Ranking of varieties of cherries, only "high quality" varieties

General Fruit Growing
548

Today I’ll take a few minutes to discuss two German varieties, which I consider tremendously interesting.

They’re like night and day, as they’re at opposite extremes.

As a background, I’ll tell you that there are currently three good programs for breeding new cherry varieties in Germany:

  • Cerasina Program by breeder Peter Stoppel

  • Julius Kühn Institute Program

  • LFP Program

Well, we’ll talk about two varieties, one ultra-early ripening and the other ultra-late ripening.

When I say ultra-early and ultra-late, the best way to provide you with their ripening dates is to use the Bing variety, which is your reference standard.

How do we calculate this?

Easy, since we use the difference between our standard that is Burlat, and yours that is Bing.

And we know for certain that Bing ripens 19 days after Burlat, so it’s easy to calculate.

So here we go.

  • Narana

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It’s an ultra-early ripening variety from the Julius Kühn Institute program.

Since I don’t trust the ripening dates offered by nurseries, I usually use the calendar offered by Plantgest, an independent organization dedicated to testing varieties for professional Italian fruit growers.

This is Narana’s ripening date:

Screenshot_20250601_181707_Samsung Internet
Screenshot_20250601_181707_Samsung Internet1080×2340 157 KB

So if it ripens 10 days before Burlat ( (you need to add 19 days to calculate its ripening date compared to Bing.)
And it ripens 29 days before Bing.

This is the most relevant information from its file, translated from German to English:

1
1910×1276 98.1 KB

2
2910×1276 142 KB

3
3910×1276 137 KB

4
4910×1276 167 KB

5
5910×1276 117 KB

So, for impatient people eagerly awaiting the start of cherry season, this variety is incredibly good.

Now let’s look at the opposite extreme, the quality cherry more latest-ripening variety
(this one will surprise you).

  • Kir Rosso

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This is an ultra-late cherry variety from the LFP program.

Being a very recent variety, we only have the Graeb ripening calendar, which will be extremely useful.

This is the ripening date for Kir Rosso (see very very below :rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:)

kirrosso (1)
kirrosso (1)785×832 119 KB

We’re not interested in knowing when it ripens in Germany; what we’re interested in is its ripening date compared to our Burlat standard.

If you look closely, Kir Rosso ripens 60 days after Burlat (you now have to subtract 19 days to calculate its ripening date compared to Bing), so Kir Rosso ripens 41 days after Bing.

And I attach information on this variety.

KIR_ROSSO™_KSG_03_A__S__engl_page-0001
KIR_ROSSO™_KSG_03_A__S__engl_page-00011241×1755 162 KB

KIR_ROSSO™_KSG_03_A__S__engl_page-0002
KIR_ROSSO™_KSG_03_A__S__engl_page-00021241×1755 122 KB

I hope you enjoy this information about two varieties that are so opposite in the calendar.

Best regards
Jose

3 Likes
549

Jose, please do not forget about me :face_with_peeking_eye: I really want to “prepare” me for autumn and plan according to your suggestion and experience.

550

…when does the early variety bloom?..in relation to Bing or better yet to Chelan which is a early variety I’m considering/…I doubt many on this forum live in zone 8A…I’m in 6A with frosts too often as late as May 1-10 and winters to -10F…I doubt the early blooming varieties will have a chance in my area …the very late variety would interest me…the latest I now have is Hudson…also very unlikely these varieties would be available in the US…nothing is easy with cherries where I am.

551

FWIW…Cherry Times Cherry Times web site…one can use Google Translate to translate the entire site into your native language…enjoy

Here’s a more detailed breakdown:

  1. Access Google Translate: Open your web browser and go to translate.google.com.
  2. Enter Website URL: In the text box provided, paste the full URL of the website you want to translate.
  3. Select Target Language: Choose the language you want the website to be translated into.
  4. Click “Translate”: Click the “Translate” button to initiate the translation process.
  5. View the Translated Page: Google Translate will display the translated version of the website.
552

Hi Ziga,

I can send you some cherry scions. Not sure what will work at your place, but my friends a bit norther from you (KG) say they only have August and winter. :blush:

Lets wait for Jose’s list and we’ll go from there.

Btw, @Jose-Albacete how is your Royal Brynn you bought last year from Ukraine doing?
Should be the best from Royal series.

553

Hi Ziga and Primoz.
If I remember correctly, your problem is humidity and the high risk of cracking.
There are quite a few resistant varieties, but many of them are difficult to obtain.
In the list I prepare for you, I won’t include varieties from Peter Stoppel’s Cerasina series, or the varieties from the LFP program, the Kir series, as they are extremely difficult to obtain.

I’ll try to find some time on my day off from work, but the orchard takes up a lot of my time right now.

Yesterday, I pruned a variety highly recommended for you , in the vegetative stage to shape its structure. It’s this variety:

  • Sabrina

It has a very good flavor, is a crunchy cherry, and is resistant to cracking (I’ve seen it for sale in several French nurseries).

Pruning in the vegetative stage is very short, with the first pruning to 15 cm, and subsequent pruning to 20 cm.
It’s important to keep branches at least 70 cm long so that the tree responds vigorously to pruning, and so that we obtain three new branches from each branch we cut.

This was the before:

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Look at all the branches removed.

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20250607_1459071920×2560 1.24 MB

And this is the after.

20250607_145917
20250607_1459171920×2560 1.17 MB

It is the third pruning (normally 4 must be done) ,
but this will probably be its last pruning, since Sabrina is very vigorous and responds very well to pruning.

Regards
Jose

4 Likes
554

Come on, guys, let’s prepare a list of cracking-resistant varieties that are affordable to buy in nurseries (at least in European nurseries), choosing them based on quality criteria and with a staggered ripening period.

  • Narana ( - 10 Burlat )
  • Royal Tioga ( - 5 Burlat )
  • Rocket ( + 5 Burlat )
  • Sabrina ( + 7 Burlat )
  • Adriana ( + 11 Burlat )
  • Frisco ( + 14 Burlat )
  • Santina ( + 14 Burlat )
  • Black Star ( + 17 Burlat )
  • Canada Giant ( + 17 Burlat )
  • Christiana ( + 17 Burlat )
  • Sandra ( + 18 Burlat , Czech variety not to be confused with Sandra Rose )
  • Blaze Star ( +20 Burlat )
  • Justyna ( + 20 Burlat , medium-high cracking resistance, very good cherry )
  • Somerset ( + 23 Burlat )
  • Lapins ( + 24 Burlat )
  • SPC-106 Sofia ( + 24 Burlat )
  • Hedelfinger ( + 26 Burlat )
  • Henriette ( + 32 Burlat )
  • Regina ( + 32 Burlat )
  • Areko ( + 40 Burlat )

The ripening dates offered , are in relation to the reference variety in Europe (Burlat).
To understand it in relation to Bing (reference variety in the United States), it is very simple to make the conversion, since Bing ripens 19 days after Burlat.

I don’t have some of these varieties bearing fruit in my orchard, but their resistance to cracking and quality are fully proven.

We will gradually add more interesting varieties to this list

Best regards
Jose

555

Primoz and Ziga.
Royal Brynn is a truly fantastic cherry. It’s similar in size to the Royal Bailey (34-36 mm), very dark red, and resistant to cracking. But I don’t have any friends in Ukraine, and year after year I can’t bring it to Spain.
Please, if you or Ziga have any friends in Ukraine, please send me their contact information via private message, and that way we can get this magnificent variety for the three of us.

Regards
Jose

556

This is really helpful. Can I just clarify though in addition to what you said earlier in this stream?

“Pruning in the vegetative stage is very short, with the first pruning to 15 cm, and subsequent pruning to 20 cm.
It’s important to keep branches at least 70 cm long so that the tree responds vigorously to pruning, and so that we obtain three new branches from each branch we cut.”

So, you decapitate the new trees at 18” tops. The following summer, after branches reach 70cm you prune them back to 15cm? (Somewhere else I think it said 4 buds?). The next summer you prune back to 20cm? I’m not understanding because that would only be keeping 5cm of new growth. Do you mean you are pruning off 15cm and then another 20cm keeping the branches at least 70cm with each pruning? Sorry to be so confused!

1 Like
557

Stella, you haven’t understood correctly.
Please let me cut out the images I’ll need , from the tutorial of cherry training pruning in Spanish Bush system , and with the images, you’ll understand perfectly.

Best regards
Jose

2 Likes
559

Check your inbox. Seems like we found Royal Brynn here in Slovenia… :smiley:

2 Likes
560

Wooooo !!!
Fingers crossed for luck, and Royal Brynn is the legitimate variety.

Regards
Jose

1 Like