Performance of Sweet Cherry Rootstocks in the 1998 NC-140 Regional Trial in Western North America

A regional trial evaluating the performance of rootstocks for sweet cherries in western North America was planted in the spring of 1998 at six locations in the states of Washington, Oregon, Colorado, and Utah, and in the province of British Columbia, Canada. The rootstocks included: Mazzard seedling (Prunus avium), P. mahaleb seedling, Gisela (R) (G) 3, G5, G6, G7, Giessen (Gi) 195/20, Gi 318/17, Gi 473/10, Tabel (R) Edabriz, Weiroot (W) 10, W13, W72, W53, W154, and W158. The scion cultivar was Bing. Rootstocks significantly affected tree size, yield and fruit quality, and these effects were not consistent across all locations. However, Mazzard and Mahaleb consistently produced among the largest trees and W72, G3 and W53 among the smallest. Root suckers tended to be most numerous for Tabel (R) Edabriz and the Weiroot series. Mazzard and Mahaleb usually had the lowest yield and yield efficiency. G3, G5, G7, W53 and W72 were fivefold or more as yield-efficient as Mazzard.