TWO DWARFING ROOTSTOCK SELECTIONS FOR SWEET CHERRIES

1. GM 79

GM 79 is a dwarfing rootstock, selected from a Prunus canescens population.

This type has a non fastigiated growth and it is easily propagated by herbaceous cuttings under mist system and by tissue culture.

The cuttings done in June, are dipped from five to ten seconds in 2000 p.p.m. I.B.A. alcoholic solution (50 %) or potassium solution ( 2 % K.O.H./N).

Grafted, it is compatible with most of the sweet cherries. It has a good frost resistance tested in nursery, orchard and laboratory (R.F.S. analyses by Pr. Dr. W. Gruppe, Giessen, R.F.A.).

It has less or the same number of suckers that P. avium rootstocks. Anchorage is very good and staking is not necessary. This rootstock produces trees reaching the size from half to two third of the one of trees grafted on P. avium (F 12/1) (crown or trunk section).

Plantation density varies from 307 (6.5 x 5 M) to 454 (5.5 x 4 m) trees per Ha, according to cultivars, soils and crown shapes.

The trees are less bushy, with a reduced crown and then consequently more aerated, the fruit drying out more quickly, the fruit picking done more easily and the harvest costs less expensive.

GM 79 is well known for its early fruit setting and high fertility. Its flowering and yielding are 3 or 8 days earlier that the ones for F 12/1. The yields per surface unit, are much better. The fruit quality is good.

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