Cultivar 429: Moldavka

Moldavka is a large yellow European plum, listed here as a domestica type. Its fruit was described as excellent in quality. It was imported from Russia by Prof. J. L. Budd. That places it among the Russian introductions that prairie and northern growers were testing for hardiness and fruit value around the turn of the twentieth century. [S2]

South Dakota records show mixed results. In the old Station orchard, it did not prove hardy and the trees died. In the Wells orchard at Spearfish in the Black Hills, it was reported doing well in the summer of 1904. The Spearfish trees were said to have come directly from the introducer about ten years earlier. [S2]

The surviving fruit description is brief but clear. Moldavka bore large yellow plums of excellent quality. These sources do not give fuller notes on season, flesh texture, or kitchen use. [S2]

A separate line of evidence comes from rootstock trials. At the Nebraska Experiment Station, Moldavka was among the European plums worked onto sand cherry stock, but the union was reported unsatisfactory. That does not describe the fruit itself, but it does show horticultural value: Moldavka was tested widely enough to appear in compatibility trials, and it seems to have been a poor match for sand cherry stock. [S1]

These sources leave Moldavka as a promising but uncertain northern plum. Its fruit quality was good enough to be noted, but its hardiness was inconsistent across locations, with failure in one South Dakota orchard and better performance in Spearfish. [S2]

Summary source basis

• S1: The Western Sand Cherry
• S2: Plums in South Dakota

This summary currently draws chiefly from Plums in South Dakota, with 1 additional supporting sources linked below.

Featured source descriptions

“The trees at Spearfish came from the introducer direct about ten years ago.”
— ^[1]

“Imported from Russia.”
— ^[1]

“This variety has not proven hardy in the old Station orchard and the trees are now dead.”
— ^[1]

“The fruit is of excellent quality.”
— ^[1]

Direct parent cultivars

• No direct linked parent cultivars promoted yet.

Parentage claim text

• No direct breeding_cross claim text yet.

Derived or downstream cultivar links

• No derived or downstream lineage links yet.

Source-story quotations

• Moldavka, domestica. HISTORY.-Imported from Russia by Prof J. L. Budd.Plums in South Dakota, p27
• Moldavka, domestica. HISTORY.-Imported from Russia by Prof J. L. Budd.Plums in South Dakota, p27
• Moldavka, domestica. HISTORY.-Imported from Russia by Prof J. L. Budd.Plums in South Dakota, p27
• Moldavka, domestica. HISTORY.-Imported from Russia by Prof J. L. Budd.Plums in South Dakota, p27

Taxonomy context: No family-tree context surfaced yet.

Related cultivars mentioned in source context