Partial and total rejuvenation pruning of sour cherry trees

Á Csihon,I Gonda,P Dremák

doi:10.31421/ijhs/21/3-4./1160

Á Csihon, I Gonda + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.31421/ijhs/21/3-4./1160

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Abstract

Sour cherry can be considered as a special fruit species regarding the growing characteristics, as most of the cultivars are characterized by strong balding. With the aging of the tree the inactive (passive) parts of the canopy are increasing steadily, so the productive cropping surface and the yielding capacity decrease significantly. In our experiments partial rejuvenation pruning was carried out in a 12 years old orchard, and total rejuvenation pruning was performed in a 21 years old plantation to regenerate the cropping surface of the trees. Thanks to the latter one the canopy of the sour cherry trees were regenerated during only two years. The yields of the rejuvenated trees in cv. ‘Debreceni bőtermő’ exceeded the yields of the control trees, as in the case of the cvs. ‘Érdi bőtermő’ and ‘Újfehértói fürtös’ approached it. At the same time the total rejuvenation pruning has a positive effect on the fruit size.

Highlights

Among the yielding capacity of the various years old parts of the canopies of the sour cherry cultivars, that is the scale of the balding processes there are significant differences
Gonda & Such (2008) examined five sour cherry cultivars (‘Újfehértói fürtös’, ‘Érdi bőtermő’, ‘Debreceni bőtermő’, ‘Kántorjánosi 3’, ‘Érdi jubileum’), and determined the yielding capacity of the various years old parts of the canopies. In their work they stated that even in neglected, unpruned orchards there is a possibility for the rejuvenation of trees from stumps after pruning the older parts
When partial rejuvenation is carried out, on the one hand the aim is to perform a general thinning in the canopy at the end of the winter, but the main goal is to cut back 1-3 main branches of the central axis to promote their regeneration

Summary

Partial and total rejuvenation pruning of sour cherry trees

Gonda & Such (2008) examined five sour cherry cultivars (‘Újfehértói fürtös’, ‘Érdi bőtermő’, ‘Debreceni bőtermő’, ‘Kántorjánosi 3’, ‘Érdi jubileum’), and determined the yielding capacity of the various years old parts of the canopies. Among the yielding capacity of the various years old parts of the canopies of the sour cherry cultivars, that is the scale of the balding processes there are significant differences. In their work they stated that even in neglected, unpruned orchards there is a possibility for the rejuvenation of trees from stumps after pruning the older parts. In certain cultivars the regeneration of older parts is uncertain

Partial rejuvenation pruning

Total rejuvenation pruning

Parameters of the experimental site

Results and discussion