Actinidia Kolomikta Is A Far Eastern Liana With Tropical Fruits. Varieties, Conditions, Care. Photo

2023 Author: Ava Durham | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-27 07:13

My acquaintance with actinidia began with fruits. At the end of summer, green striped berries, similar to cylinders, were found in the market of Komsomolsk-on-Amur. Either a very large gooseberry, or a watermelon ovary. All those around in one voice called these berries "kishmish". The taste of the forest "kishmish" turned out to be sweet with sourness and clearly gave off tropical aromas. And it grows in the Far Eastern taiga! There is a kind of cognitive dissonance. It is about this plant that there will be an article - how a tropical berry got in to the harsh Siberians and how it was "civilized". And also the experience of growing and using actinidia.

Content:

• Who is she, where does she grow and how did she get there?
• What can breeders offer?
• How we grew actinidia in the Khabarovsk Territory
• How to use actinidia?

Who is she, where does she grow and how did she get there?

Actinidia kolomikta (Actinidia kolomikta), and we will talk about it, since in the area of Komsomolsk-on-Amur no other species survive, is a woody liana up to 14 meters long (in warmer places - up to 25 m). But thin - the trunks are no more than 5 cm in diameter. Climbs trees and bushes, twisting them counterclockwise. Moreover, it wraps around only relatively thin trees and branches, up to 10 centimeters, thicker it no longer works. It blooms from 4-6 years of age, in June, three weeks and smells great. The berries ripen in August-September, very unevenly.

In the gardens of Komsomolsk and the surrounding area, for the most part, wild forms dug out in the forest are grown. Which makes perfect sense: they are the fittest. In the forest itself, actinidia prefers clearings, forest edges, felling and burning, mainly near the water. The lower part of the plant is most often in shade, the crown is in the sun. And the plant looks quite organic there. But the taste stands out strongly against the background of most local frost-resistant berries.

There were times (a very long time ago, about 700 thousand years ago) when tropical vegetation flourished in the Far East and the corresponding animals roamed. Then it got colder, the ice age came, but not as dramatically as, for example, in Europe, with kilometer-long glaciers. There were no special glaciers. Part of the flora, of course, froze. But some thermophilic plants began to adapt in every possible way to changing conditions, and they succeeded.

As a result, a kind of misalliance was formed between wild grapes growing almost near the Christmas tree, black birch sloping towards the lake with lotuses, Manchurian walnut in the birch forest and actinidia hanging from the fir.

That is, actinidia is originally tropical. At the same time, it managed to adapt to the difficult Far Eastern climate, growing both in the lower reaches of the Amur with a winter minimum of -45 ° C, and on the wet Kunashir and Shikotan, where no white light is visible, only fog.

Of course, the Kunashir or Shikotan subspecies will not survive in the lower reaches of the Amur, and the Lower Amur on Shikotan will not like it either. But all these subspecies are wonderful breeding material.

During the time of adaptation to the harsh climate, actinidia kolomikta learned to store up useful substances as much as possible, and so cleverly that vitamin C, for example, it contains much more than black currant, and the taste is sweet.

What can breeders offer?

Michurin started working with actinidia kolomikta at the beginning of the last century, evaluating it as a very promising culture for Russia. To date, other types of actinidia that grow on the territory of Russia are involved in breeding work - arguta, polygamy, purple, giraldi.

But the varieties and hybrids of Kolomikta are the most winter-hardy. They can be grown in regions with a frost-free period of 106 days and the sum of active air temperatures above 1400 ° C. Actinidia is bred in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Vladivostok and Samara.

The overwhelming majority of varieties of actinidia are dioecious plants, partially self-fertile are "Large-fruited 1-29" (variety form) and the Polish "Doctor Shimanovsky", while the degree of self-fertility is low (no more than 40%). The male plant nearby, in any case, significantly increases the number of ovaries and the size of the fruit.

Of the old Michurin varieties, mainly Pineapple Michurina and Clara Zetkin roam the gardens, while the former far bypasses the latter in terms of winter hardiness, yield and average weight of fruits. In addition, slightly unripe berries "Clara Zetkin" cause perspiration when consumed.

The early highly winter-resistant forms of actinidia kolomikta, suitable for growing in regions with severe winters, were bred in Novosibirsk. These are "Compact", "Novosibirskaya early", "Borisovskaya" and a highly decorative male plant "Snowball", which has half or 80% of the leaf surface of a variegated color. “Compact” has a banana aroma, “Borisovskaya” has the largest fruits from the Novosibirsk forms.

The varieties for the Russian North were bred in St. Petersburg, these are: "VIR-1", "VIR-2", "Large-fruited", "Leningradskaya late", "Nakhodka", "Pavlovskaya", "Sentyabrskaya". Of the above, "Large-fruited" is the earliest and most fruitful, "Nakhodka", "Pavlovskaya", "September" have a nutmeg aroma, "Leningradskaya Late" has the most vitamin C.

Moscow varieties: "Aromatic", "Wafer", "Grape", "Gladkaya", "Dalnevostochnaya", "Izobilnaya", "Graceful", "Queen of the Garden", "Lakomka", "Maritsa", "Jelly", "Moma "," Coin "," Nadezhda "," Narodnaya "," Stranger "," In Memory of Kolbasina "," Parkovaya "," Flat "," Prazdnichnaya "," Household "," Early Dawn "," Sakhalin "(several forms), "Sweet tooth", "Magpie", "Champion", "University", "Fantasy gardens", "Ella" and male plants - "Adam", "Commander".

Of the Moscow ones, the most vitamins are "Holiday", "Champion", "Magpie" and "Fantasy Gardens". Berries of the varieties Ploskaya, Priusadebnaya, Soroka and Champion have an apple aroma, Waffle, Slastena, Ella - the aroma of actinidia, Grape - marmalade-pineapple, Narodnaya - strawberry, "Fragrant" - nutmeg, the rest - pineapple. "Grape" is the smallest.

Vladivostok "Robinson" is suitable for wet climates, large cylindrical sweet berries.

The Czech Vitakola is characterized by large, elongated fruits, but requires a frost-free period of at least 130 days.

The Polish "Doctor Szymanowski", as already mentioned, is partially self-fertile.

In Michurinsk, the size of the fruits of domestic varieties was assessed, the average was taken based on the results of the collection in 2016-2017. So, the leaders are: "Fragrant" (berry 6.2 g), "Magpie" (4.9), "Large-fruited" (4.5), "Lakomka", "Household" and "Leningradskaya late" (3.7), "VIR-1", "Fairy", "Universitetskaya" (3.4), "Wafer", "Early Dawn", "Sakhalin" (3.1). A total of 27 varieties were compared.

How we grew actinidia in the Khabarovsk Territory

My personal attempts to grow actinidia kolomikta in a dry shady area in Komsomolsk-on-Amur were unsuccessful. That is, 2 plants transplanted from the forest survived, but for 5 years they did not grow special bushes and did not even think about flowering. It turned out to be dry. Relatively regular watering in the neighborhood of huge old poplars - laughing chickens.

Then my friends and I decided to introduce a separation of crops: in their country house, on a damp plot with slightly acidic forest soil, we grow actinidia, in our country - cherries, which categorically refused to live with them. This is where the process started!

4 actinidia bushes (1 male and 3 female), dug out in the forest, were planted in the autumn on the western side of the plot under the cover (from the sun) of adult black currant bushes, mulched with dry foliage and covered with thick non-woven material. This was enough for the bushes and they survived the winter without losses, which, fortunately, did without the "black frosts".

The very next year, the bushes braided a chain-link fence and demanded a trellis. I had to build a 2-meter one in the fall. Actinidia spent the next winter on a chain-link, from which it could no longer be torn off. Lucky again: the snow fell in early November, a lot, and the November blizzard poured good snowdrifts near the actinidia fence. There are no thaws in Komsomolsk in winter.

In the third summer, the first flowers appeared and variegation appeared. The most striking, as often happens in nature, turned out to be the male plant, the female ones behaved much more modestly.

The berries ripened in the 4th year of cultivation, a little, but everyone had enough to taste. Well, and then it got better with fruiting, although it is different from year to year. Moreover, our girls in chorus bore fruit either weakly or strongly. The boy tried every year, it was full of foliage and bloomed well! By the way, the flowers of actinidia have a very pleasant smell, and bees are busily picking at them.

All actinidia hibernate on the trellis like this. The place is relatively protected, there is enough snow, but the wind is not particularly strong.

Sun from morning until lunchtime, then lacy shadow from trees. The near-trunk zone was not loosened, not dug, only mulched with mown grass and sprinkled with ash. It was necessary to water only in the first summer, while the bushes were being mastered.

Friends' dacha is located between the hills, day and night temperature drops are more noticeable than in the city, and in the morning there is always dew on the grass. There is a drainage ditch behind the fence. By the way, a characteristic feature of the Far Eastern climate is high air humidity. Actinidia is used to this and in such conditions she feels as comfortable as possible.

It is especially worth noting that actinidia should be pruned in the fall. Sooner or later you will have to cut it, it grows very much. In addition, in our conditions, it happened that one-year increments froze. If cut in spring or summer, it “cries” very much and the main shoot weakens. If you do not touch it until autumn, the shoot grows normally.

We did not see any illnesses on it. But someone is chewing on the leaves. It was not possible to find anyone at the scene of the crime - either secretly fragile at night, or a master of disguise. However, the damage from biting is scanty, and the interest in pests is purely speculative.

There are years of incursions by the gypsy moth - this is a type of natural disaster: hairy caterpillars fall on their heads from eaten trees, crunch underfoot and crawl on all surfaces. Here, of course, actinidia also suffers, because these furry creatures, like locusts, do not care what is, as long as it is green. Overeating cuckoos (only they eat these unpleasantly woolly creatures) sit in the surrounding trees and look with dull eyes at the incredible amount of feeding food.

After such invasions, all plants, including actinidia, have to hastily grow new shoots and leaves. Not until the harvest.

How to use actinidia?

The first harvest, of course, must be eaten immediately. And not just eat it, but savor it to feel the taste. With the first harvest, this usually happens by itself, because the berries ripen at different times, there are still too few of them in quantity to think about harvesting, it remains to enjoy.

Two years later, the volume of the harvest allows you to start making harvesting. The simplest thing is pureed raw actinidia with sugar: 2 parts berries and 3 parts sugar. You can punch with a blender, you can grind it with a simple wooden crush. Wait for the sugar to dissolve, mix, arrange in sterile jars, close. We kept it in the refrigerator, friends in the basement. Stored until March.

It is very good to dry actinidia berries, it turns out tastier than raisins. They dry, like all fruits and berries, at 50-60 ° C. Store like raisins.

I cook the jam with a 1: 1 ratio of berries and sugar. Cover the berries with sugar, let them stand for 12 hours, then bring to a boil, set aside, and so on two more times. Pour hot into sterile jars, close.

An enzyme-like substance, actinidin, has been found in actinidia berries, which helps in the digestion of protein, in particular meat. Therefore, if you grind the actinidia berries, freeze the puree in cubes and then add these cubes when cooking meat, it will be not only useful, but also very tasty. However, these ice cubes scatter like hot cakes: into meat, and into tea, and into compote, and into a cocktail. You can't get enough.

Well, and when there are finally a lot of berries, you can put actinidia wine or make a liqueur. An absolutely extraordinary taste!