Sweet cherry Melitopolsky Griot

This variety was developed at the Institute of Irrigated Horticulture named after M.F. Sidorенко, UAAN, by crossing plum Samsonovka with yellow cherry Drogana. Authors: V.A. Turovtseva, N.I. Turovtsev. Introduced into the State Register in 1995 for the North Caucasus region.

Tree is vigorous, up to 4-5 m tall, fast-growing. Crown is spherical, slightly drooping, dense. Bark on trunk and main scaffold branches is flaking, gray. Angle of scaffold branch divergence is 50-60°. Branching capacity is medium. Branches are straight, thick, gray-brown. Leafing is good. Leaves are large, inversely egg-shaped, dark green, matte. Leaf blade is flat, sharply transitions into the tip. Leaf base is rounded. Pubescence is weak. Leaf margin is finely toothed. Petiole is short, thick, pigmented. Stipules are medium, colored, round, arranged in 2-3. Flowers are white, large, 2-3 per bud. Fruit set occurs on flower clusters and one-year growth.

Fruits are flat-round, large, average weight 6.9 g, single-seeded, dark red. Flesh is tender, juicy, dark red. Juice is dark red. Stone is small, round, free. Taste is tart-sweet, refreshing. Fruits contain 22.1% dry matter, 13.6% sugars, 1.12% acids. Sensory rating 4.5 points. In Melitopol, fruits ripen June 20-25, suitable for general use.

Self-sterile. Best pollinators — Ozhidanie, Vstrecha, Podbelskaya, and cherry varieties Vinka and Valeriy Chkalov.

Grafted trees begin fruiting on the 4th year after planting. Average multi-year bud break date — April 28. Average yield at 10 years old — 25-30 kg per tree. Winter hardiness is high. In severe winters, trees survived down to -25.1°C without visible damage, while flower buds were killed by 56.4%. Variety is resistant to moniliosis and lightly affected by coccomyces.