First results of an orchard trial with new clonal sweet cherry rootstocks at Holovousy

Abstract

Ten clonal dwarf or semi-dwarf sweet cherry rootstocks were evaluated for 5 growing seasons in a orchard that was established in the spring 1999 at Holovousy within international cherry rootstock trials that are co-ordinated in Europe by the Danish Institute of Plant and Soil Science at Aarslev, Denmark. Lapins cv. was used as a scion tester for all these rootstocks; five of them were also tested by Regina cv. Among the new rootstocks, G 195/5 was evaluated as the most promising for Lapins cv. It produced trees even smaller than P-HL-A or Tabel (Edabriz), with higher yield efficiency and good fruit size. In agreement with the results of earlier experiments, both P-HL-A and Tabel (Edabriz) proved to be quite reliable rootstocks for modern sweet cherry orchards established there. Among the semi-dwarf rootstocks, G 154/7 also seemed to be interesting because of high yields and fruit size. Weiroot 158 was found as relatively the most promising rootstock for Regina cv. On the other hand, the most disappointing results were obtained with the rootstock Weiroot 53 because of its inferior graft compatibility and its negative influence on fruit size. Some of the tested rootstocks significantly changed the time of flowering and the time of fruit ripening. Several relationships between the observed characteristics were found within this study and they are more thoroughly discussed.

Keywords

• sweet cherry
• rootstocks
• cultivars
• tree growth
• yields
• yield efficiency
• time of flowering
• time of ripening
• fruit size