Sweet Cherry x Sour Cherry (Prunus x gondouinii) ŽIVICA

Duke Cherry - Variety 'Zhivitsa' ('Živica')

'Živica' is a true pearl of Belarusian fruit breeding. It is a Duke cherry (an interspecific hybrid between sweet and sour cherry) combining the size and sweetness of a sweet cherry with the refreshing tartness and rich aroma of a sour cherry. Thanks to its exceptional frost resistance, immunity to Monilinia, and balanced flavor, it is an outstanding choice for home growers seeking a low-maintenance, heavy-bearing tree.

Duke Cherry (Prunus × gondouinii) 'Živica'

Developed at the Institute for Fruit Growing of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus by breeders E. P. Syubarova, R. M. Sulimova, and M. I. Vyshinskaya, and officially registered in 2002. It was bred by crossing the dark sour cherry 'Ostheim Griotte' with the sweet cherry 'Dönissens Yellow'.

Main advantages of the variety:

• Top flavor profile: Harmonious sweet-tart taste (tasting score 4.8 out of 5 points).
• Exceptional health: Natural immunity to Monilinia blight/rot and high resistance to cherry leaf spot.
• High cold hardiness: Both tree wood and fruit buds withstand severe winter frosts easily.
• Early ripening: Fruits ripen early, at the turn of June and July.
• Free-stone fruit: The small stone separates effortlessly from the juicy pulp.
• Early bearing: Produces its first significant crop in the 3rd to 4th year after planting.

Detailed variety description: Plant

• Growth and habit: Medium vigor, which significantly eases pruning, general maintenance, and harvest.
• Canopy: Forms a neat, rounded canopy with medium branching density.
• Flowering: Mid-early flowering with white blossoms, typically borne in clusters of three.

Fruits and flavor profile

• Appearance and size: Medium-sized fruits, round and regular in shape, averaging 3.5 to 3.7 g in weight.
• Color and skin: Glossy, deep dark red to burgundy skin.
• Flesh and stone: Dark red, medium-firm, and exceptionally juicy. The juice is dark red and staining. The small stone detaches cleanly and easily from the flesh.
• Taste and composition: Delicious taste, pleasantly sweet with a refreshing sour cherry undertone. Composition: soluble solids 13.9%, sugars 8.73%, organic acids 0.81%, vitamin C 4.2 mg/100 g.

Growing characteristics and agrotechnics

• Ripening and yield:
  • Harvest window: Early ripening variety, ready to pick from late June to early July.
  • Productivity: Starts bearing fruit in years 3–4, offering stable, heavy annual crops (commercial yield around 10 t/ha).
• Pollination: Self-sterile. Requires a cross-pollinator blooming at the same period. This variety specifically prefers sweet cherries as pollinator partners (though sour cherries can also pollinate it).
• Hardiness and site requirements:
  • Disease resistance: Immune to Monilinia blossom blight and brown rot, resistant to Blumeriella leaf spot. Perfect for organic cultivation.
  • Soil & Exposure: Thrives in fertile, loose, well-aerated sandy loam soils protected from harsh winds. Cannot tolerate waterlogging or high water tables.

Disadvantages of the variety:

• Self-sterile: Requires a matching pollinator tree nearby (preferably a sweet cherry).
• Moderate fruit size: At ~3.7 g, fruits do not reach the large size of modern big-fruited sweet cherry cultivars.
• Sensitive to waterlogging: Struggles in heavy, cold, or poorly drained soils.