Duke Nurse

Hybrid culture Duke Nurse has absorbed the best properties of its "parents": from cherries, it took resistance to cold and fungal diseases, and from cherries - large fruits with gorgeous taste and a memorable pleasant aroma, delighting both gardeners and consumers.

The culture was developed by the scientist of the Gardening Zonal Station (Rossosh) A.I.Sychov. Initially, it was called Dessert Sychova, but later the name was changed to Nurse. It is not listed in the State Register, since the Ducs have not yet been classified as an independent culture, although they first appeared in the 17th century in England. In Russia, the first duke appeared in 1988, and IV Michurin became its author.

According to its intended purpose, the culture is universal, it is intended for cultivation in various regions, including in the northern latitudes.

The trees are medium-sized (up to 4 m), with pyramidal crowns, acquiring a rounded shape with age. The bark of young (annual) shoots is usually grayish, but then it gets brown. Dark brown branches grow in relation to the trunk at an acute angle (60 degrees). Arcuate shoots. The leaves are large, oval in shape, dark green in color.

By the type of flowering and fruiting, the culture is mixed: a significant part of the fruits develops on bouquet branches.

The pluses of culture include:

• reliable and stable fruiting in cold regions;
• high level of productivity;
• significant sizes of juicy and sweet berries;
• high level of resistance to diseases and wrecking attacks;
• minimum labor intensity in care.

Of the minuses, they singled out the partial self-fertility of culture.

The fruits of the culture are large (7.5-7.8 g), rounded, dark red shades. The flesh is moderately firm and has the same color as the skin. The peel is firm and firm.

Ripe berries do not crumble, and therefore it is permissible not to rush to remove them: slightly overripe berries improve their taste. The transportability of fruits and their keeping quality are at an average level, but fully ripe berries should not be transported over long distances.

The use of the fruit is universal. When fresh, they are good as a dessert, and when processed, they are delicious in the form of preserves, jams, marmalade and compotes.

By taste, the berries are sweet and sour, with a light cherry aroma. The tasting score in points is high - 4.8.

The time for the starting picking of fruits comes on the 3rd year of growth. Aging times are average. The fruiting period includes the first half of July. In the Central Black Earth Region, trees bloom and pollinate in May, and the fruits ripen by the end of July, in cooler regions of the region, ripening dates begin in early August.

Mature trees yield up to 13 kg of berries, but the volume of harvest depends on the degree of pollination.

The best regions for planting trees are the territories of central Russia, but given the high frost resistance of the plant, it is successfully cultivated in northern latitudes.

The culture is self-fertile only in part, so it requires pollinating neighbors. For this purpose, certain varieties of cherries are used. Experienced gardeners prefer cherry varieties Iput, Revna, Lyubskoy, Businka, Tyutchevka.

In relation to the soil, the culture is not particularly demanding (the best acidity level is 7). Places of productive growth are selected as standard for stone fruit crops.

For planting, one-year-old seedlings with closed and well-developed roots should be selected. In order to check, a small incision is made on the root of the seedling: if its inner part is white, then the tree is healthy.

A mixture of garden soil and humus, supplemented with nitrogen fertilizers and sod, should be laid in the planting recesses, harvested in the fall (70x70 cm).

As already mentioned, the culture does not need increased attention when leaving: it does not require frequent irrigation, and does not tolerate excess when feeding. Removing weeds in the near-stem space, mulching and pruning - this is a sufficient list of procedures for caring for trees.

Young trees should be irrigated once every 7 days, mature plants need abundant irrigation every 30 days, which is carried out using an open hose located in the near-stem space of the tree. It is worth remembering that waterlogging of the culture leads to cracks in the bark and death of roots.

Trees do not require frequent feeding; they are usually carried out twice a year (in spring and autumn). Significant amounts of fertilizers affect the growth of shoots, which begin to develop so quickly that the wood does not have time to harden after this growth. This can lead to the death of plants in the winter.

In the spring, the trees need nitrogen-containing additives, which accelerate their development, and in the fall - in phosphorus-potassium fertilizers, which make it easier for the trees to winter. According to the advice of seasoned gardeners and experts, fertilizer, consisting of:

• soy flour;
• alfalfa flour;
• fish and bone meal;
• algae, amino acids and vitamins;
• sodium NPK 1: 1, 5: 1.

This top dressing is used until the fifth birthday of the Nurse.

The crowns of trees are formed without making the trunks tall, since they are vulnerable to frost, and the pruning is done in longline in shape. Since this hybrid culture does not form lateral shoots, the intertwined branches and lower main shoots are eliminated during sanitary pruning. In spring, the trees are freed from thickening and frozen or deformed branches.

Neither coccomycosis nor moniliosis is dangerous for the Nurse, and all thanks to the high immune potential that she inherited from one of the parents.

The practice of gardening also shows that pest attacks on cherries are rare. The main problem is protection from wasp and bird raids on tasty and large fruits.

The Nurse has a fairly high degree of drought tolerance. If the seedlings need frequent irrigation during the development period, then adult trees do without abundant watering for a month.

The level of winter hardiness of the culture is also high. Experiments carried out in 2006 showed a satisfactory survival of the tree bark at a temperature of -40.5 ° C, but the flower buds could not withstand such a frost. Therefore, their level of winter hardiness is estimated by experts in the parameters of the Central Black Earth Region. At the same time, it was noticed that in severe winters and with sharp drops in temperature in February (up to -30 ° C), the degree of vulnerability of trees increases.

For safety protection of the culture from possible severe frosts, seedlings and young trees are covered with sackcloth entirely; for this, their branches are tied to the trunks. In mature trees, trunks and skeletal branches are wrapped around. The procedure for autumn mulching of the near-stem space will also be useful.