New high-quality early varieties: the Meda® series

01 May 2023
2287

The Meda® series cherry varieties are owned by International Varieties Unlimited (IVU), a company established in 2010 from a joint venture between an American cherry breeding company, the Proprietary Fruit Varieties (CA USA) of the late Marvin Nies, one of the largest cherry breeders, and a group of Chilean cherry nurserymen and exporters.  

"The intent of this agreement," Alejandro Navarro, president of IVU, tells Cherry Times®, "was to select, develop and market new cherry varieties of high quality (high size, hardness and sweetness) and with good post-harvest performance (processing, storage, shelf life). After a selective process lasting more than 10 years and conducted on a variety potential of 80 Californian cherry genotypes, IVU licensed, patented and marketed six new varieties under the Meda® trademark: Meda Rex® IVU-115*, Meda Fox® IVU-548*, Meda Tiger® IVU-524*, Meda Bull® IVU-104*, Meda Wolf® IVU-105* and Meda Taurus® IVU-533*."   

The cultivation of the varieties of the Meda Cherry® line internationally is managed and controlled by IVU through cultivation contracts with minimum planting rights. The varieties of Grupo Meda have been authorised by eight Chilean exporters who have accepted a minimum planting right of 600 hectares in total: Garces Fruit, Copefrut, Frusan, Cerasus, Ranco Cherry, Childresh, LQ Fruits and Polar Fruit. In addition, IVU has agreements with McDougall & Son (250 ha) in the US, Manuel Raventós (100 ha) in Spain and a contract is in the process of being closed in South Africa (100 ha) and Italy.  

Meda Rex® IVU-115*  

  • Ripening: 12-14 days before Santina (2-4 days before Burlat).
  • Flowering: early; self-incompatible (S1S4).  
  • Pollinators: IVU 533* and IVU 548*. 
  • Fruit: large size (28-30 mm), mahogany red colour, high firmness (D 88) and sweetness (22°brix). 
  • Very good firmness after harvest (35-40 days). 
  • Tree: high productivity, mainly on spurs.  
  • Chill requirement: 400-500 HF. 

Meda Fox® IVU-548*  

  • Ripening: 9 before Santina (1 day after Burlat). 
  • Flowering: early; self-incompatible (S4S9).  
  • Pollinators: IVU 533* and IVU 115*. 
  • Fruit: large size (28-30 mm), mahogany red colour, high firmness (D 80) and sweetness (21°brix). 
  • Very good post-harvest shelf-life (40-45 days). 
  • Tree: high productivity.  
  • Chill requirement: 600 HF. 

Meda Tiger® IVU-524* 


  • Ripening: 7 before Santina (3 days after Burlat).
  • Flowering: early; self-incompatible (S1S4).  
  • Pollinators: Lapins and IVU 533*. 
  • Fruit: very high calibre (30-34 mm), mahogany red colour, high firmness (D 85) and sweetness (20°brix). 
  • Very good post-harvest shelf-life (35-40 days). 
  • Tree: high productivity, both on spurs and one-year branches.  
  • Chill requirement: 600 HF. 

Meda Bull® IVU-104*  


  • Ripening: 5 days before Santina (5 days after Burlat).
  • Flowering: early; self-incompatible (S1S3).  
  • Pollinators: Lapins. 
  • Fruit: large size (28-30 mm), mahogany red colour, excellent firmness (D 90) and sweetness (24°brix). 
  • Very good post-harvest retention (35-40 days). 
  • Tree: high productivity, both on spurs and one-year branches.  
  • Chill requirement: 400-500 HF. 

Meda Wolf® IVU-105*  

  • Ripening: 3 before Santina (7 days after Burlat). 
  • Flowering: early; self-incompatible (S1S3).  
  • Pollinators: Lapins. 
  • Fruit: very high calibre (30-34 mm), mahogany red colour, high firmness (D 85) and sweetness (23°brix). 
  • Excellent postharvest shelf-life (40-45 days). 
  • Tree: high productivity, both on spurs and one-year branches.  
  • Chill requirement 600 HF. 

Cherry Times - All rights reserved

What to read next

Discovering Weigi®, new dwarfing and semi-dwarfing rootstocks for cherry trees

Rootstocks

05 Dec 2023

The trials, Stoppel points out, were very promising, particularly for four clones (Weigi® 1, Weigi® 2, Weigi® 3 and Weigi® 4), which were registered, patented and commercially licensed. The license for in vitro propagation was awarded to Vitroplant of Cesena, Italy.

Pest control innovation in Australia: optical scanning to combat fruit fly

Tech management

07 Jun 2024

Project leader Maryam Yazdani's approach combines imaging technology with artificial intelligence for rapid and automatic pest detection. The technology can be added to existing optical sorters used for product selection.

In evidenza

Turkish exporter Alanar focuses marketing on own production

Markets

14 Mar 2025

The decision was motivated by the desire to have more control over product quality and to reduce financial risks. "We will no longer buy fruit as in the past," said Gökyigit.

Tools for controlling Drosophila suzukii

Crop protection

14 Mar 2025

Luis Devotto, entomologist and researcher at INIA Quilamapu, explained to Mundoagro the main factors that make this insect such a harmful pest.

Tag Popolari