Black Large

This variety was developed at the Rossohskaya Zonal Experimental Station for Horticulture by A.Y. Voronchikhin through crossing the varieties Zhukovskaya and Shirkoprodye Chornaya. Since 2000, it has been officially approved for the North Caucasus region. It is popular among gardeners in southern Voronezh and Belgorod regions, as well as Volgograd and northern Rostov regions.

The tree has medium or weak growth, reaching no more than 3-4 m in maturity. Its crown is broad-pyramidal or oval, medium density, with medium or good leafing. The bark on the trunk is black-gray, dark gray on young trees, weakly or moderately rough, with weak or absent longitudinal cracking. Lenticels are convex, long or very long, elongated-oval in shape, wide, densely arranged; the trunk is not twisted. Branches are straight, internodes long, young branches greenish-brown, later acquiring a silvery-gray sheen, sparsely covered with reddish-brown oval or round lenticels, bare. Vegetative buds are large, 4-5 mm, egg-shaped with a pointed apex, separated from or protruding from the branches. Flowering buds are smaller, 3-4 mm, egg-shaped with a more rounded apex, also separated from the branches. Leaf blade is elongated-oval with a pointed apex, base rounded to arched, 9-11 cm long, 4-6 cm wide on one-year branches; upper surface dark green, slightly wrinkled along sunken lateral veins, moderately to slightly curved along the midrib, bare, glossy; underside gray-green, often with a silvery tint, with fine dark green venation clearly visible, also bare; finely doubly toothed, very dense, leathery (a characteristic feature). Petiole 20-25 mm long, fairly thick, bare or slightly hairy on top, light green, practically without anthocyanin coloring, with 1-3 fairly large glands, which sometimes are absent; no stipules. Inflorescences usually have 3 flowers, rarely 2, very rarely 1 or 4 flowers; flowers large, 30-35 mm in diameter, wide-cup-shaped or even flat, sometimes petals slightly curled backward; petals broadly inverted egg-shaped, white, with darker vein patterns by the end of flowering, non-overlapping; stigma level with stamens or slightly lower, stamen length 10-15 mm, stigma with ovary 12-15 mm. Calyx is wide bell-shaped, noticeably ribbed, calyx lobes initially upright, then bent and pressed against the calyx tube, broadly triangular, toothed, shorter than the calyx tube, not closed, green-purple.

Fruits are large, average mass 5.6 g, height 25 mm, width 24 mm, thickness 20 mm; fruit shape round, sides flattened strongly; depression wide and shallow, fruit apex rounded with a stigma remnant as a dot. Skin color dark cherry-red, almost black. Flesh dark cherry-red, with lighter veins, tender, soft, juice dark red. Flavor sour-sweet, pleasant, taste rating 4.2 points. Biochemical composition of fruits: 12.1-16.9% soluble solids, 8.0-11.4% sugars, 1.1-2.0% titratable acids, 0.17-0.32% tannins and coloring substances. Fruit stem 32-38 mm long, 1 mm thick, firmly attached to the pit and difficult to detach, wet detachment. Pit average mass 0.48 g, which is 8.6% of the fruit mass, oval to broadly oval, apex rounded, base flat, slightly angled, with protruding scars at the base; color light brown, detaches fairly cleanly from the flesh. Technological qualities of fruits are high: compotes, averaged over 8 years, rated 4.7 points for appearance and 4.2 for taste.

Flowering occurs late. The variety is self-sterile, best pollinators are Kentskaya and Griot Ostgheimskiy. Fruits ripen in early to mid-season; in southern Central Chernozem, by late June. Trees grafted onto antipka enter fruiting 3-4 years after planting in the garden, with good early fruiting; at ages 6-9 years, average yield was 15.0 kg/tree, in favorable years yield reached 20-25 kg/tree. The variety is intensive type, its biological characteristics are close to Lyubskaya: early fruiting, rapid yield increase, but trees are short-lived and begin massive fruit drop by ages 12-15. Yield of 10-15-year-old trees is already lower than that of young trees, averaging 11.5 kg/tree.

Winter hardiness of the tree in southern Central Chernozem is good, even in severe winters with temperatures down to -32°C to -34°C, degree of freezing did not exceed 1.0 point. Flower bud mortality during such winters ranged from 0.3% to 4.8%. The variety is moderately to heavily affected by coccomyces, at the level of Griot Ostgheimskiy, Zhukovskaya, Kentskaya. It is also heavily affected by moniliosis, especially if wet and rainy weather persists during flowering.

Advantages of the variety: weak-growing tree, high early fruiting, large fruits.

Disadvantages of the variety: short-lived trees, heavy fungal disease infestation.