Evaluation of raspberry cultivars in Estonia

The raspberry breeding and cultivar-evaluation programme at the Polli Horticultural Institute has been active since 1945. Winter hardiness is the most important quality for raspberry growing in Estonia. The other essential qualities are resistance to anthracnose (Didymella applanata) and spur blight (Elsinoe veneta), yield potential, fruit quality and suitability to shipping. As a result, four raspberry cultivars of the Polli Horticulural Institute breeding programme have been introduced: 'Espe', 'Helkal', 'Siveli' and 'Tomo. 'Helkal', and 'Tomo' are included into the "List of recommended raspberry cultivars for growing in Estonia". 'Tomo' is winter hardy and the most widely planted cultivar in Estonia. 'Helkal' is a tasty yellow-fruited raspberry. The other two selections Polli 1 and Polli 2 are also winter hardy and productive. The "List of recommended raspberry cultivars for growing in Estonia" includes still 'Herbert' (Canada), 'Nagrada' (Russia), 'Norna' (Norway) and 'Novokitaivska' (the Ukraine). The last is a widely planted cultivar, but is not sufficiently winter hardy in Estonia. 'Norna' has good big fruits but its winter hardiness is even poorer than that of 'Novokitaivska'. The latest experiments demonstrated that 'Ottawa', an old cultivar from Canada, has rather good winter hardiness. The raspberry breeding programme at the Polli Horticultural Institute, which was left off a decade ago, will start again in 2001.