Jonkheer van tets

Jonkheer van Tets originates from the Netherlands, where it was developed in 1931. by the renowned breeder J. Maarse through planned crossing of Fay’s Prolific and Scotch, and was released into wide commercial production in 1941. Due to its exceptionally early ripening, large berry size, beautiful long clusters, and high productivity, it represents the absolute global and domestic pomological standard against which the flowering and ripening times of all other redcurrant varieties in the world are determined.

It is a fully self-fertile variety. It is characterized by an exceptionally high level of self-pollination and very abundant flowering, so it reliably and stably produces maximum yields in pure single-variety orchards without any need for other pollinator varieties in the planting. It is an excellent universal pollinator for all other redcurrant varieties. It flowers very early in spring, which makes its flowers highly attractive to bees.

The shrub is moderately vigorous to vigorous, with strong, firm, and upright shoots that form an open, well-branched, and very orderly bush reaching 1.2 to 1.5 meters in height. It enters full bearing extremely early, as early as the second year after planting, and produces regular, stable, and very high yields. It forms elongated, exceptionally dense, heavy, and visually attractive clusters that evenly cover the fruiting branches.

It belongs to the group of very early redcurrant varieties. In our region and under continental climatic conditions, it ripens first, in mid-June, under Serbian conditions usually between June 10 and 20, around ten days before Rolan, opening the new berry fruit season.

Harvesting takes place in mid- to late June. Due to the exceptional trait of uniform ripening of all berries within the long cluster, hand harvesting of whole clusters is extremely fast, easy, and efficient. The variety is also fully mechanically adapted to machine harvesting with dedicated harvesters and shakers on large commercial plots, because ripe berries have excellent skin firmness and elasticity.

It is characterized by moderately good post-harvest storage ability. In cold storage, it can be successfully kept for 7–14 days. The berries tolerate picking, handling, packing, and transport very well when harvested at the proper stage of technological maturity. It is primarily intended for the first and highest-priced fresh table consumption on the market, as it arrives when no other fruit from this group is available, but it is also excellent for processing into premium juices, syrups, jams, jellies, marmalades, and for large-scale deep freezing as whole-fruit “rolend” quality.

The berry is large for redcurrant, with an average weight of around 0.6–0.8 g, exceptionally uniform in the strings, and regular in its round shape, grouped in long and dense clusters. The skin is firm, thin, smooth, and distinctly glossy, with a bright red to ruby-red color. The flesh is light red, moderately firm, compact, and very juicy. The taste is outstanding and refreshing, pleasantly acidic with good sugar content, a high level of vitamin C, and a pronounced, recognizable aroma of true redcurrant. After full ripening, the berries separate cleanly, dry, and easily from the stem without juice leakage.

It is characterized by high resistance of the wood and flower buds to low winter frosts during full dormancy, tolerating temperatures down to -25°C without damage. On the other hand, due to its very early start of vegetation and flowering, its flower buds may be sensitive to late spring frosts, so warmer and elevated sites should be selected. It is also highly susceptible to currant leaf anthracnose, Drepanopeziza ribis, which in humid and rainy springs requires mandatory, professional, and timely preventive chemical protection immediately after flowering and immediately after harvest in order to prevent early defoliation.

The root system is surface-level, shallow, and distinctly fibrous, which makes this variety extremely sensitive to summer drought, hot winds, and high temperatures. It requires fertile, humus-rich, moderately moist, lighter, and well-drained soils with a slightly acidic reaction, along with mandatory provision of regular irrigation, preferably a drip irrigation system, during the summer months so that the berries do not dry out and remain underdeveloped due to drought. On plots in lowland areas, the installation of shade nets is recommended in order to prevent leaf scorch during extremely hot summer days. The shrub renews itself very well by forming new strong basal shoots every year.

Our redcurrant fruit plants are produced exclusively by vegetative propagation, by rooting mature cuttings under controlled conditions from strictly controlled and healthy mother plantations, and are supplied as own-rooted plants. This guarantees complete varietal purity, virus-free quality, and long shrub life.