Cherry Natalie

Cherry Natalie is a culture that is pleasant in all respects: both with its small “felt”, sensual fluff, abundantly covering the underside of the leaves of young shoots, pedicels and even fruits, as well as the wonderful taste properties of large fruits. It grows successfully both in temperate latitudes and in the harsh Siberian expanses, withstanding winter cold and drought. She deserved the attention of gardeners and her modest unpretentiousness in care.

She saw the light in 1979 thanks to the painstaking and long-term (over 20 years) work of the scientists of the Far Eastern Experimental Station VNIIR V.P. Tsarenko, N.A. Tsarenko. The work was carried out by crossing Leto cherries with pollen from Red Sweet, Ogonyok and Damanka. Only in 1997 was it entered into the State Register. Culture is universal by design.

The culture grows in the form of a vigorous bush up to 1.8 m high, with broadly oval, sparse crowns. Branches are scaly, upright, grayish in color, with transversely located light-colored lenticels. Annual shoots of brownish shades have superficial pubescence. The pubescent buds are small in size, pointed at the ends, grouped in 3 pieces. Leaves are greenish, elongated-oval, pubescent on both sides.

The flowers are medium-sized, saucer-shaped, white, about 2.5 cm in diameter with corollas. The number of petals is 5, and the number of flowers in inflorescences is 1-2. Bushes live up to 18 years.

Of the main advantages of culture, we note:

• early ripening of fruits;

• high level of productivity;

• large-fruited;

• excellent taste properties of berries;

• good parameters of frost and drought resistance;

• a high level of immune potential, which determines a reliable resistance to coccomycosis.

Minuses:

• the need to use pollinating plants;

• the bushes do not tolerate waterlogging, which increases the risk of moniliosis;

• with excess harvests, the size of the berries decreases;

• fruits poorly tolerate transportation and harvesting by mechanical means.

The berries are attractive in appearance, large in size (1.8x1.7x1.7 mm), the average weight of the fruits is about 4 g. The configuration of the berries is broadly oval, with slightly sloping tops. They are dark red in color, with slight pubescence. The abdominal suture is marked with a stripe. The consistency is red, firm, cartilaginous, with a lot of juice. The seeds are small (about 0.2 g). The quality of separation of berries is semi-dry.

By chemical composition, berries include: dry compositions - 11.6%, sugar - 8.2%, acids - 0.71%, ascorbic acid - 30.4 mg / 100 g.

In refrigeration units, fruits are stored for no more than a week and only three days at room temperature. They must be processed immediately after picking up.

By their intended purpose, the berries are considered universal. They are consumed fresh, used for making juices, jams, marshmallows and marmalade. They make excellent wines and liqueurs.

The berries are sweet and sour to taste.The absence of astringency in their taste is characteristic of the berries. Tasting assessment of ripe fruits in points - 4.0.

The period of fruit bearing of grafted seedlings starts in the second year of growth, for self-rooted ones - for 3-4 years. They enter the flowering period on May 10-18. Berries are picked from 13-18 July. The maturation order is synchronous.

The crop is high-yielding - the average yield reaches 9.0 kg per bush.

The bushes are self-fertile, therefore, plants with similar flowering periods are used as pollinating plants. For this, plums, peaches, apricots or cherry plums are planted nearby. Other types of felt cherries are often used (Salute, Morning, Fairy Tale, Ogonyok).

Planting culture trees is not much different from planting other fruit plants. The landing grooves should be spacious. Standard dimensions in width are up to 60 cm, in height - 50-80 cm (taking into account the degree of soil fertility). The lower part of the grooves is fertilized with a mixture of humus and nutrient soil. The root necks of the trees are not overly buried when planting. Post-planting irrigation is abundant - up to 20 liters of water per bush.

It is important to take into account that the culture does not develop well on heavy clay soils. The soils should be neutral in acidity. The optimal types of soils to be used are peat, sandy loam and loam.

The complex of measures for the care of the crop includes standard measures and procedures for the periodic normalization of bushes, the optimal regime of irrigation and fertilization, and protective procedures against pest attacks and diseases. In this respect, the culture is clearly unpretentious.

In the spring, before sap flow and swelling of the kidneys, they carry out sanitary and formative pruning procedures. In other words, in the 2nd year after planting the seedlings in the soil, their branches are shortened by 40 cm. In the third year of growth, the lateral branches are reduced in length by another 30%.

After the beginning of fruiting, the lateral branches are removed, leaving only 7-10 main and most developed branches located in the center of the seedlings. In the future, pruning procedures are performed for sanitary purposes - only dried, deformed and affected branches are removed.

During the first year of development of seedlings, they are not fed, since the nutrients that were added to the planting grooves during planting are quite enough.

The first feeding is carried out immediately after the flowering period. As an additional top dressing, mulching of the culture is carried out with vegetable peelings, peat or compost.

Although excess moisture can negatively affect the crop, irrigation is essential. In dry season, the bushes are irrigated with water at a temperature of at least 18 degrees. For each bush, about a bucket of water is consumed. In general, it is necessary to irrigate the bushes very moderately, no more than 3-4 times a season, while it is important to ensure that the root collar of the plant does not undermine.

The high hereditary immune potential of the culture effectively prevents the disease of the bushes with coccomycosis and clasterosporiosis. However, appropriate preventive procedures are essential.

To protect culture from all kinds of diseases, systemic professional procedures are carried out:

• in the spring, before bud break, the trees are treated with a composition of copper sulfate (100 g of copper sulfate are diluted per 10 liters);

• systematically carry out sanitary cutting;

• the fallen leaves are removed and burned.

The culture should be protected from harmful attacks of pests especially dangerous for felt crops:

• grape mite;

• scabbards;

• aphids;

• leaf rollers;

• moths.

To protect plants from such parasites, special pesticides or folk recipes should be used - soap-garlic solutions or wormwood infusions.

Treelike bushes of the culture are distinguished by excellent cold resistance and are able to keep temperatures down to -35 degrees. Its flowers survive well in spring frosts down to –3 degrees. The crop is highly resistant to droughts.