Cherry Times offers its readers the reports on cherry rootstocks presented at the Macfrut 2024 International Rootstock Symposium.
The Krymsk Experimental Breeding Station has a long history of breeding interspecific rootstocks for stone fruit. The 6000 Prunus accessions in their collection are being used for combining useful traits of stress and disease resistances into new interspecific rootstock genotypes suitable as rootstocks for multiple stone fruit species.
For testing and propagation in Europe, the United States and several other countries outside Russia, Varieties International has obtained a license and has imported several promising rootstocks suitable for almond, apricot, cherry, nectarine, peach and plum.
The selection of these interspecific rootstocks was made on basis of the induced tree vigor and tolerance to various environmental stresses like drought, flooding, frost and the pH and salt content of the soil. At present seven Krymsk rootstocks have been patented and have been commercially released.
Image 1: Frank Maas.
Since 2017 about 20 new selections have been imported into Europe and the USA. After release from quarantine these rootstocks have been propagated and test trees have been grown. In Europe the first test trees of plum varieties ‘Jubilieum’ and ‘Opal’ and sweet cherry varieties ‘Kordia’ and ‘Regina’ were planted in 2023, using rootstock genotypes with a vigor between very dwarfing to semi-dwarfing.
After the first growing season in the differences in tree vigor are already becoming visible. However, it will take several more years to evaluate how the fruit production and growth the trees will develop and to find out which of these rootstocks will be a better choice for the fruit grower than the ones currently used.
Download the full report here
Download the presentation here
Frank Maas
Varieties International/Nedworc Foundation
frank.maas.nl@gmail.com
02 Jun 2025
Drosophila suzukii threatens Chilean fruit crops: 61% of approved insecticides come from few chemical families. Learn about IPM strategies, biopesticides, ecological refuges and the IRAC app to ensure sustainable resistance management in agriculture.
31 Oct 2025
Supercritical CO₂ and water oxidation technologies enable efficient recovery of phenolic compounds from fruit industry wastewater. The Turkish study highlights environmental and economic benefits, as well as significant reduction in toxicity levels.
22 Sep 2026
A Chilean study on Lapins and Regina cherries tests melatonin before and after harvest: greener stems and delayed ripening, but no improvement in firmness and a higher incidence of orange peel disorder, limiting its technical and commercial use for long-distance shipping.
22 Sep 2026
Bacterial canker in sweet cherry, caused by Pseudomonas syringae, is becoming more frequent in Washington. Learn the key symptoms, susceptible cultivars, predisposing conditions and management practices that can help reduce infection, tree decline and orchard losses.
