Sweet cherry Novoaltayskaya

Selected from seedlings of steppe cherry at the Siberian Institute of Horticulture named after M.A. Lisavenko. Authors: G.I. Subbotin, A.Z. Bylda, M.A. Lisavenko. Approved in 1974.

Dwarf shrub, up to 70 cm tall, multi-stemmed. Round, dense crown. Bark of branches gray, smooth, with many small white lenticels. Shoots bent at right angles, gray, thin. Internodes short. Buds small, conical, blunt. Leaves small, leathery, elongated-oval, base wedge-shaped, apex bluntly pointed. Leaf blade smooth, light green, flat, shiny, with double-toothed, fine serration. Petiole purple, glandular dots yellow, small, barely visible, stipules absent. Flowers small, 2-5 per cluster, rose-colored, white, 1.5-1.7 mm in diameter, petal shape elongated-oval, 3-4 x 6-7 mm, buds pale-pink, sepals 3-4 x 4-6 mm, oval.

Fruits oval, 13 mm tall, 9 mm wide, average weight 2.4 g, single-colored, bright red. Flesh dense, juicy, pink. Juice pink. Pedicel short, 15-20 mm, thin, 1.0-1.5 mm. Stone small, oval, 0.10 g. Fruit taste mediocre, sour. Pedicel attachment to fruit strong. Fruits contain 13.3% dry matter, 10.2% sugars, 2.0% acids, vitamins: C — 40 mg/100g, P — 200 mg/100g.

Fruits ripen in the third decade of July, transportability medium. Shoots stop growing in the third decade of June, leaf fall ends in the third decade of September — first decade of October, heat-tolerant, drought-resistant. Average yield per bush 3.8 kg, maximum 6.6 kg.

Highly winter-hardy, productive, self-sterile, technical, not resistant to coccomyces. Selected for high winter hardiness, productivity, and dwarf growth. Best pollinators: Altai Lastochka, Subbotinskaya, Maximovskaya, Zhalannaya.

Advantages of the variety: high productivity, dwarf growth.

Disadvantages: susceptible to sunburn under deep snow cover, produces excessive suckering, small-fruited, poorly propagated by green cuttings. Severely affected by coccomyces.