Variety: Darlisette

Origin: obtained from the natural crossing of two Inotalis varieties
Bred and registered by Darbonne - Inotalis. EU 16909 (27-02-06)

Plant: Plants are vigorous with light green foliage that has a slightly chlorotic appearance.
Trushes are elongated.
Plant has moderate tolerance to powdery mildew & moderate tolerance to soil diseases.
Chilling requirements of 950 hours under +7ºC.

Flowers:

Fruit: Darlisette fruit is very attractive and has a regular conical shape, and therefore its appearance in the punnet is visually very acceptable.
The epidermis of the fruit is orange/red, firm and glossy while the flesh is light red, firm, juicy and has an exciting contrast in flavour between acid and sugar
Berry weight is consistent and medium in size.
Percentage of unmarketable fruit is unusually low; shelf life is good and keeps brightness and skin colour after cold storage appearance.

Harvesting: high potential, particularly for an early variety.
Darlisette production is concentrated on few pickings. Darlisette has an interesting characteristic of possibly reflowering depending on climate and production conditions.
The bulk of Darlisette fruit should easily make Class 1 grade.
Pick rates are high due to an excellent percentage of Class 1 fruit throughout the season and fruits are easy to pick.

Agronomical characteristics:
Complete fertirrigation (Fe and Mn) for foliage and (K and Mg) at the onset of fruit production since this intensifies the homogeneous red colour of the skin.
Nitrogen must be limited to control the plant vigour and optimise the light penetration to the crown. It is best to separate trushes from the foliage when produced on substrate for ease of picking and control of disease. Darlisette enables growers to start their picking season early and market a very attractive fruit with an excellent flavour. Darlisette is suitable for all types of retail outlets, premium markets will be a key target.
Darlisette is more suited to protected growing