Tenchkovskaya Blueberry

Obtained at the Tatar Research Institute of Agriculture by L.A. Sevastyanova and G.K. Osipov from open pollination of the Zuyuzhskaya variety. Introduced into the State Register in 2001 for the Middle Volga region.

The tree is weak-growing with a dense, spherical crown. The crown is heavily foliated. The bark on the trunk is rough, brown with a grayish coating; on main branches it is smooth and light-brown. Shoots are thin, occasionally medium-thick, short, occasionally medium-length, straight, occasionally slightly curved, weakly hairy, dark raspberry-brown. Leaves are small, broadly oval, dark green, smooth, weakly shiny, weakly concave, occasionally convex, with a straight, occasionally slightly curved downward, pointed apex, with a broad-lobed, occasionally lobed base, blunt-toothed margins, on short, thin, pigmented petioles, with small, lanceolate, late-falling stipules. Stipules are small, very sparse, red-yellow, round, located at the base of the leaf. Flowers are very small, white, with weakly fused petals. Stigma is strongly curved. The stigma is positioned above the anthers.

Fruits are small (12.0 g), dark blue, broadly oval, unequal-sided, with a strong waxy coating, rounded apex, small depression at the base, weak ventral seam. Skin is of medium thickness and easily separates from the flesh. Flesh is yellow-green, finely fibrous-granular, of medium juiciness and firmness, tart-sweet, with acceptable flavor. Peduncle is medium length, thin, firmly attached to the fruit. Detachment is dry. Pit is oval-rounded, small, light-brown, with blunt apex and base, finely pitted-surfaced, easily separates from the flesh.

Fruits ripen at the end of August – beginning of September, containing 14.91% dry matter, 9.47% sugars, 2.27% organic acids, suitable for fresh consumption and processing (jam, preserves).

Flowering begins in the second decade of May. It enters fruiting on the 4th-5th year after grafting. The variety is medium-yielding, winter-hardy, highly drought-tolerant and heat-tolerant, moderately affected by clasterosporiosis, rust, and sticky scale, self-sterile, well-rooted by green cuttings in artificial mist, moderately by budding, spring grafting. It is pollinated by Rentklof Tenchkovskiy, Skorospechka Krasnaya, Yayschaya.

Advantages of the variety: winter-hardiness, weak growth, early fruiting, high drought and heat tolerance, good rooting of green cuttings.

Disadvantages of the variety: small, acceptable-tasting fruits, self-sterility, dense crown.