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Growers’ Notes and Field Performance (USDA Zones 2-6)
- Vine characteristics: mid-season, sturdy, tidy, slightly slender growth habit.
- Fruit set: flawless, never drops a blossom. Still pushing new flowering trusses and setting fruit right now.
- Height in open ground: stood 5.5 ft (1.7 m) by mid-August, reached 6 ft (1.8 m) by early September.
- Trusses: 6 to 8 fruits per cluster.
- Overall yield: medium.
- Fruit: glossy, lacquered pointed plum. Starts completely inky black in the green immature stage, developing a gorgeous reddish-orange blush spreading out from the pointed tip as it ripens. Insanely stunning!
- Firmness: medium once fully ripe.
- Flavor: mind-blowing! Outstandingly delicious with a clear spicy-fruit nuance, juicy, zero sourness. It held the highest sugar level of every single variety in my patch this season.
First impression: versatile, outrageously sweet, and drop-dead gorgeous. Seedling grade: 4. Vine vigor: 4. Fruit quality: 5+++. Overall score: 5+++. An absolute garden pet!
Nadia said:
Alena, did you train it to a single leader?
No, Nadia, it trained itself. It put out virtually zero suckers early on, then naturally forked into a second stem around 28-35 inches (70-90 cm) off the ground.
I just let that fork grow. Basically, if you leave the few suckers it pushes, it naturally forms a clean 2 to 3-stem plant.
It definitely demands full direct sun though. My greenhouse does not get enough light for it to hit peak color, but outdoors in full open sun it would have been a showstopper 🙂
Alena, have you tried canning these whole yet? How do they hold up in the jar, do they bleed out their color?
Sucker Pruning, Calyx Clinging, and Damascus Steel Confusion
Semechka said:
Sofiya, do you have any photos of the vine or the full clusters? Your description sounds exactly like the seed mix-up I got from Popenko that was labeled Damascus Steel 🙂
Svetlana, I thought I snapped some mid-season, but cannot find them. Just took these photos today. Obviously almost everything has been harvested off the clusters by now, but early on every truss was completely packed.
Full Summary: Habit, Flavor, Sunlight, and Field Traits
- 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate vine climbing 5.5-6 ft (1.7-1.8 m). Can naturally fork into a balanced 2-stem canopy with minimal early suckering, though some growers under high nitrogen or strong glass report excessive suckering.
- 🍅 Fruit & Anthocyanin Expression: Pointed plum/saladette fruits weighing 1.5-2.5 oz (40-70 g), held in clusters of 6-8. Begins deep inky black under direct UV light, ripening to a lustrous orange-red base with jet-purple shoulders.
- 👅 Flavor Profile: Polarizing based on sun exposure. In direct sun and heat, it develops exceptional candy-like sweetness with spicy, tropical undertones and zero sourness. In shaded conditions or cold soil, flavor can turn bland and watery.
- ☀️ Sun Requirements: Full, unobstructed direct sunlight is mandatory for proper anthocyanin development and optimal sugar concentration.
- 🧺 Harvest Quirk: Very tough pedicel attachment; the calyx clings tightly to the fruit, and impatient picking can rip the epidermal skin at the stem end. Harvesting with garden snips is recommended.
- 🧬 Genetic Drift: Occasional striped or low-anthocyanin segregation noted in secondary seed trades, occasionally cross-confused with Damascus Steel.
- 🌎 Reviewers: Tested across USDA Zones 2/3 (Siberia), Zone 4 (Moscow, Kaluga, Tatarstan), and Zone 6 (Caucasus).
