The fact that homemade apples can be consumed fresh all winter long, surely many of you know.
The secret lies in the fact that you need to choose the right variety, create favorable conditions for storage, as well as carefully remove the fruit from the tree without damaging them.
We will reveal the secret of how to store winter apples at home in the cellar, you will also learn more about the varieties suitable for winter storage.
Features
As you know, apples differ not only in their taste characteristics, but also in terms of ripening and storage. Winter varieties of apples that are stored until spring by their name imply late fruit ripening.
Such fruits are usable for 4-5 months after harvest. Unlike summer varieties of apples, which can be eaten immediately, as soon as the fruit is torn from the tree, winter ones are not suitable for immediate consumption.
In order for them to acquire a characteristic taste, color and smell, the fruit must lie down for a while. Harvest from winter trees is usually harvested from the middle to the end of autumn.
Suitable for long storage
For some reason, it is considered that imported apples are the most suitable for winter bookmarks. However, there are many types of winter apples that can survive the winter and preserve the unchanged taste, derived by our breeders.
Only late varieties, which are harvested in the fall closer to winter, are suitable for storage. Fruits of late varieties persist longer than from autumn and summer apple trees.
Fruit that will last until March or May
We list the most common and popular winter varieties of apples that can last until spring:
- Welsey and Lobo - stored until February.
- Spartan - retain their taste until April.
- The knight is the most deadly apples, their taste qualities are preserved until May.
- Snow Calvin - fruits are ready for harvest at the end of September.
- Rennet champagne - begins to bear fruit for 6-8 years. Differs in high productivity.
- Winter banana - has a low frost resistance and poor transportability. Stored until May-June.
- Prikubansky apple - stored until May, in addition, it is resistant to diseases and gives a bountiful harvest.
- Winter Lungwort and Russian woman have excellent taste and frost resistance, but these apple trees have small fruits.
- Varieties of the middle band - Antonovka, Northern synapse, Orlovskoe winter, Zhigulevskoe, Lighthouse, Melba, Cortland.
- Southern varieties - Crimean Aurora, Jonathan, Olympic, Rennet Simirenko, Golden, etc.
Training
Preparing apples for dough is not an easy task.
You can keep the fruit fresh and appetizing for 3 - 6 months. Some rules must be followed:
- Choose the appropriate grade.
- Properly pluck the fruit from the tree.
- Important sorting apples.
detailed instructions
Conditions
For prepared fruits, the creation of an appropriate environment plays a significant role:
- A place. It is better to sanitize in advance the basement or other room in which storage will take place: whiten the walls with a freshly prepared mixture of lime and copper sulphate (1.5 kg of lime + 150 g of copper sulphate per 10 liters of water); Process the floor in the cellar with a solution of ferrous sulfate (450-500 g per 10 liters of water).
- Storage container. Parameters such as size, shape, design and material of which the boxes consist do not play a special role. Cleanliness and strength - the main requirement of the packaging.
Containers should be thoroughly rinsed and disinfected if fruits or vegetables were already kept in it.
- Temperature. Usually, the temperature regime for apples laying varies from -1 ° C to + 1 ° C. But the range of + 2 ° C ... + 4 ° C will be favorable for fruits.
- Humidity. The optimal level for storing apples is 85-95%. Low humidity threatens to fade.
Sort
Variety selection is an important stage responsible for the time that the harvest will be stored. Not every apple can save food and nutritional properties for a long period..
How to shoot?
In order for apples to remain in their natural form, it is important to follow the rules right from the gathering of fruits. From this will depend on the shelf life.
when mature fruits begin to crumble by 5-6 pieces per day, you can start collecting;- you can harvest only in dry weather;
- do not tear off the stem;
- do not wipe the apples (this will break the wax coating - natural protection);
- You can not throw apples, just carefully put them in the container;
- start to collect better from the lower branches, moving to the top.
when mature fruits begin to crumble by 5-6 pieces per day, you can start collecting;Sorting
Before this procedure, the fruit is better to put in a cool room for a couple of weeks. During the time spent in the chill, defects may occurif any. Next you need to do the following:
- select only healthy fruits without abrasions, preferably with peduncles;
- different grade divided for storage;
- size calibrated: separately large, medium and small;
- Do not wash or rub the apples!
After careful sorting, you can proceed to the next stage.
Piling
Lay the apples up in 2 -3 layers. Long stalks must be shortened, this will save neighboring fruits from possible damage. Apples are not shifted by anything.
Thus, during storage, it will be easy to detect rot if the fetus will deteriorate. The method allows you to pack and a much larger number of apples.
Wrapping paper
Simple and affordable way, consisting of simple steps:
- Wrap each apple in a paper towel, napkin, etc.
- Lay in the box rows of stalk up.
Fruit will be well preserved if they are free from damage.
Overflowing
A mixture of washed and dried sand and ash poured into the bottom of the box (a layer of about 3 cm). It is important that the sand was washed and dried, and its moisture does not exceed 5%, otherwise the fruit may begin to deteriorate.
Next are stacked apples so that they do not touch each other. Top completely covered with the same composition. It is allowed to bookmark several layers. Sand with ash can be replaced by other dry and bulk materials.:
- Husk buckwheat.
- Linen eyes.
- Onion Husk
- The husk
- Peat
- With moss
- Leaves of trees (dry).
- Hardwood shavings.
- Sawdust.
Plastic bags
For ventilation in the package do 4-5 punctures. Put in it 2-4 kg of single-breasted apples and tie. Store at temperatures from -1 ° C ... + 1 ° C. This method is well proven.
Land
In the absence of a basement, you can store apples in the ground. It is necessary to dig a hole or trench 40-50 cm deep in advance. With the onset of cold weather (about -5 ° C ... -7 ° C) pack the apples in plastic bags of 5-6 kg and lay them in the hole.
To prevent rodents from entering, it is recommended to cover the branches of spruce or juniper on the bottom of the trench and on top of the packages. Cover everything with earth. In winter, it will be more convenient to look for your “treasure” if you leave a mark in the form of a stick or a flag.
Apples are beautifully stored underground until spring.. To protect the bookmark from freezing, it is possible to put fallen leaves on the surface of the pit.
Carbon Dioxide Treatment
There is another way to keep the crop in bags for a long time. CO2 is slowly injected into the bag with a siphon for carbonating water. At the end of the procedure, the hole is sealed.
UV light
Resourceful gardeners process apples with a bactericidal ultraviolet lamp (BUF-60) at a distance of 1.5 meters for 20-30 minutes. For uniform irradiation, apples are laid out in one layer and turned over only once. This method prevents the appearance of rot on the fruit.
If something went wrong
If all the conditions for the storage of winter apples are met, but the apples spoil. The variety is good and the fruits are collected on time, but the deadline does not lie.
If the cellar or basement is good with an established ventilation system, what is the reason that the apples are rotting? Apples may be spoiled due to infection with physiological and parasitic diseases.
Damage to winter apples during storage can be prevented by observing the agrotechnology, the timing of watering and fertilizing, the distance norms and the placement of fruit trees on the site. Already collected apples are advised to treat with 4% calcium chloride solution. and then put in storage.
This will increase the safety of fruits by 30%. From folk remedies to protect apples from damage during storage, you can advise thyme, which shift apples in boxes.
Conclusion
To keep apples fresh for the whole winter is not easy, but not so difficult if you responsibly treat the above rules. Fruits collected in a season will only benefit your health. And your body will not encounter chemicals that are often present in fruits sold in the cold season in supermarkets.
