Sweet cherry Shalunya

This variety was developed at the Institute of Irrigated Horticulture named after M.F. Sidorenko of the Ukrainian Academy of Agricultural Sciences by crossing Samsonovka and Kyivskaya-19. Authors: V.A. Turovtseva, N.I. Turovtsev. Introduced into the State Register in 1997 for the North Caucasus region.

Medium-sized, fast-growing tree with a moderately dense, spreading crown. Bark on the trunk is flaking, gray-brown. Branches of medium thickness, straight, brownish-gray. Numerous grayish stipules. Leaves medium-sized, inversely egg-shaped, short-pointed, dark green, smooth, shiny. Leaf blade is concave and curled downward. Leaf margin finely toothed. Petioles short, thick, pigmented. Stipules medium-sized, round, colored. Fruits borne on flowering branches and one-year growth.

Fruits large, one-dimensional, flat-round, with a rounded apex, base with a depression, small and wide pit, small and barely noticeable ventral suture. Average fruit mass — 5-6 g. Pedicel up to 43 mm long, medium thickness, easily detaches from the branch, attachment to the pit is weak. Fruit color dark red, almost black. Subcutaneous dots barely noticeable. Skin dense, easily peels off. Flesh dark red, tender, juicy. Pit cavity same color as flesh. Juice dark red. Pit small, round, free. Taste sour-sweet, refreshing. Fruits contain 16.0% dry matter, 10.4% sugars, 0.94% acids. Sensory evaluation — 4.8 points. In Melitopol, fruits ripen from June 18-22, suitable for general use.

Self-sterile variety. Best pollinators — Chernokorka, Samsonovka, and cherry variety Vinka. Enters fruiting stage in the 3rd year after planting in the orchard and quickly increases yield. Average yield at 6 years old is 10.4 kg per tree, and at 10 years — 30-40 kg. Resistant to moniliosis and coccomyces, winter-hardy and drought-tolerant. During severe winter, when air temperature dropped to -25.1°C, neither wood nor branches of trees froze, but flower bud death in flower buds reached 57.6%. From spring frosts, up to 30% of flowers die on Shalun'ya, whereas in the control variety Podbelskaya — more than 54%.