Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Newer sweet cherry varieties have been developed, but they have not
been widely tested. 'Stardust', 'Sumele', 'Sumleta', 'Sumnue', and 'Sumste', for
example, are recommended for commercial production in British Columbia
but do not yet have much of a following in the United States.
Until recently, most sweet cherries were destined for fresh use. Today,
they are increasingly used for processing. 'Anderson', 'Black Gold', 'Black
York', 'Blushing Gold', 'Corum', 'Emperor Francis', 'Gold', 'Nugent', 'Sam', 'Ul-
ster', and 'WhiteGold' are popular commercial processing varieties.
Tart Cherry
Tart cherries (also known as sour cherries and pie cherries) are more cold-
hardy than sweet cherries, bloom somewhat later, and are better suited to
cold climates than their sweeter cousins. Most tart cherries are self-fruitful
and usually produce smaller trees than sweet cherry varieties.
'North Star' and 'Meteor' are small trees that are very cold-hardy and
well suited to home and market orchard use in northern states and southern
Canada. Tart cherries were traditionally used only for processing, but some
newer varieties are sweet enough to also eat out of hand. Table 6.3 lists
suggested tart cherry varieties.
Tart cherries are most commonly grown on Mahaleb rootstock (see page
184 ), but Ontario trials show promise for other rootstocks. In those trials,
Mahaleb produced the largest cumulative yields, followed closely by Wieroot
10, Wieroot 13, Gisela 6, with Wieroot 158 producing lower yields. Wieroot 10
and Wieroot 13 tended to develop suckers at the bases of the trees. Small
fruit size is a concern with Gisela rootstocks.
Bush Cherry
In addition to sweet and tart cherries, several species of cherries native to
North America are used for fruit production. These bush cherries are mostly
used for home production or small-scale production of niche products. Most
varieties are self-unfruitful. Table 6.4 lists suggested varieties of bush
cherries.
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