Burlat

Burlat, also known as Early Burlat or Bigarreau Burlat, originates from France, where it was discovered in 1915. in the Rhône region by Pierre Burlat as a chance seedling of unknown origin, and was released into wide commercial production in the 1930s. Due to its exceptionally early ripening, excellent fruit size, and attractive appearance, it is the most popular, most widespread, and economically most important early commercial sweet cherry variety in the world and in our region. In fruit growing, it holds the status of an absolute global pomological standard: it represents the zero point, or week 0 of the sweet cherry season, against which the flowering and ripening times of all other varieties in the world are determined.

It is a fully cross-pollinated variety. It belongs to the XVI sterility group and cannot set fruit with its own pollen, so the presence of compatible pollinator varieties flowering at the same time is essential in the orchard. Since it flowers very early in spring, its best, biologically synchronized, and field-proven pollinators are Souvenir, Asenova Rana, Stella, Lapins, Van, and Sunburst. Late-flowering varieties, such as Regina, cannot serve as pollinators due to a complete lack of overlap in the flowering stages.

The tree is very vigorous, strong, robust, and long-lived, with powerful scaffold branches that form a wide, spacious, well-branched, and moderately dense canopy. It enters full bearing early when grafted onto modern vegetative rootstocks, as early as the second or third year after planting. Once it starts bearing, with the presence of suitable early-flowering pollinators, it produces regular, stable, and exceptionally abundant yields every year. It responds very well to standard pruning, which is mandatory in order to control its great natural vigor, open the canopy, and regularly renew fruiting shoots.

It belongs to the group of very early sweet cherry varieties. In our region and under continental climatic conditions, it ripens first, in the second half of May, under Serbian conditions usually between May 15 and 25, depending on the climatic zone, site exposure, and altitude.

Harvesting takes place during the second half of May and in early June. The fruit ripens fairly uniformly on the tree and requires timely picking so that it does not become overripe on the tree. Since it opens the fruit season and is the first to reach the market, this variety regularly achieves by far the highest price at farmers’ markets and in retail stores.

Its fresh-storage ability is moderately good for the first summer sweet cherry. In cold storage, it can be successfully kept for 5–7 days. Unlike old local early varieties, which have soft and watery flesh, Burlat tolerates picking, sorting, packing, and transport very well, thanks to its firmer, elastic skin and compact fruit structure. It is primarily intended for luxury fresh table consumption on domestic and foreign markets.

The fruit is large for an early-ripening sweet cherry, with an average weight of 7.5–8.5 g, which is an outstanding result for the May ripening period. It is uniform on the tree and regular in shape, roundish-heart-shaped to slightly flattened, with a visible longitudinal groove. The skin is medium-thick, smooth, and distinctly glossy, bright red at harvest, while at full technological maturity it develops a beautiful dark red to deep burgundy-purple color. The flesh is dark red, firm, compact, juicy, and fleshy, classified as a semi-firm sweet cherry. The taste is outstanding, refreshing, and rich, characterized by high sugar content, fine discreet acidity, and a recognizable, pleasant varietal aroma. The stone is medium-sized, roundish, and separates easily from the flesh.

It is moderately resistant to diseases. It shows excellent natural resistance of the wood and flower buds to low winter frosts during full dormancy. On the other hand, due to its very early start of vegetation, its flowers may be sensitive to late spring frosts. It is also highly susceptible to fruit cracking caused by heavy and sudden May rains during the ripening period, which is why in rainy conditions it requires strict and regular preventive chemical protection against Monilinia and fruit rot, Monilinia laxa, as well as mandatory protection from birds, especially starlings, which heavily attack the early red crop.

The root system is exceptionally strong, deep, and branched. It uses moisture and nutrients from deeper layers very well, but it absolutely does not tolerate heavy, compacted, clayey, or waterlogged soils, where excess groundwater quickly causes root asphyxia, or suffocation, and decline of the entire tree. It requires permeable, light, warm, and fertile soils on sunny sites.

Our sweet cherry fruit trees are produced on highly compatible, certified rootstocks: mahaleb cherry, Prunus mahaleb, and wild sweet cherry for classic, robust, and long-lived orchards on lighter soils. In addition to vigorous rootstocks, we also produce fruit trees on modern low- to medium-vigor vegetative rootstocks Gisela 5 and Gisela 6, which are the only true global standard for this variety, as they ideally control its great natural vigor, drastically accelerate entry into full bearing, as early as the second year, and enable the establishment of intensive, high-density commercial orchards that are easy to maintain and harvest from the ground.