Lucy

Parentage
Lucy (formerly EM931) was bred at East Malling Research and was first selected in 1996. It has a complex pedigree, which includes Honeoye, Selva and Rapella.

Season
The season of Lucy overlaps with Elsanta but peaks about one week later.

Fruit Quality
The fruit is firm and shelf-life is similar to Elsanta. The berries are attractive, with a glossy skin finish, good mid-red colour, a juicy texture and pleasant flavour. The primary fruits can be very large and irregular in shape, but subsequently the berries are uniformly heart shaped. In unprotected trials Lucy has proved to have good tolerance to rain.

Yield and Fruit Size
Lucy is very high yielding with large fruit size.

Marketing Suitability
The fruit of Lucy has an attractive appearance and good shelf life, making it suitable for supermarkets, direct farm sales and pick your own.

Plant Characteristics
The plants are quite vigorous with well displayed fruit.

Disease Resistance
Tests conducted at East Malling have shown that Lucy has a useful level of resistance to crown rot (Phytophthora cactorum), but the plants are moderately susceptible to both verticillium wilt (Verticillium dahliae) and powdery mildew (Podosphaera aphanis).

Use of the Variety
Lucy is a grower friendly variety, which has produced excellent yields in trials conducted on pick-your-own farms and less intensive growing systems. With its good tolerance to rain damage, Lucy is well suited for traditional field production without the use of polythene tunnels. It will give good production after the mid season peak, particularly if grown on a late site.