The growth relationships in maiden trees of sour cherry ‘Łutówka’

The studies were conducted in a nursery of sour cherry ‘Łutówka’ budded on Prunus mahaleb L. in the years 1993, 2000–2003, and 2013. The height of trees, the diameter of stems, and the length of lateral shoots were measured. The air temperature and precipitation higher than the long-term mean (by approximately 10 % and 28%, respectively) contributed to the increase in the stem diameter, the total length of shoots, and the number of shoots per tree. The length of lateral shoots increased from the top of the crown towards the lower parts, however, the number of feathers per tree and the mean length of shoots decreased. A strong positive relationship (r = 0.74, P < 0.05) was revealed between the stem diameter and the total length of shoots. Generally, the correlations between the type of growth of sour cherry maiden trees and morphological traits were similar to those characteristic for apple maiden trees or “knip-boom” type trees