CHERRIES - NEW VARITIES RAISED IN THE UNITED KINGDOM

Raised at the John Innes Institute and trialled at East Malling Research Station and the National Fruit Trials.

MERMAT

An excellent early black cherry that is heavy cropping, with larger fruits than the popular Early Rivers. The quality is superb and the flavour rather special. Resistance to canker. Pollinate with: Early Rivers, Merton Favourite, Frogmore Early or Merton Bounty.

MERCHANT

Early mid season variety with very large, black fruits. Very heavy cropping. Pollinators include: Early Rivers, Noir de Guben, Roundel, Merton Glory and Nutberry Black. Merchant itself, will pollinate all these varieties.

SUMMER SUN

A new very large fruited late Cherry raised by John Innes, Summer Sunshine represents a distinct improvement over other varieties of this Class. The large dark red-black fruits have a delicious sweet flavour and are normally ready for picking in the 2nd or 3rd week of July. In official trials the yield was awarded marks of 8 out of 10 with fruit size described as 'very large'. It is reliably self pollinating providing a good crop when planted on its own and has also shown resistance to bacterial canker. We have also been impressed by the hardiness of the tree and the uniform size and quality of the fruits. Summer Sunshine is quite compact in growth, showing a size reduction of 20 percent over older varieties. An excellent new variety, named and introduced by Chris Bowers and Sons.

SASHA (JI 12121)

Large, black fruits produced late mid season. Very heavy crops of high quality fruits. Very good flavour. Pollinate with: Colney, Merchant, Stella or Sunburst.

COLNEY (JI 12510)

Cropping very late in the season. The heavy crops of firm, black fruits are of excellent quality. Excellent for extending the season. Pollinate with: Stella, Merchant or Sunburst.

INGA

Like the other new varieties. Inga has black fruits, produced in mid season. The crop is very heavy. Large, black fruits that are very attractive. Very high resistance to all canker. A superb new variety. Late flowering. Pollinate with: Stella, Bradbourne Black, Sunburst or Merchant.

All of the new John Innes varieties have superb qualities and show excellent resistance to canker. A full 8 week picking period can be achieved by planting just 4 of these varieties. Early, mid, mid late and late. Trials are still underway for the best individual pollinator for these new varieties. In the meantime the universal donor varieties Stella and Merchant are to be recommended.

Limited quantities of the new variety Hertford (JI 13014) also available.