Almond
Almonds are not only useful, but also an incredibly beautiful tree. It is believed that it can only grow in the south, but this is not entirely true. Now there are many frost-resistant varieties that can be successfully grown in the middle and even the northern strip. Almond fruits have excellent taste characteristics and are used in cooking, for making fragrant tinctures and even in folk medicine.
The decorative qualities of the tree are also on top - when the almond blossoms, and this happens in March-April in a warm region, the look stops at its large pink flowers. And what aroma is spreading around the garden - this plant gives us the first smells of spring. Planting almonds is not difficult, but caring for a tree will require patience from the gardener. But this tree lives up to 80 years, some specimens up to 130, and up to 200. And it bears fruit up to 50 years - there will be enough nuts for children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.
Content:
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Tree Description
In nature, there are wild and cultivated almonds. The nuts of a wild plant are bitter, and therefore it is better to plant varietal almonds in the garden, which have a sweet fruit taste.
The tree is striking in its beauty
The average plant has the following characteristics:
- height tree - from 4 to 6-8 meters
- root system consists of 5 skeletal roots that are able to penetrate to great depths, providing the tree with water from underground sources. Therefore, almonds are calmly related to arid climates.
- shoots almonds are divided into two types - shortened and elongated
- flowers large almonds - up to 2.5 cm in diameter
- bloom begins in early spring - April or even March. Moreover, flowering occurs before the first leaves bloom on the almonds.
- nuts almonds are from 2.5 to 3.5 cm in length; after drying, the seeds are easily removed from the pericarp
- first fruiting begins in the fifth, with good care in the fourth year of life. After another five to seven years, the tree enters full fruiting. The minimum period for a tree to bear fruit is 30 years.
- There are also decorative almond, which has the shape of a shrub. It is very beautiful - the whole bush is sprinkled with gentle or bright pink flowers.
Due to its strong sweet aroma, during the flowering period, almonds become a honey plant. This smell attracts many bees that pollinate both almonds and other plants in the garden.
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Given that almonds grow very tall, they should be planted where there is room. If you plant it too close to other plants, then over time its crown will obscure the entire space around.
Also, when choosing a place for planting, it must be taken into account that this plant bears fruit only when cross-pollinated. Therefore, at least two or three more almond trees, pollinating varieties, will have to be planted near the first almond. If the neighbors are already growing almonds, the plants still do not pollinate, as they must be very close to each other.
Tree placement option
The best place to plant a tree is a sunny (partial shade is allowed), protected from winds and drafts area. If the gardener ventured to plant almonds in the shade of tall buildings or trees, then the growth process of the tree will be slowed down, and the productivity of the plant will be low.
Soil for almonds:
You also need to make sure that the tree fulfills its decorative role - why hide such beauty from the eyes in the far corner of the garden? A group of 3-5 plants will look great along the fence, which will also protect the trees from the wind.
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Planting in spring and autumn
Experts recommend planting this tree in the fall - at the end of November, they say, in this case it will take root better. Planting is possible even in the first winter months. But, if spring is outside, the beginning of March, and you have an almond seedling in your hands, then there is no need to wait with planting until autumn.
10-14 days before acquiring a seedling (or better - from autumn for spring planting, or from spring for autumn), you need to prepare a planting hole. This is done so that the earth settles, and the plant does not sink too deep after planting.
There should be enough space between plants
The diameter of the planting hole is 50-70 cm, and its depth is about 60 cm. If you plan to plant several plants at the same time, you need to ensure that the distance between the holes is at least 3 meters, and between the rows - at least 5.5 meters.
At the bottom of the pit, it is advisable to lay out a drainage layer from any available materials - broken brick after construction, expanded clay, gravel. Sprinkle the drainage from above with sand. The land taken out of the pit needs to be enriched:
- Fertile soil is being prepared - sand (1 part), humus or compost (2 parts), leafy (or ordinary) earth (3 parts).
- Another 5 or 6 kg of humus or compost is added to the soil.
- 500 g is added to the mixture superphosphate.
- If the soil in the area is too acidic for almonds, 300 g of dolomite flour or lime can be added to the planting mixture to even out the acid-base balance.
This soil mixture is poured into the planting hole, forming a small mound out of it in the middle of the hole. Part of the mixture must be left so that there is something to sprinkle the roots of the seedling.
It is also desirable to drive in a peg that will rise above the ground by at least 50 cm.
landing technique
After two weeks have passed since the preparation of the pit, the almonds can be planted. The optimal age for an almond seedling is 1 year. It should look healthy, have a good and undamaged root system.
Before starting the procedure, the roots of the tree must be soaked in water. And then lower it into an aqueous solution of clay, which has the consistency of thick sour cream.
Excellent specimen of the plant
The seedling is installed on a mound, taking into account that the root neck is slightly above ground level, and its roots are covered with soil mixture. The tree needs to be gently shaken periodically so that all the air pockets between the roots are filled with earth.
After planting, the earth is compacted and watered with a bucket of water. In order to prevent the liquid from spreading over the site, you can make a low earthen rampart around the tree, and pour water into the circle.
When the water is absorbed, you need to tie the seedling to a peg, and mulch the ground in the trunk circle by 5 cm. For this purpose, you can use compost, as it will perform an additional function of feeding the plant. The main thing is to make sure that the mulch does not touch the tree trunk, there should be a couple of centimeters of empty space around it.
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The tree requires care, especially in the first year of life.
If there is very little time to care for the tree, you can limit yourself to pruning and warming for the winter. But then the almonds will not grow very quickly and you can not hope for a big harvest.
If you draw up a plan for caring for the plant and carry it out in accordance with the characteristics of the agricultural technology of this crop, then it will generously thank the owner with delicious fruits.
What to do during spring, summer and autumn:
- watering
- soil loosening
- crown pruning
- control of weeds, diseases and pests
- top dressing with organic and mineral fertilizers
- shelter for the winter (for young plants, even winter-hardy varieties are required)
If you want to get your own free almond seedlings, you will have to master propagation methods. But in this regard, there is nothing complicated, even an inexperienced gardener can handle it. But seedlings can be planted on their site to ensure pollination, distributed to relatives and friends or sold - young almond trees are several times more expensive than many other fruit trees.
Watering and loosening
The first watering and loosening of the soil near the trunk kug is carried out at the very beginning of March - these procedures open the new season. As soon as the ground thaws, you can water the plants at the rate of 1 bucket / 1 tree. It is not necessary to pour more, as excessive moisture leads to the inevitable decay of the root collar.
After moistening, the soil in the trunk circle is loosened. Loosening improves the air permeability of the soil. The first time this is done to a depth of 10-12 cm, and after each subsequent watering during the season - to a depth of 8-10 cm.
Loosening is a desirable procedure in complex tree care
If you don’t want to do loosening or don’t have time for it, then mulch the soil around the tree with some durable material. Suitable pebbles or, in extreme cases, bundles of hay or straw. In this case, the soil will dry out less, will not require constant cultivation, and will not be covered with weeds.
All other waterings during the season are carried out as the soil dries to a depth of 1.5 cm. If the tree grows on sandy soil, this will happen more often than if you plant almonds on clay or loamy soil. For each watering, you will need 1 bucket of water settled under the sun.
Is it possible to grow a tree in the absence of water?
Such fruits can only be obtained by providing the tree with regular moisture.
When the grower does not have constant access to water and is watered only by natural rainfall, almonds are more likely to survive. After all, in nature it is a drought-resistant tree. But the lack of moisture leads to inhibition of seedling growth processes.
Due to the lack of fluid, dehydration of the almond leaves occurs. When the humidity index drops to 53%, the tree sheds most of the foliage at the beginning of summer.
The lack of foliage causes the growth of new shoots to stop. All this in combination leads to an almost complete loss of this year's harvest, and the future too. After all, generative kidneys also practically do not develop.
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crown pruning
Pruning the crown of almonds is a mandatory procedure if the gardener expects a high yield. The fact is that the thickened crown obscures itself, that is, the shoots inside the crown and at the base of the skeletal branches. These shoots with a lack of light simply dry out.
As a result, the crop can only be harvested where the branches are well lit - at the ends of the shoots along the periphery of the crown.
This pruning option is suitable not only for apple trees, but also for our tree
Pruning begins from the second year of the plant's life in the garden. Firstly, after wintering, almonds may need sanitary pruning, in which all “bad” shoots are removed - broken, diseased, dry, frostbitten. At the end of the season, a similar sanitary pruning of all damaged or infected shoots is done.
Secondly, the most important pruning is shaping. It is necessary to form all skeletal branches in the second year of the plant's life. Or at least try to do so.
crown formation
Crown shaping rules
The formation of the crown occurs as follows:
- The gardener determines for himself the optimal height of the trunk - that is, the height from which the growth of branches begins. All the shoots below must be cut into a ring, that is, without leaving a hemp.
- Of all the low-lying shoots, the first skeletal branch in terms of number and height is selected. For this role, you need to choose the strongest and most developed escape from the bottom.
- The second skeletal branch is the one that is located 10-20 cm above the first and directed in the opposite direction.
- The third skeletal branch is the one that grows 10-20 cm higher than the second and is directed perpendicular to the two previous ones.
- All other branches that are in the zone of three skeletal branches are cut into a ring.
- To control the upward growth of the tree, the center conductor can be shortened. It should rise above the last branch by 50-60 cm.
In the future, the gardener must ensure that the young shoots that will appear as the tree grows do not thicken the space inside the crown. And also so that they do not compete with the main ones, that is, they are not stronger and more developed than the skeletal ones and the conductor itself.
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Leaflet and its work
The issue with weeds can be solved by mulching the soil or with the help of biological products, timely manual or mechanical removal of all weeds.
Regarding diseases, almonds are most often susceptible to the following diseases:
- cercosporosis. Characteristic features are the appearance of small brown spots, the drying of the center of the leaf and its falling off.
- Scab - Leaves, flowers, and tree shoots are also affected. Disease of fungal etiology.
- Rust - the appearance of red spots on the outside of the sheet and brown seals on the inside. Sooner or later the leaves dry up and fall off.
- perforated spotting - the disease affects all the structural elements of the tree. Spots of a reddish hue and with a darker border appear on the leaves.
- Gray rot - the leaves are covered with brown spots, on which you can see a gray soft-to-touch coating.
Prevention and treatment of almond diseases are treated with fungicides.For this purpose, you can purchase funds "Topaz", "Champion", "Skor", "Fundazol".
Insects that infect almonds are common pests that other plants in the garden choose - aphids, leafworms, spider mites. If the infection has already occurred, the tree will need to be treated with insecticides. For example, Aktellik, Fitoverm, Tagor are effective.
How to prevent pest and microorganism infestation
Bordeaux mixture as a preventive measure
In order not to fight pests and diseases, not to risk plant health and crops, you need to take preventive measures:
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Almonds do not require frequent fertilization. While the tree is young, you can feed it 2 times a year - in spring and late autumn. And a newly planted seedling can generally not be fed in the first year of life, because it will have enough of the fertilizer that the gardener introduced into the planting hole.
In the spring it is necessary to apply nitrogen fertilizers
Top dressing of almonds is carried out according to the following scheme:
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Shelter for the period of cold weather is necessary for all plants, regardless of age or place of growth of almonds. If the garden is located in the southern lane, warming for almonds is not so critical, but it is better to save young seedlings. Of course, if the tree has already “swinged out” by 4-6 meters, it will not work to cover or insulate its branches, but you can try to take appropriate measures regarding the trunk.
It remains to pull the insulation on the frame - the bush will not freeze
Experts recommend insulating even frost-resistant varieties, such as Almond Stepnoy, aka Low, Russian, Bobovnik, or Almond. Some varieties of this frost-resistant species are bushes, not trees, but the taste and benefits of the fruit do not get worse from this.
To protect the plant from the cold, you can take the following measures:
- In early August, remove the apical buds on the shoots. Thus, it will be possible to accelerate the lignification of the shoots and they will better tolerate frosts.
- Cover young (required) and adult (highly desirable) plants 15 cm or more with breathable material - straw bundles or a bunch of dry leaves. You just need to make sure that the covering material is not sick, since moisture during the thaw or early spring can contribute to the infection of the tree with pathogenic microorganisms. With the first snow, you can begin to form snowdrifts around tree trunks.
If the crown of young trees consists of relatively bending shoots, they can be gathered “in an armful”, tied with twine and wrapped with agrofibre. On a more sprawling and more elastic crown, you can try to throw lutrasil.
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Getting seedlings at home
Depending on the type and variety of the plant, there are several ways to propagate almonds:
- bones - a long process that many gardeners "abandon" in the middle. But it is an excellent option for growing rootstock for grafting high-value almond varieties.
- cuttings - the best option for almonds that grow in the form of a tree.
- Layers and shoots - for bush types of almonds.
Each gardener chooses the method of plant propagation that suits him best, but the fastest - cuttings and layering.
Bones or seeds
Almond pits
Reproduction of almonds with the help of its fruits can be done in two ways.
First - this is the natural stratification of seeds, and the germination of the plant in open ground conditions. In this case, you need to plant the seeds (nuts) of the tree after they ripen. Ideally, you should wait until nuts they themselves will fall to the ground, and plant them in a convenient place on the eve of winter.
Thus, the seeds will prostratify and germinate, they will develop without any participation from the gardener. The disadvantage of the method is that almond seeds can be eaten by rodents during the hungry winter months. And if the animals do not eat, the seeds will germinate in 1-1.5 years, not earlier.
Strong sprouts are obtained from stratified material
Second way - stratification and germination at home. Suitable for those gardeners who prefer to keep the growth process of seedlings under control. In order to plant nuts in the spring, in the fall they need to be collected and placed in a peel in the bottom drawer of the refrigerator.
When the snow melts and the ground thaws, seeds stratified in the refrigerator should be planted. To do this, you need to make grooves 10 cm deep, the distance between the grooves should be from 45 to 65 cm. Seeds are planted in the groove, keeping a distance of 10 linear cm between them.
Such seedlings will germinate approximately in April of the year following planting. They will need to be well looked after - protected from weeds, watered, loosened the soil in the planting.
In July, it will be possible to check the seedlings for suitability for planting in a permanent place (varietal) or transplanting and carrying out the procedure for grafting a cultural cutting.
Which seedlings can be grafted with cuttings:
- seedling growth in July - 50-60 cm
- seedling stem diameter in the area of the root neck - about 1 cm
- the seedling was transplanted to a permanent place and took root well
All lateral processes that grow in seedlings at a distance of 10-12 cm from the ground are cut into a ring, then grafted.
Inoculation
As a rootstock seedlings of wild or bitter almonds can be used, but not only them. Gardeners often copulate almonds for plum, cherry plum and blackthorn seedlings. The latter plant has good winter hardiness, so it is excellent for grafting an almond variety that is not too cold-adapted.
Vaccination is done in the middle of the sap flow process - at the beginning of spring or after flowering / fruiting - at the end of summer. A suitable time for vaccination is a cool day, early morning or after 4 pm.
Reproduction by grafting
2-3 days before the grafting procedure, the rootstock is watered abundantly and regularly in order to achieve a good separation of the rootstock bark from the wood. As a scion, it is preferable to choose strong and straight shoots. Their vegetative buds should be well developed.
Before grafting, it is necessary to provide the scion with conditions for minimal moisture loss. To do this, all the leaves on the branch must be carefully removed, leaving only petioles 1 cm long.
Vaccination procedure
It can be seen that the graft has taken root
The vaccination procedure itself is as follows:
- Wipe the stem from dust with a damp cloth, you can pre-dip it in an antiseptic solution.
- With a sharp knife in the region of the root neck, an incision is made in the bark in the form of the letter T.
- At the point of convergence of the incision lines, that is, in the center of the incision, the bark is carefully folded back, exposing the wood. Or you can just make an oval shallow recess in the wood of the rootstock.
- The shoot intended for the role of the scion is cut off under the lower kidney. The cut should have an oval shape, coinciding with the shape of the cut on the scion.
- Trying not to touch the cuts with your hands, both parts of the scion and the stock must be docked, and then fix the “design” in this position with adhesive tape, electrical tape, adhesive tape or other fixation materials. It is important when wrapping not to close the kidney itself.
If after a couple of weeks the grafted shoot does not have any signs that it has taken root, except for a green bud, this is normal. All shoots that will appear above or below the scion must be removed in a timely manner. The adhesive tape from the place of vaccination can be removed when young shoots come out of the grafted branch.
Overgrowth or layering
In this case, we are talking about the reproduction of a bush variety of a plant. After pruning and with abundant feeding, the almond bush begins to form basal shoots. You need to wait one year until the root system of the overgrowth becomes powerful enough, after which the offspring can be dug up and transplanted to a permanent place.
Reproduction scheme by layering
Bush varieties of almonds can also be propagated by layering - this method is very simple, even amateur gardeners can use it. Flexible branches of almonds, which calmly spread along the ground, need to be bent close to the soil and fixed with metal brackets. And sprinkle the branches on top with a 20-centimeter ball of soil.
The roots of the layering are formed slowly but surely. Especially if the soil is watered and loosened. After 1-2 years, the layers can be divided by cutting them off from the mother bush and transplanted to a permanent place in the garden.
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When harvesting, you need to try not to damage the new developing buds. The collected fruits must be cleaned of the pericarp on the same day. Nuts must be dried outdoors or in a room that is well ventilated. Store almonds in a dry linen bag, in a dry, well-ventilated place.
Having collected the fruits, it is necessary to clean them from the pericarp
Almonds are an alternative source of protein, as well as an excellent source of vitamins and other nutrients. Its use has an antioxidant and general health effect.
But almonds also have negative qualities - it can be a powerful allergen, and also contribute to obesity in people with large body weight. In addition, green almonds should not be consumed categorically - they contain the poison cyanide.
Almonds - benefit and harm
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