Apricot Black Prince

Exotic intergeneric hybrids are gaining more and more popularity every year. One of the most successful such hybrids is the Black Prince apricot.

The black prince is a fairly young variety, although information about the time of its creation is inaccurate. Most likely, it appeared in the late 90s. It was bred by the Artemovskaya experimental nursery station in the village of Yagodnoye, Bakhmutskiy district, Donetsk region. The nursery is located in the south-east of Ukraine in the forest-steppe zone with a favorable climate and fertile soil. However, this region is characterized by recurrent frosts down to -30 ° C and spring frosts. Therefore, many Donetsk varieties of stone fruit crops perfectly take root in Central Russia.

To obtain the Black Prince, the breeders of the station crossed the common apricot and the frost-resistant late-fruited garden cherry plum by the method of cross-pollination. The variety did not pass state registration, however, like other black types of apricots. Today, the seedlings of the Black Prince are widely represented and are available for purchase in nurseries of the Donetsk Territory, Crimea, Kuban and the Central Black Earth Region of Russia, for example, in the Voronezh Region.

Apricot Black Prince is the largest of the black hybrids. It is a high-yielding, self-pollinated, late-ripening, fairly winter-hardy and hardy variety with good immunity to diseases. Forms a medium-sized tree up to 4 m high with a compact crown without much density. The bark of the trunk has a dark green hue, the leaves are serrated and small. In the period from 3 to 6 years, a few thorns-thorns may appear on the skeletal branches of the tree.

The apricots of the Black Prince are round-oval in shape, large in size and weighing 50-60 g. Under favorable climate conditions and careful agricultural technology, the weight of the fruits reaches 80-90 g. Wine-burgundy, slightly pubescent thin skin of the fruit becomes even darker when fully ripe, almost brown-black. The flesh on the cut is firm, juicy, bright orange, with red veins. The aroma is not strong, but characteristic, apricot. The stone is not large, leaves the pulp with difficulty in fruits of medium ripeness, and in the most ripe it separates well.

The taste is sweet and sour, rich and unusual, with hints of apricot, cherry plum and even plum. At the ripeest fruits, it becomes dessert, very sweet, reminiscent of nectarine. Differs in tart piquant notes, which are inherent in cherry plum and unusual for ordinary apricot. The purpose is universal: apricots can be eaten fresh, used as a filling for pies, made compote from them or prepared in their own juice. True, the peel of the fruit in such blanks very often bursts. Black apricots make jam especially tasty and beautiful. Jam and marshmallows are also made from them.

Late ripening is characteristic of the Black Prince. The timing of the main fruiting depends on the region and falls on the period from mid-July in the southern regions to the end of August (and even before the first decade of September) in the more northern regions.

The tree often bears fruit already in the second year of life, but to increase the green mass and crown growth, you can remove the color and wait for fruiting for 3 years. This apricot bears fruit annually, without rest periods.

The variety is valued for its high yield. A bountiful record harvest of 35-50 kg the Black Prince may not bring every year, but 20-30 kg per tree annually can be considered very good indicators.

The variety's transportability and keeping quality are high, but this applies only to fruits at the stage of removable maturity. Such slightly unripe fruits will be elastic, they are comfortable to collect and can be transported without problems. If you leave the harvest on the tree until it is fully ripe, then ripe apricots become too soft and tender, they will crumble, breaking on the ground, and the fruits collected in buckets and boxes will crumple, crack, flow and deteriorate.

The Black Prince tree is self-fertile, it does not need forced pollination and the compulsory neighborhood of other varieties. However, many gardeners note that planting a number of cherry plum, apricot or plum trees that coincide in terms of flowering increases the number of ovaries and increases the yield.

The flowering time for this variety is late, in mid-late spring, when there is no longer a threat of recurrent frosts. The tree blooms profusely, white or white-pink.

The Black Prince is an unpretentious culture that does not require excessive and constant grooming. Planting is carried out in autumn (September-October) in warm regions and in spring (April-May) in more northern regions. A distance of 3-4 m is maintained between the seedling and other trees.

The black apricot is able to survive a short-term dry period, and mulching of the trunk circle will help to preserve moisture at the roots. Excess and stagnation of moisture should also be avoided. A young tree needs more abundant watering: when planting, during flowering, when fruit sets and grows, and after harvesting.

But the fertilizers that are applied to the planting soil, the seedling will last for 2 years. Then they are added seasonally, alternating nitrogen and potassium-phosphorus supplements.

Despite the compact growth of the branches, the tree requires a sanitary, rejuvenating and formative pruning. The crown is usually shaped like a bowl.

This hybrid is distinguished by enviable immunity to the main diseases of stone fruit crops. The tree is rarely affected by such a common apricot and plum disease as perforated spot. The Black Prince is resistant to cytosporia and moniliosis, which causes wilting of leaves, drying of flowers and rot of fruits.Even in the vicinity of a diseased tree, the Black Prince sapling may not become infected with a fungal infection.

The attack of pests can be prevented by agricultural measures and preventive spraying.

The Black Prince tree can withstand temperatures as low as -30 ° C. In the regions of Ukraine and Russia, with the likelihood of more severe winter cold weather, the tree must be covered with agrofibre or sacking, and the near-trunk zone should be covered with spruce branches or hay.

It is recommended to plant a seedling or plant a shoot on the stock on the sunny side of the site in a place protected from strong drafts, but with good air circulation. The tree is not too demanding on the ground, but loose fertile loam is ideal. An important point: planting should not be done in a lowland, where moisture from past rains or melted snow can stagnate. Do not plant trees in areas with high groundwater levels.