The Fruit Growers News - January 2001


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Research Ongoing on How to Best Train Balaton Cherry Trees

By James Nugent District Horticulturist, MSU Extension

The Hungarian tart cherry variety Balaton is generating a good deal of interest. To learn how to best train this variety, fruit grower Francis Otto and I have been experimenting with various techniques in a Balaton block owned by Cherry Bay Orchards which is located in Suttons Bay, Mich. Balaton is a fairly vigorous growing tree. Scaffolds allowed to develop with narrow crotch angles in an upright position will tend to be equally dominant to the leader. This tendency of Balaton to grow more like a sweet cherry requires that care be taken to develop a good tree. Our experience in Michigan favors an approach that begins by developing wide angled scaffolds that will then not need heading cuts. However, when a scaffold develops too upright, the Hungarian heading technique described below can be used. There are three major training objectives. First, the lowest scaffold limb must be high enough to facilitate mechanical harvesting. This requires a minimum of three feet above the ground, but 3 1/2-4 feet from the ground to the lowest limb is preferable. Second, there must be wide angles for scaffolds. It appears that Balaton is not as susceptible to tree breakage with narrow crotch angles as is Montmorency, but wide crotch angles are needed to avoid the tendency of upright limbs to grow nearly straight up. Hence, wide angled crotches will help scaffolds grow out and fill space more rapidly. Additionally, since Balaton appears to be more susceptible than Montmorency to low temperatures in the fall and early winter, it is important to avoid narrow crotch angles since these may not harden off as quickly as wide crotch angles. The third objective is to fill space rapidly, though Balaton grows faster than Montmorency. Each particular time in the history of the planting suggests certain techniques to achieve these objectives.



Balaton is shown in second leaf following nub-whipping in early spring at Cherry Bay Orchards in Suttons Bay, Mich. There is a large number of wide crotch angled limbs from which to choose scaffolds.
Planting Year
1. Begin by planting nursery stock that is at least a half-inch in diameter, but larger is preferred. Larger nursery stock grows faster and fills space more rapidly. This will also help the tree achieve enough trunk height within two years for good scaffold placement. Small stock may cost an additional year in training. 2. Always whip the trees at planting. Scaffold limbs on nursery trees are too upright and too low to meet our objectives. 3. Provide the trees with good conditions for growth the first year. 4. Generally, no summer manipulation of branches is required. However, if beginning with large trees, and particularly if these large trees are planted on windy sites, it may be possible and even desirable to select scaffolds in the second spring. In this situation, use clothespins to spread potential scaffolds when shoots are three to six inches (see description under “summer of second leaf.”).


Francis Otto from Cherry Bay Orchards in Suttons Bay, Mich. shows the wind breakage in the top of the tree on Balaton after second growing season.

Second spring
1. Do not prune young trees until the danger of extremely cold winter temperatures is past. 2. Limbs below the minimum height acceptable from the ground to the lowest scaffold are removed (36-to-48 inches, depending on grower preference). Select a leader and remove any limbs that developed on the leader, i.e. limbs arising from last season’s growth. In most situations (except as described in above no. 4 under “Planting year”) all limbs above the minimum acceptable height and below the base of the leader are pruned back to 1/4- to 1/2-inch stubs. These stubs should be just long enough to keep the bud that nearly always occurs on the bottom of one-year-old limbs right next to the two-year-old trunk. These bottom buds will grow a new lateral with an excellent wide crotch angle. The more buds that break, the flatter the limbs will grow and the better the selection of potential scaffolds for next year. This is a technique developed for Montmorency called “nub-whipping” that generally works well on Balaton. 3. In some cases trees may be large enough, with enough wide crotch angles, to select the initial four scaffolds as described in “Third spring” below. However, even with large trees when we tried both techniques of nub-whipping and selecting scaffolds at this time, two years later the nub-whipped trees look consistently better in protected areas. In windy sites, nub-whipped trees grow so fast that breakage may be a problem. 4. For windy sites: During periods of high winds, young Balaton trees have been found to be considerably more prone to tree breakage than Montmorency. The many shoots that grow out so quickly exert enough wind resistance that in extreme wind conditions trees have a tendency to break, particularly at the base of last year’s leader growth. Therefore, we now recommend that one or more of the following occur when Balaton is grown on windy sites or when tree growth is exceptionally good on any site: a. If trees are large and vigorous, attempt to select desired scaffolds this year rather than nub-whipping the tree. This will result in less vigorous shoot growth on last year’s terminal and should help reduce tree breakage. b. Stakes can be set to give leaders support against potential windstorms. This is particularly important with nub-whipped trees. Place stakes on the downwind side of the prevailing wind. The bark on young branches is tender, and any that rub on the stake will need to be cut out. Do not risk losing a branch that is growing well into the wind because of an abrasion injury. c. If nub-whipped trees are not going to be staked, we now suggest either heading the leader on vigorous trees by removing 50% of the leader growth or debudding. Debud by removing all buds but the terminal bud for the top four to six inches, then remove half to two-thirds of the remaining buds on last year’s terminal growth, leaving buds spaced uniformly around and down the terminal. Debudding is a technique that has worked very well on sweet cherries to space limbs over a larger area of the leader. Both debudding and/or heading will reduce the number of side branches and reduce the leverage of the wind on the top of the tree, both of which will reduce problems with breakage. We do not recommend heading or debudding the leader on nub-whipped Montmorency, as unheaded trees develop the maximum number of shoots from which to choose desirable scaffolds; however, tree breakage of Balaton on windy sites has caused us to modify this approach.




Otto selects scaffolds on Balaton after two years’ growth following nub-whipping after the first year.

Summer of second leaf
1. Most nub-whipped trees will need no manipulation, but occasionally a tree will only produce a few lateral shoots, which often results in upright branches. When shoots are three to six inches in length, place clothespins on the leader directly above the upright shoots to create a 90&Mac251; crotch angle. Only leave clothespins on for a couple of weeks. Again, for orchards with good vigor, this should only need to be done on an occasional tree.
Third spring
1. Select four wide-angled scaffold limbs, if this was not done in second spring, beginning at least 36 inches from the ground. Preferably space scaffolds at least six inches apart, but this appears to be less critical than with Montmorency. Completely remove limbs below the lowest scaffold. Also, completely remove the one or two very upright limbs that grew from the buds just below last year’s terminal bud. Other lateral limbs that are not being saved as scaffolds, particularly those located generally above scaffolds, should be cut back to about 12-inch stubs rather than completely removed. These stubs will result in shoot growth that helps direct the growth of the scaffolds outward rather than turning too upward. These stubs will be removed during the course of the next two springs. The difference between Balaton and Montmorency at this time is that we have found it is desirable to leave longer stubs and more of them. This helps keep the scaffolds that have been selected from turning too upright (a characteristic more pronounced in Balaton than Montmorency). Comments this past summer from a Hungarian researcher indicates they prefer selecting three scaffolds and don’t worry about space between these limbs. We will be looking into this variation in future evaluations. 2. Do not head scaffolds or the leader. Heading is neither necessary nor desirable when scaffolds are growing out in a fairly horizontal position, as they will be at this time.
Summer of third leaf
No summer work is necessary.
Fourth spring
1. For very high-density orchards that are planted at 10-15 feet between trees, use the same system as described in the third spring to select an additional two to four scaffolds. For trees on more typical spacing this may also be done, but generally these upper limbs will never really develop into significant scaffolds. The basic structure is developed. The leader rarely stays in the middle and instead will ultimately fill a scaffold position. 2. Some of the stubs that were saved last year are now removed. Do not remove too many of the new shoots from the leader. Over-pruning tends to cause the scaffolds to grow too upright. 3. Always remove the one to three competitive branches that emerged from buds just below the terminal buds on each scaffold and the leader. 4. Do not head scaffolds in this or subsequent years unless a scaffold has turned very upright. Then the Hungarian heading system can be employed, i.e., heading the limb to an upright bud. As a result, the terminal bud will produce a very upright branch, and the next bud back from the terminal will produce an outward growing branch. The following year use a bench cut to remove the upright limb that resulted from the heading cut in favor of the outward growing limb. If more than two branches formed at the terminal, remove all but one outward growing branch. 5. Generally, do not bench cut scaffold limbs by removing the terminal in favor of a lower, more outward growing lateral. Bench cuts may shut down the growth of the scaffold. Exceptions may be when the Hungarian heading cuts were made the previous year or when a lower, outward growing limb exists on an upright scaffold that would change the limb angle by less than 30&Mac251; and both limbs are of equal size. In most cases, avoid the temptation to bench cut and instead remove the lower limb. 6. Balaton is a more vigorous tree that is capable of carrying a larger crop than Montmorency without excessively shutting down tree growth. In fact, some early cropping can actually be desirable to help keep scaffolds from becoming too upright. This characteristic should decrease the need for applying gibberellic acid on young trees. 7. Support stakes put in earlier can be removed now or next year. Once leader and scaffold branches have established themselves for a couple of years, support is no longer needed.
Fifth and sixth springs
Remove one to three upright branches competing with the terminals of the scaffolds and leader. Remove the remainder of the original stubs. Thin out other branches as appropriate to keep adequate light into trees, but do not over prune.
Bearing years
Balaton handles bench cuts to outward growing limits better than Montmorency, so this technique can be used to some extent for scaffold limbs that are too upright. Prune enough to keep adequate light into the canopy. In the years ahead, an increasing number of Balaton trees will be planted and come into production. As a result, new observations and experimentation may lead to modifications in the current tree training recommendations. These recommendations are currently available at the Northwest Michigan Horticultural Research Station Web site at www.maes.msu.edu/nwmihort and will be updated as we improve our knowledge.