Sweet cherry Krasavitsa

This variety was developed at the Far Eastern Experimental Station of VNIIR in 1985 from crossing the varieties 'Leto' x 'pollen mixture' (seedlings of 'Pink' + 'Red'). Authors: V.P. Tsarenko, N.A. Tsarenko. Introduced into the State Register in 1999.

The bush reaches up to 1.6 m in height, with a broadly oval shape and dense branching. Multi-year branches are straight, gray, peeling, with numerous light-colored tubercles. One-year shoots are brown and hairy. Buds are small, acute, forming in groups of three; the outer two are generative, the middle one is vegetative, hairy, and diverge from the shoot. Leaf blade is elongated-oval (5.0 x 3.7 cm), dark green, with a pointed apex and acute base. Leaf margin is doubly serrated, surface is wrinkled and corrugated, hairy with short hairs on the abaxial side, and woolly on the adaxial side. Petiole 0.4 cm long, medium thickness, green, hairy, with two acute, linear, hairy stipules. Flower (1-2) is dish-shaped, medium size (2.5 cm in diameter of the corolla), five-petaled, petals white and loosely arranged. Stamens 26, single pistil, hairy, stigma hairy. Stigma of the pistil is positioned above the anthers. Calyx is elongated-oval, with strong anthocyanin, hairy on the outside, with five calyx lobes, finely serrated, hairy. Flowering and fruiting type is continuous along the branch: on one-year and multi-year wood (bouquet branches, fruiting twigs).

Fruit is large, average weight 3.0 g, maximum 3.5 g, size 1.5 x 1.6 x 1.5 cm. Fruit shape is broadly rounded, with a rounded apex, base with a deep depression, and a ventral suture in the form of a stripe. Fruit color is dark pink, striking, skin hairy with short, barely noticeable hairs. Flesh is red, cartilaginous, firm, juicy. Juice color is red. Pedicel length 0.4 cm, hairy. Stone 0.16 g, broadly rounded, constitutes 5.3% of fruit weight, does not separate from flesh.

Fresh fruits contain dry matter — 12.0%, sugars — 8.3%, acids — 0.8%, ascorbic acid — 24.0 mg/100g. Utilization is universal: consumption fresh and processing into juice, jam, jelly, pastille, marmalade, preserves, wine and others. Fruit appearance is attractive. Flesh is juicy, firm, cartilaginous. Flavor is sweet-tart, harmonious. Taste evaluation 3.8 points. Semi-dry fruit detachment. Transportability is weak. Not suitable for mechanized harvesting.

Flowering period 20-27 May. Ripening period 23-28 July. Fruits ripen simultaneously. Grafted saplings bear fruit in 2 years, rootstock plants in 3-4 years. Plant longevity 17 years. Variety is self-sterile.

High yield — 10.7 kg per bush. Bush, one-year and multi-year branches are resistant to winter and spring frosts. Variety is drought-tolerant, does not tolerate waterlogging. Resistant to coccomyces, relatively resistant to clasterosporiosis. Under waterlogging, flowers and fruits are attacked by moniliosis.

High production value: winter hardiness, early fruiting, high yield, large fruit size, semi-dry fruit detachment, longevity. Easily propagated by green cuttings. Suitable for intensive orchards with nearby processing facilities; for nurseries and hobby gardening.

Advantages: large, attractive fruits of good flavor, semi-dry fruit detachment, high yield, winter hardiness.

Disadvantages: fruit size reduction under heavy fruit load.