Apple trees for the Leningrad region: varieties and species, which are best planted + reviews

Apples are one of the favorite and, perhaps, the most common fruit in Russia. Apple trees are planted throughout our large country. In the northern regions, not too suitable for gardening, in particular in the Leningrad region, also learned grow apple trees, albeit not with such large and sweet fruits as in the south, but still with tasty and fragrant. The best varieties of apple trees for the Leningrad region are presented in the article.

Is the climate of the Leningrad region suitable for growing apple trees

Leningrad Oblast belongs to the North-Western District, in the State Register of Selection Achievements this region is held under the number2. It can be divided into two climatic zones:

• in the western and northwestern regions from Podporozhye to Boksitogorsk, the climate is subarctic, with strong winds and frosts in winter, late heat in spring. The soils here are infertile, in addition, due to the large number of swamps, groundwater is located close to the surface of the earth;
• in the eastern and southern regions from Vyborg to Luga, the climate is warm, humid continental, with mild winters, when snow falls only by December, frequent thaws, with cool rainy summers. The soils here are sod-podzolic and groundwater also rises closely.

The temperature in the Leningrad Region in winter is on average –10–12 ° С, although there are frosts, and in summer –18–20 ° С, although there are hot days in the regions close to the Baltic and in the south.

In such conditions, growing apple trees is not easy, since the growing season for them is very short, but gardeners still get good crops. The main thing is to properly care for the tree and choose the right variety:

• small-fruited varieties are suitable for the subarctic regions of the region: Chinese, ranetki and root crops (grown from seeds of winter-hardy apple trees), resistant to bad weather conditions;
• in areas with a humid climate, early ripe varieties that are not afraid of fungal diseases will bear fruit well.

How to plant the northern apple tree correctly

Due to the proximity of groundwater, apple trees in the Northwest Region are grown on artificial bulk hills. Their height should be 60-100 cm.

Digging / not digging a hole under the trees - it will become clear when you decide on the water / air permeability of the soil. If the puddles quickly dry out after a heavy rain and the groundwater level is more than 1.5–2.0 m (3-4 is better) - put it in a hole. If the water stagnates for a long time, the soil is heavy, clayey - it is better to plant it on the surface, and at a close level of groundwater - even on a knoll. In Vyborg, you can successfully grow all fruits. Selection of varieties - according to the microclimate of the site.

To prevent freezing of branches due to the constant alternation of thaws and frosts, as well as to protect against cold winds for the winter, apple trees are wrapped in straw, which is limited by a grid or a box of closely spaced planks (to protect against rodents).

What varieties of apple trees are planted in the north-west of the Russian Federation

Despite the inappropriate conditions in the Leningrad region for the cultivation of apple trees, quite a few varieties that can be grown here have been bred. AT State Register of Breeding Achievements of the Russian Federation there are more than forty of them.

Browse varieties with photos, features and reviews

Below we describe zoned varieties that are recommended for cultivation only in the Northwest region:

• Aelita is a variety of early winter ripening. The tree grows up to 3-4 m, the crown has a wide, pyramidal. Aelita’s apples are sweet and sour, weigh up to 120 g, round with a slight narrowing to the sepals, green-yellow, with full ripeness covered with a bright pink blush. Juicy light yellow flesh has a faint aroma. The variety is productive, tolerates northern winters well. Apples are stored until the New Year. The tree does not suffer from scab;
  

  Aelita apples are stored until the New Year

• Baltic - ripens in early autumn. The tree grows up to 6 meters in height, its crown is spreading, pyramidal, up to 4 m wide. Apples are similar in shape to turnips, weighing up to 120 g, have a slight waxy coating. By color, they are yellow-white, ripening, acquire a pink striped blush. White juicy pulp - sweet and sour, dense. The variety winters well in the conditions of the Leningrad region, brings a crop every year;
  

  Baltika apple trees produce crops every year

• Wine - this old variety ripens by the end of summer. A medium-sized apple tree with a crown in the shape of a ball is quick-growing, does not get sick with scab. Round, with a ribbed surface, apples weighing 100 g are covered with a smooth white-green skin with a bright raspberry blush, they are very juicy and crunchy, interesting sour-sweet taste with a wine tint. Unfortunately, they are not light - they are stored only a month and a half. Wine does not freeze in winter;
  

  Variety Wine is named so because of the wine shade of the taste of the fruit

• Friendship of peoples is a very fruitful late-summer variety (up to 57 kg per apple tree). Harvest can be removed at the end of August. A sprawling medium-sized tree stably bears fruit from 4–5 years of age, despite the bad weather, even in very rainy summers it is not affected by scab. However, the variety will not bear fruit without pollinators (Melba, Papirovka). Winter trees tolerate well, do not freeze. Apples weigh about 100 g; they are round, greenish with dark red stripes. Creamy sweet and sour flesh is very juicy;
  

  Grade apple-tree Friendship of the peoples self-fertile

• Tellisaare is an Estonian late-winter variety that does not always have time to ripen in a short summer, but the apples collected are stored on time until the end of April. A low apple tree with a wide conical crown can freeze in winter if frost and thaws alternate, and to get sick with fungal infections in the summer, but apples can be obtained already in the 4th year, and yields from Tellisaare good ones. Apples are small, weighing up to 120 g, with an oily to the touch, thick, shiny skin. They are yellow with a lemon tint, in the stage of full maturity - with a faint pink blush. Taste is defined as sweet and sour, juicy and aromatic pulp;
  

  Tellisaare apples are coated with thick, shiny skin.

• Ladoga is a late-ripening variety, but it is early-ripening and stored for a long time (until April). The crown of a medium-sized apple tree takes up little space. Productivity is not too high (about 160 quintals per hectare), but it bears fruit Ladoga every year. The round yellow-green fruits with brown integument have a weight of 115 g. Pulp - sweet with sourness, white, dense, juicy. The apple tree tolerates northern winters well.
  

  Ladoga apples - late ripening

Found in the 2003 book of the publication a breakdown of regionalization by region, that’s what was regionalized in Leningradskaya: Antonovka ordinary, Vinnoe, Friendly, Asterisk, Cinnamon striped, Melba, Autumn striped (Shtrifel), Paper, Saffron Pepin, Renet Chernenko, Tellisaare, Wellsie.

Two apple trees of Estonian varieties grow in my garden. Tartu rose - wonderful juicy autumn apples, fruiting every year. Tellisaare - apples are delicious, winter, very fragrant.

You can plant the Baltic, I like it. But one fat minus is that the wood is very fragile. This year, out of five trees, one is completely whole, the rest has broken. And it didn’t break at the forks, but directly demolished the tops. But apples are large (up to 500 g), maybe that's why it breaks.

The best apple varieties for the Leningrad region

The taste of any fruit is an individual concept. Someone likes sour apples, someone prefers honey-sweet ones. Therefore, there is such an indicator as a tasting assessment of the fetus: the higher it is, the better the taste is considered. According to the State Register of Breeding Achievements of the Russian Federation, the varieties for the Leningrad region presented in the table received the highest tasting score. The taste of apples of all varieties is the same, sweet and sour.

Table: the most delicious varieties of apples for the Leningrad region

Photo gallery: apples with the best taste for the North-West of Russia

Antey - the taste is good if we eat tighten until the beginning of October. On cut, the flesh should be whitish rather than greenish. It is stored until February quietly in straw in the basement (5–8 ° C). But the best taste is after 1.5 months of storage. Yes, it is not outstanding, but it is one of those apples that can be eaten several at once.

The sweetest apple varieties for the Leningrad region

It’s difficult to grow sweet apples without a large number of sunny days, but breeders all the same bred apple trees for the North-West of Russia, the fruits of which contain the maximum percentage of sugars:

• Kovalenkovskoe is a summer apple of medium height with a round crown. The fruits on it grow cone-shaped, greenish with a dark red integumentary color. They weigh 160-200 g. White fine-grained pulp has a sweet taste and slight aroma;
  

  Kovalenkovskoe apples ripen in late summer

• Melba is a very popular late summer variety in our country. Its round apples, narrowed to the sepals, weigh 130–140 g. Their skin is dense, the flesh is white, granular. They have a characteristic sweet taste and bright aroma. The color of the apples is yellow-green with orange or red stripes. The fruits are stored for a short time and quickly crumble. The tree tolerates frosts well and does not freeze in winter, but it often suffers from scab;
  

  Apple tree Melba brings sweet fruit with a candy flavor

• Saffron pepin - an autumn grade with good winter hardiness. Even frost-damaged branches regenerate quickly. The tree is low, with a spreading crown. Apples - small (up to 85 g), oval, orange-yellow with a dark red striped cover color, stored all winter. They have a juicy creamy pulp with a wine-sweet taste. The variety can be affected by scab in bad summers.
  

  The apple-tree variety Pepin saffron has good ability to regenerate

There are still many varieties with winter hardiness of Melba, Melba, of course, is a plastic variety, but in severe winters that happen once every 10 years, it will suffer until it freezes completely.

Despite bad weather conditions and unsuitable soil, gardeners in the Leningrad Region grow apple trees in their areas. If you choose the right variety, resistant to fungal diseases and winter-hardy, you can get a crop of juicy sweet and sour and even sweet apples.