Memory of Ysaule

Early spring apple variety of intensive type, selected at the North Caucasus Regional Research Institute of Horticulture and Viticulture, obtained by crossing hybrid form 27-7-14 (Rosemary x Prima) with the Kandil variety from Krasnodar, using mutation selection method. Breeder S. N. Artiukh.

Since 1999, the variety 'Memory of Ysaule' has undergone state and industrial variety trials, and since 2002, it has been included in the State Register for the North Caucasus region. Suitable for commercial and hobby gardening in southern Russia.

Medium-sized tree with an oval, compact crown. Main branches have brownish-gray bark, raised upward. Branches grow well from buds and fruiting spurs, where fruiting mainly begins on two-year-old wood. Typically, fruits form on one-year-old shoots.

Shoots with burgundy-red bark, straight, slightly curved, round in cross-section. Buds are light, round, dense at the base and striated, sparse at the top. Leaves are dull green, elongated-oval with a rounded base, with unequal lobes and finely serrated edges, with a finely wrinkled surface, arranged at an acute angle to the stem on medium-length and thickness petioles, with lanceolate and narrow-lanceolate stipules. Buds are elongated, with a characteristic green triangle at the base — the mark left by the removal of a leaf petiole.

Flowers are fairly large, dish- or cup-shaped, creamy-white with pale-pink veins, with a long bare stigma, with stigmas positioned at the same level or below the anthers. Flowering occurs in mid-season.

Fruits are above-average or large, one-dimensional, strongly elongated and truncate-oval, with a slightly widened base. Central fruits on the fruiting spur are more elongated, lateral ones are less so. Fruits are slightly conical to the calyx. Ribs are weakly expressed, slightly stronger along the rim of the cup. Surface is smooth. Color is light green both at harvest and during storage. The bloom is bright lilac with pink, strongly expressed on the sun-exposed side, sometimes covering half the fruit or more. Skin is smooth, waxy, covered with a strong layer of pruinose, with barely noticeable subcutaneous white spots, large and sparse on the shaded side as gray dots. Calyx is clean, green. The fruit stalk is short and thick for central fruits on the fruiting spur, medium-thick for lateral fruits, slightly protruding from the calyx. Calyx is half-open, fitting into a medium-width and depth, medium-ribbed cup. Subcalyx tube is long, funnel-shaped. Axial cavity is widely open, with seed chambers connected by wide slits. Seeds are narrow, cup-shaped with long pointed tips, light-brown, 3-5 per chamber.

Flesh is greenish-white with green veins, medium density, juicy, fine-grained, becomes tender and pleasantly sour-sweet during storage. Chemical composition of the fruit: dry matter — 15.5%, total sugar — 11.7%, titratable acids — 0.9%, ascorbic acid — 6-12.8 mg/100g, P-active substances — 98-116 mg/100g.

Harvesting occurs in mid-September. Consumer maturity arrives after one month. Under improper storage conditions, fruits develop sunscald. Flesh density and storage capacity are higher in fruits from orchards with irrigation. Fruits can be stored until February. Premature harvesting leads to reduced weight and quality of fruits. Under proper packaging conditions, transportability is high. Fruit quality is high — 93%. Main use of 'Memory of Ysaule' fruits is fresh consumption, as well as for making high-quality vitaminized light juices.

Self-incompatible, requires pollinators. Best pollinators: Golden Delicious, Kuban Spur, Persikovoe.

Trees begin fruiting in the 2nd-3rd year, and produce marketable yield in the following year. Flowering and fruiting are regular in orchards with high technological standards. Productivity of the variety is high: already in the first 4-5 years, average yield is 80 centners per hectare, after 8-10 years — 325 centners per hectare on a weakly-growing rootstock at a planting density of 1000 trees per hectare.

Cold and drought resistance of the variety are high, comparable to highly-adapted varieties. Immune to scab (carrying the Vf gene), tolerant to powdery mildew.

Advantages of the variety: 'Memory of Ysaule' belongs to the first group of varieties in Kuban with resistance to scab, characterized by early fruiting and abundant yield, high fruit quality, and excellent taste, adaptability to complex natural-climatic conditions of the North Caucasus.

Disadvantages of the variety: fruit drop from wind with delayed harvest.