Sweet cherry Gedelfingen

An old German variety, widely grown in European countries. The name comes from the place of origin — the village of Gedelfingen located near the city of Stuttgart. This variety was registered in the Krasnodar region since 1947 and was inexplicably excluded in 2000.

The tree is vigorous (5 m at 10 years old, reaching very large sizes in maturity) and long-lived, with a broad-pyramidal, medium-density, heavily leafed crown. The trunk is thick, with rough, grayish-red-brown bark. The main branches are straight, with weakly shedding reddish-brown bark and large lenticels. One-year branches are straight, 5 mm thick, reddish-brown with a sooty coating. Vegetative buds are conical, brown, deviating 15-20°. Leaves are large, 155 x 60 mm, elongated-oval, doubly finely serrated along the edges, with a thick petiole 40-43 mm long, bearing 1-2 reddish-brown glands at the base of the leaf blade. Flowers are 2-4 per inflorescence, 28-30 mm, with broadly oval petals with a notch at the tip, pedicel 30-35 mm. The calyx is cup-shaped, 7 x 5 mm, stamens 9-11 mm, stigma 10 mm, stigma positioned above the anthers. Pedicels 30-40 mm).

Fruits 26 x 26 x 25 mm, weighing 7.8 g, blunt-heart-shaped, dark red, burgundy, almost black, with a well-defined ventral suture. A clearly defined, sunken groove runs along the dorsal side of the fruit. The flesh is dense, dark red, juicy, with a harmonious balance of acidity and sugar; the juice color is intense red. Fruits contain dry matter — 16.9%, sugars — 12.2%, free acids — 0.6%, ascorbic acid — 14.2 mg per 100 g of fresh weight. The stone is large, 11 x 9 x 7 mm, egg-shaped, light brown, weighing 0.42 g, making up 5.5% of the fruit's weight, poorly separates from the flesh. The peduncle is 37-45 mm, firmly attached to the fruit, detaching with juice exudation.

At full maturity, the Gedelfingen variety is suitable for mechanized harvesting. It is an excellent dessert variety, fruits well withstand transportation. Fruits are also used to produce high-quality compotes and frozen products.

Plants begin fruiting on the 5th-6th year after grafting. According to ripening time, it belongs to the mid-late maturing group. Fruits ripen in the second half of June and can remain on the tree for up to two weeks without losing, but improving their quality. The best pollinators include: Drogana Yellow, Jabule, Early June, Francis, Garden, Ramon Oliva, Southern Coast. The variety is considered potentially very productive. In Crimea, after 11-17 years of growth in the orchard, average productivity was 85 kg per tree; in the Krasnodar region, average productivity was 26-45 kg over 8 years of growth in the orchard at ages 7-14 years.

Winter hardiness of vegetative organs in normal winters is satisfactory: under -27.4°C in the Krasnodar region, the damage was 1.5 points, but flower buds died at 99% (at -24°C, respectively 76.5%). Shows satisfactory resistance to fungal diseases, lightly affected in normal seasons, may be affected by coccomyces on average 2.8 points (max. 4), moniliosis — 2.0 points (max. 3), clasterosporiosis — 1.5 points (max. 3).

Advantages: high-quality fruits for universal use, early fruiting and rapid yield accumulation.

Disadvantages: in certain years may show insufficient winter hardiness of flower buds; with age, forms a very large crown.