Testing of sweet cherry varieties in Belgium

Key words: productive, self-fertile, cracking, fruit quality

The 4 main varieties grown in Belgium are ‘Kordia’, ‘Lapins’ ‘Regina’ and ‘Sweetheart’, but these have some disadvantages. ‘Kordia’ is susceptible to frost, with ‘Regina’ the fruit set is not really easy, ‘Lapins’ is susceptible to cracking and Sweetheart’ has a tendency to crack and rot and has a small harvest window.
The assortment would be best completed with a self-fertile variety that is not susceptible to frost or cracking. The ideal variety should be productive, early or late ripening, low in vigour and have a good fruit quality (firm, large and dark).
In the first screening 3 trees per variety grafted on ‘Gisela 5’ are planted, with ‘Kordia’ as a standard. These varieties were assessed for at least 4 production years. The best varieties from the first screening were planted at a larger scale (second screening) as soon as possible, with the intention of finding solutions to their negative qualities. From the varieties planted in the first screening since 1999, ‘Skeena’, ‘Hertford’, ‘Samba’, ‘Korvik’ and ‘Grace Star’ have been planted in the second screening at present. With the exception of ‘Skeena’ these varieties are all situated in the 3rd to 6th week of the harvest season. Other interesting varieties in the first screening are ‘Poisdel’, ‘Rubin’ and ‘Penny’. From these new varieties ‘Samba’ ‘Korvik’ and ‘Grace Star’ are already grown on a commercial scale in Belgium

Documents

Testing of sweet cherry varieties in Belgium () Presentation

Details

Activity type

Participation in scientific conference

Activity work package

Performance of new fruit varieties

Activity number

PCFRUIT-WP2-A4

Activity contact

Vercammen Jef
pcfruit, Fruittuinweg 1, 3800 Sint-Truiden, Belgium
Tel.: +32 (0)11 69.70.81
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.pcfruit.be

Activity partner

PCFRUIT

Activity country

Belgium

Last edit

04-10-2016