay, the survival rate of the seedling is improved
- We take out so much soil from the pit that the roots of the seedling fit freely. We drive in a strong meter stake (the meter is above the surface!), We put a seedling in the pit, straighten the roots and fill it with the removed soil, shaking it so that the soil surrounds the roots without voids.
The roots should not be strained: they should be in a natural position
- After filling the soil, we trample the earth with your hand and then with your foot, making sure that the root neck remains 4-6 cm higher than the ground level. There is no need to be afraid: after watering and standing the pit, it will lower as required.
Over time, the root neck, left just above the ground, will drop to the desired height
- We tie the seedling to the stake using the "eight" method.
The G8 holds a seedling well and does not injure it
- We make a roller around the periphery of the planting pit so that irrigation water does not flow, and pour 2-3 buckets of water under the seedling: the last portions should not be absorbed immediately. Mulch the near-stem circle with humus, hay or any other dry material.
The roller will also allow rain water not to spread, directing it to water the seedling
If after watering it turns out that the earth has sagged badly, you need to add a little more. When planting an annual, the stem can not be shortened, but if it is very long, they usually cut 20-30 cm. In a two-year-old, the side branches are shortened by a third. If the sections exceed 1 cm in diameter, it is better to cover them with garden var. However, in cold regions it is better to even transfer this pruning to spring.
In the case of autumn planting closer to winter, the stem should be protected from frost and mice by tying it with the spruce branches of a Christmas tree or pine. With the onset of snow cover, it is worth throwing more snow into the trunk circle.
Features of cultivation and subtleties of care
Difficulties with the cultivation of the Wellsie apple tree can arise only in severe climatic conditions; in general, caring for this variety does not have any fundamental features. It includes watering, top dressing, spraying, pruning. In the early years, loosening of the near-stem circle with the removal of weeds is also necessary; later, Welsey can also be grown under sod.
This apple tree requires a lot of water, which is associated with the nature of fruiting: it is characterized by high yields of juicy apples. The tree especially needs moisture during flowering and intensive growth of fruits. In case of dry weather, young trees are watered weekly, adults - twice a month. Absolutely obligatory is abundant winter watering, shortly before the end of the summer season.
Even adult trees will not be prevented by a roller at the edges to facilitate watering
Fertilize Welsey in the same way as other varieties of apple trees. Once every several years they are fed with organic fertilizers by digging a pair of humus buckets into small pits along the periphery of the trunk circle. Mineral fertilizers are used three times a year: in the spring, urea or nitrate (a tablespoon of 1 m2 near-stem circle), immediately after flowering, azofosku (twice as much), in the fall - superphosphate and wood ash.
Spring application of urea through thawed soil is possible without embedding in the soil, in other cases, top dressing is applied in liquid form, spreading fertilizers with the required volume of water. In autumn, you can also prepare a nutrient solution from a mixture of mullein and ash, insisting them in water for at least a week.
Sanitary pruning can be carried out almost at any time of the year, especially when it comes to removing dead or diseased twigs. It is undesirable to do this only during flowering and the beginning of fruit set. A serious, shaping pruning is done in early spring (late March) and, in a more gentle way, immediately after leaf fall. In any case, one should not neglect the use of garden varnish to cover sections.
Formative pruning aims not to overload the tree with the crop and create all conditions for better illumination of the fruits in the crown. Therefore, the very first shortening of the branches of a young seedling is of great importance. Subsequently, both shortening of too long branches is carried out, as well as the removal "on the ring" of everything that grows in an undesirable direction. Many gardeners remove the central conductor when the apple tree reaches a height of 3.5 meters.
Whatever the cropping pattern, it should lighten the crown as much as possible
In addition to pruning, the skeletal branches of Welsey, growing at very sharp angles, try to bend down a little with the help of spacers or ropes, giving them a more horizontal position. In this case, two goals are pursued: accelerating fruiting and strengthening the skeleton of an apple tree.
Harvest time should not be missed: Wellsie's ripe apples are prone to shedding. We must immediately prepare for the fact that even with careful removal of fruits from the tree there will be losses, and broken apples are not stored for long. This is not scary: more than 200 kg of fruits are harvested from an adult apple tree of this variety, enough for storage and for preparing various stewed fruit and preserves. If the year turned out to be especially fruitful, we should expect some decrease in the number of apples in the next season.
Diseases and pests: the main types and solutions to the problem
Welsey is completely resistant to the most dangerous apple tree disease - scab, which often leads to the loss of a significant part of the apple crop of many other varieties. Therefore, one does not have to fear for the harvest of Welsey in the rainy years. Powdery mildew is not very terrible for him either. Other diseases affect this variety moderately; they, like pests, are the same as the rest of the apple trees.
- Powdery mildew appears as white pubescence of leaves. Subsequently, it turns brown, the leaves dry, and the fungus moves to the fruit. The treatment is simple, Topaz or Strobi drugs are effective.
Fortunately, powdery mildew rarely defeats Welsey.
- Fruit rot, or moniliosis, is a disease that no apple tree can do without: everyone has seen the fruits that have already decayed on the tree. In Welsey, the proportion of affected fruit is usually extremely small. Therefore, processing is used only in extreme cases; use drugs Skor or Fundazol.
You can afford a dozen rotted fruits on a tree, but with a greater spread of the disease, you need to invent something
- Cytosporosis is a fungal disease in which the affected areas of the cortex dry up and become covered with small tubercles. The disease develops rapidly, affecting all parts of the tree. In the case of a severe lesion, treatment is not possible; in the initial stages, the affected areas are cut out together with neighboring healthy ones. Sections are disinfected with a solution of copper sulfate.
Cytosporosis is one of the most dangerous diseases
Among the pests, the most dangerous are the codling moth, apple aphid and flower beetle.
- Flower beetle - a small dark bug with a proboscis, gnaws buds that darken and dry out. They rarely fight it with chemicals (for example, Aktara), the mechanical method is much safer. Early in the morning, in the chill, numb bugs are shaken off on the litter and destroyed.
This cute elephant may well rob us of the harvest.
- Apple green aphids are very dangerous in that they suck juices from young shoots, which leads to their death, and it reproduces all summer. Sometimes aphids also lead to the death of the whole tree. Fortunately, numerous folk remedies are effective against it, such as, for example, tobacco infusion or wormwood broths.
Aphids are constantly accompanied by ants, therefore it is necessary to fight with them
- Moth is a small butterfly whose larvae are known to all. These are the very “worms” eating apples instead of us. It is possible to completely destroy the moth only by constantly spraying the apple trees with chemicals (why do we need this?). But the use of trapping belts and the timely collection of carrion keep crop losses to a minimum.
You can, of course, share a few apples with the moth, this is better than eating chlorophos, but you still need to fight it
Grade Reviews
I would recommend Welsey. This apple tree managed to survive the winter of 1978, comes into fruition for 3-4 years, the apples are fragrant and quite mellow. The only drawback: the branches are very broken under the weight of apples.
Famusov
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Of the apple varieties, I love Welsey the most. It gives a crop every year, when picked, the apples are not very tasty (the taste is sour - tartly-vigorous), but after lying down for several weeks, they become a fragrant sweet and sour miracle.
"Toad"
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I have pretty colored apples on my Wellsie, I also had a clone, Red Wellsie, it has an even stronger color, some fruits are almost completely red.
Dim1
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Wellsie has been growing in our garden for 35 years, and bears fruit well. The apples are delicious! When fully ripened, the flesh is soaked in juice that it becomes translucent, really bulk. They are not bad.We normally lie through February, then I don’t know, because they are very well eaten by our family and all relatives. Recommend!
Shlykova Elena
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Wellsie really likes the old variety, my grandmother bought an abandoned garden in the 70s, there was an apple tree of this variety, I just ate it ... Very aromatic, tasty ...
Fomenko
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Wellsie's Apple Tree is a widespread early winter variety that is over 150 years old. And, despite such a respectable age, it is still one of the most sought after apple trees both in industrial gardens and in summer residents. The variety is very easy to care for and annually brings abundant harvests of long-stored beautiful fruits.
