Plum Red Ball: Description And Characteristics Of The Variety, Advantages And Disadvantages, Planting And Care Features + Photos And Reviews

2024 Author: Bailey Albertson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-17 22:26

Variety Red ball: how to grow a tasty, early ripening plum

Plum selection is not an easy task for the grower. Varieties differ in terms of flowering and ripening, requirements for cultivation conditions. If you want to have a compact, fairly productive tree with elegant fruits and are ready to protect it from frost, choose the Red Ball plum.

Content

• 1 Variety description
• 2 Advantages and disadvantages
• 3 This plum needs pollinators

• 4 Landing features

  4.1 Video: Correct Fit

• 5 Tree care

  • 5.1 Fertilization
  • 5.2 Watering
  • 5.3 Cropping
  • 5.4 Preparing for winter

• 6 Pests and diseases of plum

  • 6.1 Table: main diseases of plum and treatment methods

    6.1.1 Photo Gallery: Red Ball Disease

  • 6.2 Table: pests and ways to control them

    1 Photo gallery: plum pests

• 7 Collection, storage and use of crops
• 8 Reviews of gardeners

Description of the variety

Plum Red ball (another name - Raspberry ball) - a hybrid of the Chinese and Ussuri plums. Like other species created on the basis of the Chinese plum (Sharovaya, Alyonushka, Krasnoselskaya), the Red Ball variety bears fruits of an early ripening period. The trees near the Red Ball are medium-sized, reaching a height of 2–2.5 m. The crown is of medium density, slightly drooping, has a rounded-spreading shape.

At the time of fruit ripening, the tree looks very elegant.

The tree blooms very profusely. However, this season usually coincides with erratic wet weather. As a result, many flowers fall off without having time to pollinate.

Fruits are large enough (35–40 g), spherical, yellow-green with an integumentary red color, covered with a gray-colored wax bloom. The rind is quite thick and dense.

The fruits, justifying the name of the hybrid - Red ball, have a spherical shape

Juicy and aromatic light yellow pulp has a slightly fibrous structure and a sour-sweet taste. A small bone is partially separated from the pulp. Tasting score - 4 points.

Advantages and disadvantages

Advantages:

• early maturity (fruiting from 2-3 years);
• high resistance to perforated leaf spot and moniliosis;
• good presentation and good transport tolerance.

Disadvantages:

• lack of self-fertility;
• low winter hardiness and tendency to undergo. While in the midst of winter plum tolerates frost down to -35 ^on C, frost-thaw after it is very sensitive.

This plum needs pollinators

Plum The red ball needs pollinators. It should be remembered that, like all Chinese plums, the Red Ball blooms somewhat earlier than the home plum, therefore, for pollination, you need to select varieties that bloom at the same time as it.

Good pollinators will be Skoroplodnaya plum or cherry plum varieties Kuban comet, Zlato Scythians.

Bad weather intervened - manually pollinated

Manual pollination can also be used.

Landing features

For planting, choose 1–2-year-old seedlings that have well-developed roots without damage, smooth bark and flexible branches with green buds. Avoid buying seedlings with leaves - these will almost certainly die.

It is recommended to plant the Red Ball in the middle lane in the spring (April), and in the southern regions - in the fall (late September - early October).

If you bought an autumn seedling too late for planting, then it doesn't matter, you can dig it in until spring. To do this, make a shallow groove, place a seedling in it obliquely and sprinkle the roots with moist, loose earth.

The seedling dug in the fall will remain until the spring planting

Plum loves warmth, so for its placement it is better to choose the southeastern and western parts of the garden, where it will suffer less from low temperatures.

The structure reliably protects the plum tree from the northern winds

The soil is desirable fertile, with good air permeability and a neutral reaction. Plum does not tolerate stagnant water (roots can rot), so it should be planted on a hill or in a well-drained area.

The root collar must be above the soil surface

Plant the plum so that it is not obscured by other trees or buildings, as it reacts very painfully to lack of light.

In a pit prepared in advance (preferably in autumn) with dimensions of 80x40 cm, you need to immediately add 1.5 buckets of humus or 3-4 buckets of peat, superphosphate (300-400 g), wood ash (350-400 g). Ash can be replaced with potassium chloride (45-60 g). It is also worth adding 20-30 g of crushed dolomite. Form a planting mound for the roots of the seedling.

Planting sequence:

1. Drive a one and a half meter stake into the center of the pit.
2. Place a seedling on the north side of the stake and spread its roots over the soil mound.
3. Cover the roots with a layer of soil (it can be infertile), layer by layer crushing the earth with your hands and keeping the tree upright.
4. Tie the tree to the stake with a strip of soft material, pour 2-3 buckets of water.
5. After the soil subsides, tie the seedling to the stake more tightly.

Cut off damaged roots before planting

Video: correct fit

Tree care

Caring for the plum variety Red ball consists in fertilizing the soil, weeding, loosening, sanitary pruning of the crown and preparing the trees for wintering.

Fertilizer

Plum trees are very nutritional. The lack of minerals immediately affects the growth and development of the tree.

The soil should be mulched with rotted manure or compost in a layer of 3-5 cm within a radius of 0.5-0.6 m from the trunk. At the same time, make sure that the fertilizer does not touch the tree. Early spring require complex fertilizer and fertilizing nitrate (30 g / m ²).

Mulching with organic fertilizers provides good nutrition to the tree and retains moisture in the soil

Nitrogen fertilizers for mature trees are recommended to be applied to the soil before flowering and during the ripening period (for one tree - 30–35 g of urea per bucket of water). Immediately after fruiting, they are watered with a potassium sulfate solution (30 g per bucket of water per 1 tree). In early spring or late autumn, 10–12 kg of rotted manure or compost are added under each tree for digging the soil.

Watering

Plum does not tolerate drought well. Lack of moisture during seed formation (0.5–1 month after flowering) causes a massive fall of the ovaries, and the remaining ones do not grow to their usual size and become ugly.

A good watering option is sprinkling

Watering during the growing season should be carried out every 10 days at the rate of 2.5 liters of water per 1 m ². Do not water abundantly, but irregularly, this can cause cracking of the fruit. In autumn (late October - early November), it is recommended to carry out a sub-winter water-charging watering to improve the conditions for overwintering the tree.

Pruning

In the first year, you should not prune a plum tree: being heavily pruned back in the nursery, it reacts hard to additional trauma and takes a lot of time to recover.

Making the first pruning the next year after planting, a tree stem is formed. To do this, immediately before budding, the trunk of the tree is cut to the bud at the desired height. Usually the height of a low bole is 0.8–1 m, a high one - 1.5–1.8 m. It should be remembered that the lower the bole, the easier the tree tolerates the winter. For the plum, a red ball is usually formed with a tall stem. All branches below the height of the trunk are cut into a ring.

In addition to forming the trunk, all lateral branches should be shortened by 7–8 cm - this stimulates the growth of the trunk in thickness.

At the first pruning, the shape of the tree crown is laid

In the summer of the same year, 4–5 branches of the first order should be selected, located closer to the top. All other shoots need to remove the growth point up to 4-5 leaves.

In the third year in early spring, select 4 branches growing at a wide angle to the trunk. Their growth is shortened by half to the outward-facing kidney. The rest of the branches, including the lower side branches left in the previous year, must be removed. In summer, cut off all root shoots and shoots on the trunk.

The next year, you need to repeat last year's procedure, allowing more branches of the second order to develop to fill the increasing gaps. Leave up to 8 strong, outward-growing and well-spaced branches. There is no need to touch the branches on the outer parts of the crown, which cannot be conductors. Shorten the length of the uncut side branches inside the crown to 8–12 cm.

On an adult tree, you need to remove excess competing shoots

In subsequent years, only thinning and sanitary pruning will be required.

In mature trees, it may be necessary to rejuvenate some of the old branches to young replacement branches.

To rejuvenate plums, you need to cut off all weak and densely growing branches.

Preparing for winter

In general, the Red ball tolerates winter frosts easily, so it does not need to insulate the trunk. However, this plum is prone to underpinning the root collar. This damage occurs with prolonged exposure to temperatures close to 0 C, which happens when the trunk circle is covered with snow. To combat underpinning, a high planting of plums is required (for example, on an artificial mound), without deepening the root collar, as well as trampling deep (more than 10 cm) snow around the trunk. The trunk circle of young trees can be mulched with a layer of sawdust or peat 25–30 cm thick.

A thick layer of mulch will protect the root system from frost

Plum The Red Ball freezes very easily when negative temperatures return after thaws. You can cover the tree with burlap for protection. But this method is effective only for trees located against a wall or fence. In addition, the drain can be protected from freezing by spraying with finely sprayed water (freezing, the water generates heat, which protects the kidneys). If the spraying is prolonged, the branches can become overgrown with ice, so you need to put supports under them in advance. You also need to think about drainage, as this procedure can lead to waterlogging of the soil and cause damage to the roots.

To protect against rodents, you can use poisoned baits, as well as tie the trunk and branches of a tree with prickly materials: metal mesh, spruce branches or a plastic pipe.

A piece of plastic pipe will reliably keep the tree stem from those who like to feast on young bark

Plum pests and diseases

Plum Red Ball is resistant to perforation and moniliosis, but other diseases should be feared.

Table: main diseases of plum and treatment methods

Diseases	Symptoms	Control methods
Rust	In July, brown or dark orange spots appear on the leaves. They gradually grow and swell. Leaves dry out and fall	Collect and burn fallen leaves. Treat with HOM (35–40 g per 5 l of water) before flowering. Spray with 1% Bordeaux mixture after harvest
Plum pockets (marsupial plum disease)	In 2–2.5 weeks after flowering, ugly baggy fruits with an overgrown fleshy part and without pits begin to appear. By the middle of summer, a gray coating of mushroom spores appears on the surface of the fruit.	Collection and elimination of diseased fruits before the appearance of wax plaque Immediate cutting and burning of affected branches Treatment with swelling of the buds with a Bordeaux mixture (3%), with the approach of flowering - with a suspension of Tsineb (0.4%)
Gum therapy (gommosis)	Abundant streaks of gum appear on the cuts and in the cracks of the bark. Branches may dry out	Observe agricultural techniques to increase the stability of the tree. Make sure that no mechanical damage occurs on the bark and wood, treat them in a timely manner. Cut out severely affected branches. Disinfect diseased areas with 1% copper sulfate solution

Photo gallery: Red ball diseases

Weakened trees are especially susceptible to gum flow.

The intermediate host of rust is juniper

Marsupial disease spreads especially quickly in wet weather.

Table: pests and ways to control them

Pests	Signs	Ways to fight
Plum moth	Gnaws holes in fruits, spoiling their appearance (dark spots and gum droplets on fruits) and taste, fruits fall off.	Spraying with Chlorophos (0.25%): the first time - 1.5–2 weeks after flowering, the second - 2–3 weeks after the first. Installation of trapping belts (June). Loosening the soil every 10 days. Regular cleaning and destruction of volunteers, cleaning and burning of dead bark
Slimy sawfly	Spots appear on the leaves, devoid of green pulp, which grow, sometimes occupying the entire leaf area (only the lower dry film remains from the leaf). You can see the pests themselves - black or greenish-black shiny larvae.	Deep loosening of the soil. Spraying before flowering or after harvesting with a solution of Karbofos (35-40 g per 5 liters of water), Tryphos (10%), Rovikurta (5-6 g per 5 liters of water)
Plum aphid	The underside of the leaves, the tops of the shoots, sometimes the fruits are covered with a thick layer of pests. The leaves curl and dry out, the fruits begin to rot. Aphid secretions can attract sooty fungus.	Destruction of root growth in spring. Treatment with tobacco infusion and soapy water at the beginning of bud break. In case of severe infection - spraying in early spring with Nitrafen solution (100–150 g per 5 l of water). During the budding period - treatment with Benzophosphate (60 g per 10 l of water), Karbofos (75 g per bucket of water)
Comma shield	On the bark of the trunk and branches, shields in the form of commas of a dark brown color are visible. Areas of bark in places of feeding of pests die off and disappear.	Autumn wood whitewashing with lime. Spraying with nitrafen before bud break (100 g per 5 l of water).

Photo gallery: plum pests

The fruits affected by the plum moth turn purple and fall off

Aphids densely cover the lower surface of the leaf

The comma-shaped scabbard hibernates on the bark under its shields

The slimy (cherry) sawfly affects not only plums, but also other stone fruits

Collection, storage and use of crops

One Red Ball tree brings 18–20 kg of plums per season. The fruits begin to ripen in July, and they should be harvested in early August. With too abundant harvests, the fruits are small and ripen longer. You cannot overexpose plums on a tree - they will crack and crumble.

Harvested in several stages as it ripens. The collection begins from the lower outer part of the crown. You need to pluck the fruits together with the stalk, trying not to damage the wax coating. Ordinary plastic buckets work well for collection. The harvested fruit can be folded into wooden boxes, wicker baskets or cardboard boxes. It is desirable to lay in one layer.

It is good to use wicker baskets for harvesting.

Shelf life is short - just over 1 week in the refrigerator. In a ventilated room with a constant humidity of 85% at a temperature of 0 - +2 degrees, whole intact plums are stored for 2-3 weeks. If you want to preserve the harvest for 1.5-2 months, wrap the plums in plastic bags, seal them tightly and keep at zero temperature.

Plum tolerates transportation well.

Plum makes a beautiful and tasty liqueur

The red ball belongs to the table varieties, that is, it is better to use it fresh. But this does not mean that you cannot cook compotes, jams, bake fruit pies, make juice and other drinks from such plums.

Gardeners reviews

Chinese plums, perhaps, are somewhat inferior to home plums in taste, but they give high yields of beautiful and transportable fruits. In plum care, the Red ball is not too whimsical. The only problem is its low winter hardiness, but when grown in the southern regions, the tree will delight its owner for a long time.