Performance of sweet cherry cultivars grafted on Colt rootstock

In this paper growing characteristics and fruit bearing parameters of ‘Lapins’, ‘Kordia’, ‘Sweetheart’ and ‘Regina’ sweet cherry cultivars grafted on vigorous Colt rootstock were evaluated at the University of Debrecen, Pallag Experimental Station. Based on our data five years old trees can be described with homogenous strong growing, but very week yielding (2.1-3.1 kg/tree), as while fruit size varies between 26.2 and 27.2 mm. Producing the examined cultivars on Colt rootstock with high plant density requires higher attention and more interventions (root pruning, sawing the trunk) during the technology

The future of the apple growing branch in Hungary

The present study deals with the actual situation of the Hungarian apple production in order to outline the chances of the future andthe trends of the development to be anticipated. The general conclusion is accepted that on the long run Hungarian apple production ought tobe reorganised. The conditions of keeping the position on the international market are outlined. The main concern is the aging of the plantations,i.e. 40%of them being more than 25–30 year old, and produce apple being suitable for processing only. Organisation of growers is rudimentary,export markets are limited, and buyer’s market is everywhere dominant and is getting more severe. All those circumstances anticipate thereduction of the apple growing branch from the present 35 000 hectares to 15–20 000 hectares within a period of less than 10 years

The future of the Hungarian sour cherry growing branch

The present study deals with the actual situation of the Hungarian sour cherry production in order to outline the chances of the future and the trends of the development anticipated. The general conclusion accepted that on the long run Hungarian sour cherry production ought to be reorganised. The conditions of keeping the position on the international market are outlined: integration of small farms into large plantations (several times 10 hectares), introduction of mechanical harvest and high (15–20 t/ha) yields. For all that, adequate expertise should be developed on the cooperative farms, where the up to date technology could be applied with innovative initiatives. Small farms (up to 1–2 hectares) and home gardens have no chances to stay on the competitive market. The actual volume of sour cherry of 40–70 thousand tons per year cannot be increased in the future. The sour cherry area was 16 000 ha in 2001, the actual is around 12–13 thousand, and will decline during the following 5 years to less than 10 thousand hectares

The future of the Hungarian sour cherry growing branch

The present study deals with the actual situation of the Hungarian sour cherry production in order to outline the chances ofthe future and the trends of the development anticipated. The general conclusion accepted that on the long run Hungarian sour cherryproduction ought to be reorganised. The conditions of keeping the position on the international market are outlined: integration of small farmsinto large plantations (several times 10 hectares), introduction of mechanical harvest and high (15–20 t/ha) yields. For all that, adequateexpertise should be developed on the cooperative farms, where the up to date technology could be applied with innovative initiatives. Smallfarms (up to 1–2 hectares) and home gardens have no chances to stay on the competitive market. The actual volume of sour cherry of 40–70thousand tons per year cannot be increased in the future. The sour cherry area was 16 000 ha in 2001, the actual is around 12–13 thousand,and will decline during the following 5 years to less than 10 thousand hectares

Training and maintaining spindle crowns in cherry production

In cherry production all over the world, intensification of the technology is the main objective of research. Small crowns and highplanting densities are aimed to attain high yields per hectare and easier harvesting. Rootstocks of reduced vigour for cherries are more difficultto find than in other fruit species, and the rejuvenation of fruiting structures by pruning is aggravated by the reduced vigour. Intensity of thetechnology ought to be achieved by a thoughtful application of the technological elements (timing of pruning by various intensity) moreover,by finding different policies for individual varieties. Sweet cherry varieties dominating the assortment proved to be very variable regardingtheir growing habits. In our experiment, we dealt with the slender spindle and free spindle forms, and how to train the trees to develop and tomaintain the desirable form depending on the respective variety in order to achieve the right load of flower buds and yields repeatedly. In thispaper, we examine the most important practical issues with the training and maintaining of the crowns of cherries with circular projection andcentral axis grafted on Prunus mahaleb rootstock

Fruit coloration of apple cultivars

One of the most important parameter of apple cultivars is the scale and the intensity of the coloration of fruits. Nowadays amongthe bicolour cultivars those are the most saleable which have the highest and darkest fruit coloration. In our three years old study cultivars bornwith bud mutation and cross breading were examined, which have superior coloration peculiarities than their parental cultivars. According toour results among the observed cultivars the cvs. ’Gala Decarli-Fendeca’, ’Galaval’, ’Wilton’s Red Jonaprince’, ’Early Red One’ and ’RedCap Valtod’ reached favourable high fruit surface colour (80-100%) regardless the vintage effect. Concerning the colour intensity, that is thedarkness of the red colour most of the cultivars (‘Gala Venus Fengal’, ‘Gala Fendeca-Fendeca’, ‘Galaval’, ‘Jeromine’, ‘Red Topaz’, ‘EarlyRed One’, ‘Crimson Crisp’, ‘Wilton’s Red Jonaprince’) showed excellent values (4,5-5,0). Based on the fruit surface colour and the fruitcolour intensity a new index number, the fruit coloration index was created by us, which describes the coloration features in a complex way

The future of the apple growing branch in Hungary

The present study deals with the actual situation of the Hungarian apple production in order to outline the chances of the future and the trends of the development to be anticipated. The general conclusion is accepted that on the long run Hungarian apple production ought to be reorganised. The conditions of keeping the position on the international market are outlined. The main concern is the aging of the plantations, i.e. 40%of them being more than 25–30 year old, and produce apple being suitable for processing only. Organisation of growers is rudimentary, export markets are limited, and buyer’s market is everywhere dominant and is getting more severe. All those circumstances anticipate the reduction of the apple growing branch from the present 35 000 hectares to 15–20 000 hectares within a period of less than 10 years

Fruit coloration of apple cultivars

One of the most important parameter of apple cultivars is the scale and the intensity of the coloration of fruits. Nowadays among the bicolour cultivars those are the most saleable which have the highest and darkest fruit coloration. In our three years old study cultivars born with bud mutation and cross breading were examined, which have superior coloration peculiarities than their parental cultivars. According to our results among the observed cultivars the cvs. ’Gala Decarli-Fendeca’, ’Galaval’, ’Wilton’s Red Jonaprince’, ’Early Red One’ and ’Red Cap Valtod’ reached favourable high fruit surface colour (80-100%) regardless the vintage effect. Concerning the colour intensity, that is the darkness of the red colour most of the cultivars (‘Gala Venus Fengal’, ‘Gala Fendeca-Fendeca’, ‘Galaval’, ‘Jeromine’, ‘Red Topaz’, ‘Early Red One’, ‘Crimson Crisp’, ‘Wilton’s Red Jonaprince’) showed excellent values (4,5-5,0). Based on the fruit surface colour and the fruit colour intensity a new index number, the fruit coloration index was created by us, which describes the coloration features in a complex way

Effect of pruning intensity on performance of apple cultivars in environmentally friendly production systems

The two worldwide accepted environmentally freindly production systems are integrated and organic. The two systems shows considerably differences in several practical production technology elements. These effects come forward in generative processes (e.g. flowering, fruit setting) and vegetative features (e.g. growth). The aim of our study was to study the effect of pruning intensity on growth features of cultivars in integrated and organic apple production. In early spring of 2009, we determined two pruning intensities (strong and week) on six scab resistant and tolerant cultivars. Strong pruning resulted in stronger shoot growth for all cultivars compared to weak pruning. It is obvious that pruning intensity had more effect on vegetative performance than conditional differences originates from integrated and organic production

Growing characteristics of apple cultivars and canopies

In our study we aimed to evaluate the growing characteristics of new prospective apple cultivars and their canopies. The following parameters were measured: I) thickness of the trunk and the central leader, II) ratio of the trunk thickness and the basic branches (Zahn indexes), III) number of the branches of the central leader, and iv) thickness of the branches of the central leader. The main branches of the trunk and the central leader tend to over thickening in the case of cvs ‘Red Idared’, ‘Wilton’s Red Jonaprince’ and ‘Jeromine’. The density of the branches of certain parts of the canopy was too low for cvs ‘Crimson Crisp’, ‘Wilton’s Red Jonaprince’, ‘Fuji September Wonder’ and ‘Red Idared’. The density of the branches of certain parts of the canopy was too high for cvs ‘Gala Venus Fengal’, ‘Wilton’s Red Jonaprince’ and ‘Red Cap Valtod’. Relationship was found between the tapering dynamics of the central axis and the thickness of the main branches, which was stronger in super spindle canopies than in slender spindle crown forms