Apple variety Spartak
Spartak is an autumn apple variety. Bred by S.P. Kedrin. through the selection of seedlings ‘Sharopay’, sowing in 1936, at the Samara Experimental Station for Horticulture. The paternal variety is supposedly 'Skryzhapel ordinary'. The Spartak apple trees are especially widespread in the Middle Volga region. The variety is included in the State Register of Breeding Achievements approved for use in the Ural, Middle Volga and East Siberian regions.
The trees grow to medium size. The crown is dense, wide-pyramidal in shape. Skeletal branches can branch off at an acute angle, which sometimes causes them to break. This must be taken into account when forming the crown. The ability to form shoots and the awakenability of the buds are high. Fruiting occurs on all types of fruit formations, including lateral on long growths.
Shoots of regular shape, smooth and shiny, reddish-brown shade, with medium pubescence. Lentils are whitish in color and round in shape, are often found. The leaves are oblong-oval. The tip is elongated and slightly curled. The leaf blade narrows at the base, the curvature is weak, and is located at an acute angle to the shoot. Significant complexity is characteristic. At the edges, the leaf blade is wavy. Quite often, the leaves of the Spartak apple tree look like crumpled. Serratedness along the edge is double-serrate-crenate. On the inside, the leaves are slightly pubescent.
The fruits of the Spartak apple tree are medium in size, have a round or flat-rounded shape. The average weight of an apple can be 90 - 160 grams. But on young trees, fruits weighing up to 300 grams can grow. The peel of apples is of medium thickness, smooth, firm, with a glossy sheen. The main color of the fruit is yellowish; from above it is covered by a dull striped blush at the beginning, gradually turning into an intense red, striped-merging. This color of apples suggests that the fruits can already be picked. Subcutaneous dots on the peel are whitish in color, due to their small size, they are practically invisible. The peduncle is of medium length and thickness. At the same time, it comes out of a deep, wide funnel, which quite often has signs of corking along the edge. The cup is of medium size, closed, located in a saucer with gentle, even walls, in its average depth and width. The sub-cup tube does not intersect with the seed nest and has a wide conical shape. The seed nest itself is of medium size, bulbous, with closed or half-open chambers. Seeds are light brown in color, well executed, ovoid with a blunt tip. There are usually many set seeds.
To taste, Spartak apples are sour-sweet (acid is practically not felt), with a rather delicate cream-colored pulp, fine-grained, medium density. Ideal for dining purposes.
Fruits ripen by the end of August, eating is carried out until mid-September. Ripe apples should be stored in cool conditions until the New Year. But it is advisable to use the fruits before November 15 - 20, since in the future there is a deterioration in taste. In general, the commercial and consumer characteristics of this variety are high. The early maturity is high. This apple tree is classified as an intensive type.
In nurseries, Spartak is often grafted onto seedlings of the Zhigulevskaya forest apple and large-fruited Chinese. Fruiting begins 3 to 4 years after the start of the growth of the oculum, sometimes possibly on two-year-old trees. The young tree bears fruit annually. The variety is winter hardy. Scab damage to fruits and leaves is average.
