Good Fruit Grower

May 2011 Vol. 62 number 10

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Cherries Researchers across the country are looking at what works best in their regions. by Richard Lehnert cherries on new systems S Growing weet cherry growers are in transition from orchard systems they know—and don’t like much—to new systems they don’t know, but hope they’ll like better. Some things they do know. Trees will be smaller, probably on a Gisela rootstock but possibly others. Pruning will be different. Trees might be freestanding, or they might be on a trellis. They might look very much like the new apple orchard systems—or they might look very different, as with the Upright Fruiting Offshoot concept. As growers ponder and try to make good decisions, researchers across North America are collaborating, seeing what works best in their regions and making adjustments as they go. “We’re not just studying training sys- tems, we’re developing them on the go,” says Dr. Greg Lang at Michigan State University. As part of an NC-140 project evaluating rootstocks for new orchard systems, Lang and researchers at ten other sites across North America have planted coordinated sweet cherry trials. At three sites—MSU at Clarksville and Cornell University’s plots at Geneva and Hudson Valley— four training systems are being studied and adapted: TSA—the acronym for tall spindle axe; SSA, short for slender spindle axe; KGB, for Kym Green bush (a modification of the Spanish bush); and UFO, the initials for Upright Fruiting Offshoots, developed by Dr. Matt Whiting, horticulturist with Washing- ton State University (see “Cherry systems explained”). The other eight NC-140 sites, which extend from Mexico to Canada, only have the TSA, KGB, and UFO systems under study. Michigan State University is evaluating the four sys- tems with the variety Benton; Cornell University’s Dr. Terence Robinson and Dr. Steve Hoying are conducting their evaluations with Regina. New York and Michigan growers share a similar Great Lakes-moderated, humid climate—and they see new regional market opportuni- ties, with the growing “local foods” movement, to supple- ment the fresh market sweet cherry industry now dominated by California and the Pacific Northwest. High-density tour Lang spoke to about 70 Michigan sweet cherry growers March 30 on what was called “the high density cherry tour” that took them to the Clarksville Horticultural Experiment Station and to orchards of growers trying new concepts. Lang’s Clarksville planting was established with sleep- ing eye trees in 2009 and completed with nursery trees in 2010. Trees were planted in groups of four (or eight for SSA) along trellises of high-tensile nylon “wires,” with each system replicated six times. Each system was dupli- cated with trees on Gisela 3, 5, or 6 rootstock, and planted about five feet apart, except the SSA, which was planted at 2.5 feet. Some things need to be studied under humid Great Lakes region conditions, such as, how much pruning growers can do. 28 MAY 15, 2011 GOOD FRUIT GROWER “Pruning and sharp angles have never been recipes for success in our region,” Lang said. Bacterial canker is a problem, and so far, Lang is controlling it by dormant pruning in dry conditions and following each with a fixed copper spray application. Still, he is concerned that the KGB system might be canker-prone in the Great Lakes climate, and also may not let enough light penetrate into the dense canopy. Will growers need trellis and wires? Three of the sys- tems are freestanding, but the UFO needs trellis—and trellis wire rubs lead to more bacterial canker, growers The two spindle axe systems look like each other, but the UFO (foreground) and KGB (left) trees look different from each other and the axe trees. www.goodfruit.com RICHARD LEHNERT

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