As is the case in apple and pear, the (slender) spindle is the most frequently chosen tree shape. On a small scale, other training systems are experimented with, such the drapeau, the super slender spindle, the double table top system and the pergola system.
In the case of the double table top system, two things are essentially different from growing cherries on a slender spindle. This appears from an explanation by cultivation expert Ronald Vermeulen during the presentation of the MEDA cherry varieties, in early June at the FruitMasters trial orchard in Geldermalsen. In the trial orchard, where the new varieties are, the trees are raised according to the double table top system.
The first fundamental difference is, that in the double table top system growth is not curbed, as is often necessary in a slender spindle, but that growth is converted into flower buds and therefore into production. The second difference is that cherries are only grown on two-year-old branches and at the base of one-year-old shoots.
Read more on this subject in the recently published EFM edition