Pearl of Zhiguli

Introduced by A.N. Minin at the Samara Regional Experimental Station for Horticulture through crossing the 'Kuybyshevskiy Yubileyniy' variety with 'Karl' in 1989. Widely cultivated among gardeners in the Middle Volga region. The variety was accepted for state variety testing in 2003.

Medium-sized, fast-growing tree. Pyramidal crown, medium density. Fruit set occurs predominantly on bouquet branches and spurs. Bark on trunk and main branches smooth, light-brown. Shoots thin, curved, green, bare. Few stipules, white. Leaves large, broad, oval-elongated, slightly pointed at the tip, light green, slightly wrinkled. Leaf blades flat, leaf apex sharply pointed, base rounded, weakly pubescent. Leaf margin finely serrated. Petioles absent. Petiole medium in length and thickness, pigmented. Stipules medium, two, yellow, rounded. Inflorescence — double, solitary flowers. Flowers rose-like, medium, white-pink.

Fruits medium, one-dimensional, average weight 21.5 g. Fruit shape oval-rounded, apex rounded, wide depression. Base of fruit with indentation, weakly ribbed, pit medium, medium width. Mesocarp suture medium depth, distinct. Pedicel medium in length and width, easy detachment from branch, weak attachment to pit. Fruit color yellow, covering — reddish, spotted. Subcutaneous dots absent. Skin medium, smooth, difficult to remove. Pit separates easily from flesh, large, egg-shaped, in pits. Flesh yellow-orange, medium, slightly dry, cavity color — uniform with flesh. Juice colorless. Taste character sour-sweet. Fresh fruit taste scored 4.4 points, appearance — 4.4 points. Fruits contain dry matter 12.7%, sugars 9.02%, acids 1.97%, vitamin C 11.4 mg/100g.

Harvesting period — July 23-27. Commercial and consumer qualities of fruits good. Under-ripe fruits may be stored up to 1 week. Transportability good. Main use — universal.

Flowering — April 30 — May 4. Fruit ripening period medium. Partially self-fertile. Best pollinators: Kuybyshevskiy Yubileyniy, Samarskiy, Karl. Enters fruiting at 4 years. Yield in early years 3-10 kg per tree, at 12-13 years — 12-46 kg. Annual fruiting. Fruits remain well on the tree, gradually falling off at maturity.

The variety has good winter hardiness of wood and flower buds. In spring 2002, up to 25% of fruit set was lost due to frost down to -7°C. Drought resistance medium. Differentiates from other varieties by tendency to bark cracking. Moniliosis infection up to 0.2%, fruit fly — up to 0.2%.

Variety propagated by grafting onto high stems on seedling rootstocks of 'Sкороспелка Красная', 'Тернослива Куйбышевская' and other winter-hardy plums. Requires sheltered, well-lit locations. Grows well on light soils of western, south-western and north-western slopes. Soils must be well-drained; otherwise, bark cracking occurs on trunk at root collar zone. To prevent this, graft at height 20-60 cm above soil level. Pruning — standard.

Advantage of the variety: high yield.

Disadvantages of the variety: fruits not sufficiently large, slightly lose taste quality in dry years. Fruits not strongly held on tree.