The most unusual of all hybrids - sharafuga (or nectakotum) - has recently become increasingly popular. It is characterized by frost resistance, early fruiting and unusual fruit taste. Read more about the "strange" fruit, its features, types, the main stages of planting and tree care - more.
variety "Sharafuga" - a hybrid of plum + apricot + peach
hybrid "Sharafuga" has a high resistance to disease
Depending on the Sharafuga variety, it is colored in purple or orange.
What is a scarfug?
This hybrid has three heat-loving “parents” - peach, apricot and plum. But, unlike them, the plant itself is frost-resistant and grows in cooler conditions. It is grown in the south and in temperate climates.
Externally, the tree looks like an ordinary plum - with the same leaves and spikes. The fruit inherited the shape and size from the apricot, when, like a stone, it has a peculiar pattern from a peach, it is easily separated from the pulp.
The taste of the fruit depends on maturity. Unripe specimens resemble plum, and mature ones apricot, the pulp is sweet or sour, juicy and pleasant.
Origin of the hybrid
The American biologist Floyd Seiger has been involved in the development of this hybrid for 30 years. It is this famous breeder who received the nickname "father of exotic fruits", pollinating fruit trees in the garden by hand with a cosmetic brush. In his opinion, since apricot, peach and plum belong to the plum subfamily, therefore, they can interbreed.
Description
What does a scarfug look like? This is a compact tree with a spreading crown of medium density. Every year, the length of the shoots increases by 50-70 cm. Outwardly, it looks more like a plum. There are spikes on the branches. Curliness is noted on the leaves, as in peach.
The fruits are large (6-7 cm), in shape more like apricots. Depending on the variety, the skin is colored in purple or orange. Apricot aroma is hardly perceptible. The fruits do not crumble, ripen in late August - early September, have universal significance. They are consumed fresh, and they are also made from stewed fruit, jams and preserves. Transport well over long distances.
Specifications
Unlike its southern parents, the sharafuga withstands frosts of -26 ° C and short-term frosts of -30 ° C, since the plum property is more prevalent in it. When freezing shoots, spring quickly restored. It grows well in central Russia. It comes into bearing for 3-4 years after planting a seedling. The maximum yield is observed in an 8-10 year old tree.
Types of Sharafuga
This hybrid is very poorly represented on the market. Only two types can be purchased from trusted sellers, which differ in the color of the fruit - blue-violet and yellow. Purple fruits have red flesh with yellow streaks; they taste more like sour plum. The yellow fruits, on the skin of which orange spots are scattered, are sweeter and closer to the apricot, although the structure is still the same plum.
In America, where the sharafuga was actually bred, there are the following varieties:
- Bella Cerise and Bella Royale - for commercial sales;
- Bella gold - a variety exclusively for home cultivation with yellow fruits;
- Velvet sunrise - with purple.
Advantages and disadvantages
The "advantages" of culture are:
- frost resistance;
- high productivity;
- resistance to diseases and pests;
- excellent appearance and taste of the fruit;
- their transportability.
But there are also many shortcomings:
- the hybrid does not produce seeds;
- prefers only fertile soils, top dressing when growing scarfugs is a necessary procedure;
- seed is more expensive than conventional crops;
- Be sure to monitor the soil moisture;
- for a better fruit setting near a sharafuga, it is necessary to plant a plum or apricot, which blooms at the same time with it. Shrafuga usually blooms with a pear, so early varieties are picked.
Landing Features
Experts recommend seedlings to be purchased in trusted nurseries; quite often, under the guise of a scarfug, they sell other hybrids of plum and apricot.
Primary requirements
As mentioned above, the sharafuga grows in the middle climatic zone. If in the south it is planted both in autumn and spring, then in the central, northern regions with a colder climate, a spring planting is the best solution.
A place for a seedling is chosen sunny, flat or slightly elevated. The main thing is that it should be protected from cold winds. Cold air, as well as damp, should not stagnate in the area. Landing in a lowland leads to the development of fungal diseases.
The optimal soil structure for the crop is air- and moisture-proof, fertile. If the land on the plot is acidic, then it is preliminarily calcified. Contribute 300 g of slaked lime per 1 square. m
Prepare it before planting in advance - in the fall. Having decided on the place of planting the seedling, they dig the soil deeply and simultaneously add several buckets of humus, mineral fertilizers - 35 g of potash and 70 g of superphosphate.
Landing instructions (step by step)
In order to grow a sharafugu, adhere to the following instructions:
- In the spring, during 2-3 weeks, dig a hole measuring 80x80x80 cm;
- Drain from broken brick or pebbles of middle fraction is laid at the bottom to prevent stagnation of water;
- Drive in a stake so that it rises 50 cm above the ground;
- Fertile soil is covered with a knoll. It may consist of peat, humus and prepared land from the pit, taken in equal quantities;
- A plant is placed on the knoll and the roots are spread;
- They fill up the pit, tamp the earth;
- The seedling trunk is tied to a peg;
- Abundantly watered;
- The trunk circle is mulched with organic matter - rotted manure, hay, mowed grass. This agricultural technique helps to reduce the evaporation of moisture, improve the structure of the soil, “saturate” it with nutrients.
Agricultural technology
In order to get a crop from a tree, they organize care, which consists in proper watering, timely fertilizing and soil care.
Watering a plant
The frequency of watering depends on weather conditions. If the spring turned out to be wet, then it is watered only during the hot period. Otherwise, watering is done several times in the spring.
It is better to water the sharafugu, as well as the plum, by sprinkling. Or they dig a groove around a circumference 15 cm deep at a distance from the trunk of 0.5 m, and 2-3 buckets of water per 1 sq. M are poured into it. m
What, how and when to feed?
Top dressing is an indispensable item in the agricultural technology of sharafuga. They bring it throughout the growing season.
In the spring, after the snow melts, they are fed with nitrogen fertilizers. In the summer, in the first half of June and the end of July, the tree is "fed" with potash and nitrogen fertilizers for better fruit growth and early ripening. Spend 1-2 foliar spraying with the same fertilizers.
Soil care
After watering or precipitation, the soil is loosened and mulched. If the garden is old, then the soil under the trees is dug with the help of a pitchfork and a shovel. It’s enough to dig around the trunk to a depth of 5-10 cm, the farther from it, the digging deeper — up to 15 cm. The trunk circle is regularly cleaned of weeds.
Other care and rearing activities
The sharafuga grows quite quickly, so in the early spring, before the start of sap flow, all annual shoots are cut in half. At the same time, sanitary pruning is carried out - dried, broken and diseased branches are cut out.
Diseases, Pests and Protection
All hybrids are resistant to diseases and insects. Behind a sharafuga, only a predisposition to curly leaves, which has passed from a peach, has been noticed.
But preventive measures are better to apply. From sunburn and pests, whitewashing of the trunk and skeletal branches with lime will help. The plant is whitened 2 times a year - in spring and autumn.
And also in order not to provoke the appearance of pests in the fall, the trunk circle is carefully cleaned of plant debris, fallen leaves and fruits. All collected natural waste is burned.
At the first signs of disease or pests, folk remedies are used. Spray the tree with infusion of garlic or onions. With a large population of insects, chemical agents - insecticides will have to be used, and with the development of diseases - fungicides.
Harvesting, storage and processing of crops
Harvest ripens depending on the region. In warmer areas, the fruits ripen in August, in areas located to the north - in early September. Since the fruits hold well on the tree, they are picked by hand. Do not shake the branches. When they hit the ground, they are damaged, which negatively affects the shelf life.
Fruits are perfect as a filling for pies, delicious compotes and amazing jams are prepared from them.
Gardeners reviews
Since the hybrid is not familiar to many, the reviews about it are rather contradictory:
Maxim, 35 years old, Moscow region. The first time I was fooled with Sharafuga, they sold it for some reason. I waited for several years when the fruits appeared on it and waited. Sheer disappointment. The fruits are small, the seed did not separate, the skin is purple, it looks like a plum, but the flesh is neither plum, nor peach, nor apricot. It tastes incomprehensible. In that year, I ordered seedlings on a proven site, everything took root. Waiting for the fruit again.
Olga, 42 years old, Krasnodar Territory. My husband is an experimenter. Sharafuga did not pass by him, one name of which is worth. He planted as many as three pieces. Worn with them, as with a written bag. And fertilizers on schedule and watering. But, we must pay tribute, the seedlings took root well, were not sick for all this time and there were no bugs on them. In the fourth year, they waited for the fruit. Tasty, sweet. The children were taken for testing to another area, I thought we couldn’t take it, but no, they arrived normally, they didn’t even get wrinkled.
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Hybrid sharafuga is a real find for lovers of exotic. With proper planting and observing all the rules of care, the tree will give juicy fruits with an interesting taste.