The new cherry cold hardiness model on AgWeatherNet as beta version
25 Feb 2025
Predicting sweet cherry hardiness is crucial for frost management, as early spring development makes them vulnerable to late frosts.
Gregory A. Lang - Department of Horticulture Michigan State University (US)
Cherry Times technical-scientific committee
Sweet cherry growers around the world are increasingly adopting trellised training systems that create a narrow, contiguous, planar “fruiting wall” canopy architecture. The benefits of such a radically redesigned orchard are significant, including:
Planar sweet cherry canopies can be trained as single vertical walls or dual angled (“V”) walls, all requiring a multi-wire trellis for more precise canopy orientation.
Lightweight, high tensile plastic wire has been shown to reduce the potential for rubbing-induced bacterial canker infections in trellises compared to galvanized steel wire (as has rain-protective orchard covering systems). There are essentially four general methods to train sweet cherry trees to achieve the basic narrow canopy structure for single vertical or dual angled planar orchards:
We developed and have been refining the UFO planar canopy for nearly 25 years now, utilizing sweet cherry’s natural growth habit traits of apical dominance and acrotonic vigor to precisely fill vertical, narrow orchard space with light-efficient, renewable fruiting structures (see illustrations).
This technique can be adopted to rootstocks of any vigor, since it utilizes the concept of proportional diffusion of vigor by varying the number of upright fruiting offshoots, and these simplified fruiting units readily refill their vertical space upon renewal, maintaining youthful fruit-bearing structure borne on permanent cordons. This contrasts with the difficulty of filling or renewing horizontal fruiting structure in central (or dual) leader-based trees if “blind wood” or gaps occur in the canopy.
25 Feb 2025
Predicting sweet cherry hardiness is crucial for frost management, as early spring development makes them vulnerable to late frosts.
07 Jan 2025
Growers launched an unprecedented campaign to highlight the nutritional value and identity of the Corazón de Paloma cherry, a variety that, due to its organoleptic characteristics, is not chosen for export, but is preferred for domestic consumption by Ñuble families.
02 Apr 2025
Thermal imaging is an innovative method to monitor water stress in 'Regina' cherry trees. Optimising irrigation, improving water management and reducing water wastage, without compromising productivity and fruit quality.
02 Apr 2025
Gene Drive could revolutionise biological control of Drosophila suzukii, the red-eyed midge that threatens cherry trees and small fruits. Find out how this advanced biotechnology could lead to the collapse of the pest's population.