Early Steppe

Selected from seedlings of free-pollinated selected forms of Prunus avium steppe. Originator — Central Siberian Botanical Garden, SB RAS. Authors: V.S. Simagin, M.N. Salamatov. Introduced into the State Register in 1996 for the West Siberian region.

Small bush, 1–1.5 m tall, medium density, densely branched. Bark of the trunk smooth, dark brown. Growing shoots upward, slightly curved, greenish-brown, light gray the next year, few lenticels, yellow-gray, small. Vegetative buds ovate with a pointed tip, generative buds round-ovate, moderately set back from the shoot. Leaves reverse-egg-shaped, 4.5 x 2 cm, dark green; apex gradually pointed, base wedge-shaped, serrated, even; blade folded like a boat, slightly curved, smooth, shiny, not hairy underneath; glands at the base of the blade, small, 2–3; petiole 1.2 cm long, medium thickness, pigmented. Flowers in umbels, 3–4 per cluster, 20 mm in diameter, corolla bowl-shaped, petals not closed, white; stigma slightly above anthers; calyx cup-shaped, sepals round-triangular, no teeth; stamens 10 mm long, pistil 13 mm. Flowers predominantly on one-year-old shoots.

Fruit mass 2.0–2.4 g, height 16 mm, width 16 mm, thickness 14 mm; round, flattened at the seam, shallow wide depression, apex rounded; skin color dark red, solid, flesh color red, juice dark red; flesh tender, juicy; pedicel 2.2 cm long, medium thickness; stone round-ovate, mass 0.15–0.17 g, about 7% of fruit mass, apex sharply pointed, base rounded, medium detachment from flesh. Fruits attractive in appearance, uniform; flesh juicy. Taste sour-sweet with astringency, satisfactory. Fruits contain 14.1% dry matter, 8.9% sugars, 1.55% free acids, 11.5 mg/100g ascorbic acid. Fruit detachment medium. Suitable for harvesting with berry harvesters. Fruits resistant to cracking. Cultivar for technical use. Suitable for high-quality jam, compote, and juice.

Flowering early, in Novosibirsk at the beginning of the third decade of May; ripening medium-early — after July 20, uniform; enters fruiting on the 3rd–4th year after planting. Self-sterile, well pollinated by the cultivar 'Transparent' and other simultaneously flowering forms of Prunus avium steppe. Fruit production regular and abundant. Yield 3–5 kg per bush, at planting 3 x 1.5 m gives about 65–110 ц/ha.

Mature wood, young shoots and generative buds highly resistant to winter frosts, flowers moderately resistant to spring frosts. Drought resistance high, heat tolerance medium. Weakly resistant to coccomycosis, moderately resistant to moniliosis and clasterosporiosis, resistant to bird cherry rust, resistance to bacterial, viral and mycoplasma diseases not studied. Weakly affected by gummosis and chlorosis. Moderately damaged by Prunus aphid, Prunus sawfly and bird cherry slugs, Prunus fruit moth, resistance to other pests not studied. Propagated by green cuttings and suckers, lifespan of the trunk 8–9 years. Cultivar suitable for intensive orchards.

Advantages of the cultivar: high winter hardiness and yield, suitability of fruits for diverse processing.

Disadvantages of the cultivar: small fruits of mediocre taste, self-sterility, insufficient resistance to coccomycosis and clasterosporiosis.