European plum Vaulinskaya

Variety selected at the Buryat Fruit and Berry Experimental Station. Selected among seedlings from open pollination of Ulmus rubra varieties. Authors: O.S. Bolotskii, S.D. Vaulina, A.S. Sholokhova, T.I. Prokof'eva, N.N. Platonova. Introduced into the State Register in 1994 for the East Siberian region.

Medium-sized tree, medium-growing. Open, raised, sparse crown. Fruit clusters are predominantly located on flowering branches. Bark on the trunk is flaking, gray, branches are thick, straight, brownish-gray, bare, with many yellow, medium-sized stipules. Leaves are large, inversely egg-shaped, long-pointed, light green, smooth, matte. Leaf blade is flat, long-pointed, base is pointed, no hairs. Leaf margin is doubly serrated, petiole short, medium, green. Mid-veins. Inflorescence — umbel, flowers rose-like, medium, white. Petals are oval, well spread, 7 mm long, 5 mm wide. Stamens from 20 to 27, equal or slightly longer than the pistil, calyx green, hairless.

Fruits are large, round, medium-sized, average weight 16 g, maximum — 21 g. Apex of the fruit is round, base with a depression, pit deep and wide. Fruit stalk is short, thick, easily separates from the branch, weakly attached to the stone. Main fruit color is yellow, covering color — yellow, subcutaneous spots white, barely noticeable. Skin is smooth, with a slight, easily removable waxy coating. Flesh is yellow, medium consistency, juicy, slightly fibrous, sour-sweet taste with slight bitterness. Stone separates easily from the flesh, shape round, smooth, average weight of stone constitutes 5.9% of the total fruit weight. External appearance attractiveness — 4.2 points, sour-sweet taste, slight bitterness in the skin, aromatic, overall fruit quality rating — 4.0 points. Transportability medium, variety versatile. Fruits contain 14.9% dry matter, 6.91% sugars, 1.9% acids, 155.3 mg/100g vitamin P, 3.7 mg/100g ascorbic acid.

Average flowering period from May 22 to June 3. Self-sterile. Average yield 6-14 kg per tree, annual fruiting, heavy yield every other year. Cold hardiness medium, in particularly severe winters individual skeletal branches may freeze. Average freeze damage — 1.5 points, flower bud damage — up to 33%. Flower buds withstand spring frosts down to -3°C. Affected by Clasterosporium by 1 point, plum fruit moth by up to 4 points. Suitable for commercial planting with the mandatory condition — planting on elevated areas or slopes.

Advantages of the variety: cold hardy, large-fruited, high-yielding.

Disadvantages: fruit drop during ripening.