Cherry varieties suitable for organic cultivation in the Baltic region (BIOFRUITNET Practice Abstract)

Summary in the original language of the document

The use of winter hard, cracking-resistant, medium and low-vigour cultivars, suitable for complex biocontrol of cherry fruit flies and other pests and diseases, can increase qualitative organic cherry yield in the Baltic region.
Practical recommendation
• Check information about local cultivars tested at research stations and on established orchards. Ask your-self the following questions:
o Do I want to produce cherries with or without covers? Choose low vigour (vigour reducing root-stocks) and cultivars with high market fruit value for covered orchards; for open field cultivation, cracking tolerant and early ripening cultivars are best suited.
o Do I want to offer cherries to retailers or to direct sales? Choose cultivars with dark red and firm fruit to sell to retailers; have a wider assortment with different fruit colours and firmness for direct mar-keting.
• Keep the trunk healthy - trunk liming is a good preventive means against winter damage.
• Pruning
o Prune trees only in dry, sunny weather.
o Perform spring pruning to advance the branching. Recommended for combinations of low-vigour growing cultivars and vigour-reducing rootstocks
o Perform summer pruning to reduce the vigour.
• Cut out immediately, without waiting for spring or summer pruning, unhealthy, wilting, withering or gum-ming branches.
• List of cultivars suited for sweet cherry organic production:
o Early to medium early ripening and resistant to cracking, suitable for open fields:
Agila (better in warmer places) (Picture 1), Radica (Picture 2), Arthur.
o Weak to medium vigour, firm fruit, suitable for growing under the covers:
Artis, Aleksandrs (Picture 3), Tyutchevka (Picture 4).