If you are looking for the perfect apples for food, juices, drying and jams, then pay attention to the description of the Candy variety. The fruits of such an apple tree are incredibly juicy and fragrant, with an expressive blush on the yellow skin. It's also a win-win variety for hobbyists, so you can handle tending and planting for sure!
Description and characteristics of the variety
The name of the variety fully reflects its essence - the taste and aroma are really candy. This is a domestic hybrid obtained from old Russian varieties - Papirovka and Korobovka. Candy is not grown on an industrial scale, but in dachas and in gardens this is a real find! Among the summer varieties, this one has the sweetest and richest flavor.
The crown of the apple tree is quite compact, but powerful and growing rapidly, so it must be pruned regularly. Some specimens can grow calmly even up to 5 m. The branches are densely covered with large strong leaves. By mid-May, the tree is covered with large whitish flowers resembling saucers.
The fruits of Candy are very small, about 100 g, but there are a lot of them. Although at first glance they seem to be red, in fact, the skin is yellow, with small dots. The pulp of ripe apples is dense and juicy at the same time. The branches are very strong and do not sag even under the most abundant harvest.
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Apple tree care Candy
The Candy variety was specially bred as versatile and unpretentious as possible. Therefore, with the right choice of place and planting, it does not need any specific care, except for pruning.
Lighting
Apple tree Candy feels better in the sun, grows more actively and is not afraid of heat. But a little shading will work too, so it won't affect the condition and characteristics of the tree.
Watering
This variety is ideally adapted for urban conditions. Candy does not even need to be watered regularly, except in the hot season. Most of the year, the tree has enough natural precipitation.
The soil
Candy is a plentifully fruiting variety, so it needs the most nutritious soil. Wet neutral loams work well. You can plant apple trees separately or in groups, for example, for landscaping a park.
Top dressing
Although Candy does not need to be fed, it is very sensitive to fertilization. Mineral fertilizers based on nitrogen are best suited, in summer - urea, and by August - potassium.
Reproduction and pollination
To get a columnar candy apple tree, it is most effective to use the grafting method using a varietal cuttings. But for reproduction of an ordinary tree on the site, air layers are suitable. If you start preparing in the spring, you will already have a ready-made seedling by the fall. For pollination, we recommend planting several more varieties nearby.
Pruning
The need for regular intensive pruning is perhaps the only drawback of the Candy variety. Remove all lateral branches, be sure to thin out the middle, cut off old, damaged and painful shoots. For columnar varieties, the main thing is not to damage the main growth point, because otherwise active branching will begin.
Harvesting
Up to 100 kg of apples can be harvested from one mature tree over 5-6 years old if it is properly cared for. It begins to bear fruit in 2-4 years, depending on which stock. Apples stick well to the branches and practically do not fall off by themselves. They can be stored for up to 2 months.
Wintering
The Sweets variety was bred specifically for our latitudes, so it is not afraid of frost. Even without shelter, after a harsh winter, the apple tree will give a rich bountiful harvest.
Diseases of apple leaves: descriptions with photos, treatment
Planting an apple tree Candy
Saplings of the Candy variety are recommended to be planted in early spring. There should always be a distance between trees: for columnar trees it is at least 50-100 cm, and for ordinary trees - 1.5-3 m.Prepare the pit in advance, add humus and the upper fertile layer there.
When planting, it is important to carefully level the rhizome, therefore, for convenience, they make a small earthen slide. For compaction, use the remaining soil and be sure to form a near-trunk circle.
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Disease and pest control
Resistance to diseases and fungi is one of the main advantages of the Candy variety. Almost all of the standard problems of fruit trees are completely foreign to such an apple tree. Fruits are slightly less scab resistant than leaves, but still above average. Therefore, only standard spring spraying after warming is sufficient for it.
