Apple Snowy Calville (Snow White, Snowy Calville)

Likely a local Ukrainian Transnistrian variety, winter-ripening. Approved for cultivation in southern Russia and southern CIS countries.

Trees are vigorous, fast-growing, cold- and frost-resistant, with wide, rounded, drooping crowns. Fruit set mainly on slender twigs (which often fork), with terminal buds.

Shoots have relatively short internodes, dark brown or brownish, densely hairy, with numerous small stipules. Leaves are small, elongated-oval with long, sharply pointed tips, slightly curved, completely smooth, silver-gray due to hairiness. Leaf margins are smooth, single- or double-ribbed. Petioles are short. In the nursery, plants are medium-sized, with creeping stems and flat leaves arranged at right angles to the stem.

Flowers are large, creamy, bowl-shaped, with short, hairy stigmas, and stigmas positioned at different heights relative to the anthers.

Fruits (see photo) are slightly or moderately flattened, conical or round-conical in shape. Size depends on garden care level. Ribs on fruits vary in prominence: strong or weak. Fruit color is light green, later turning creamy-yellow. The calyx is open, with a deep, narrow funnel, and the pedicel is thin, protruding from the funnel. The funnel is rust-colored. The receptacle is slightly wrinkled.

Flesh is snow-white, firm, tender, finely-grained, slightly acidic-sweet. Chemical composition of fruits: dry matter — 12-14%, sugars — 9-13%, titratable acids — 0.5%, ascorbic acid — 5-9 mg/100g, P-active substances — 114-150 mg/100g fresh weight.

Harvesting maturity occurs in mid-September. Fruits can be stored until mid-winter. Average yield is 250 centners/ha, in steppe areas — 120 centners/ha. In wet years and on the Black Sea coast, leaves are affected by powdery mildew. Resistant to scab.

Advantages of the variety: early fruiting, high yield, and excellent taste.

Disadvantages of the variety: fruits drop off if harvesting is delayed, poor transportability.

In breeding, Snowy Calville is a donor of high productivity.