The Chelan cherry is a

cultivar A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture ...

cherry A cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus '' Prunus'', and is a fleshy drupe (stone fruit). Commercial cherries are obtained from cultivars of several species, such as the sweet '' Prunus avium'' and the sour '' Prunus cerasus''. The ...

. It is a hybrid of the

Stella Stella or STELLA may refer to: Art, entertainment, and media Comedy *Stella (comedy group), a comedy troupe consisting of Michael Showalter, Michael Ian Black and David Wain Characters *Stella (given name), including a list of characters with th ...

and Beaulieu varieties first developed in

Prosser, Washington Prosser () is a city in and the county seat of Benton County, Washington, United States. Situated along the Yakima River, it had a population of 5,714 at the 2010 census. History Prosser was long home to Native Americans who lived and fished a ...

.Washington State University Tree Fruit
/ref>

Cultivar history

The Chelan cultivar was developed in Prosser, Washington, by Thomas Toyama and Ed Proebsting, affiliated with the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seat ...

. The cross was made in 1971 and selected in 1978."Register of New Fruit and Nut Varieties, List 41"
HortScience Vol. 37(2), April 2002, pg. 253

Plant facts

The Chelan cherry tree grows in

USDA Zone A hardiness zone is a geographic area defined as having a certain average annual minimum temperature, a factor relevant to the survival of many plants. In some systems other statistics are included in the calculations. The original and most wide ...

5, and is self-incompatible.Washington State University Tree Fruit
/ref> It is a vigorous and early-bearing tree; with the fruit ripening about 10-12 days earlier than

Bing cherries Bing is a cultivar of the wild or sweet cherry (''Prunus avium'') that originated in the Pacific Northwest, in Milwaukie, Oregon, United States. The Bing remains a major cultivar in Oregon,Zebian, Maureen. (8/11/2011) "'Bing' Those Cherries On!" ...

, it is the earliest of the sweet cherries grown in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The fruit exhibits superior cracking resistance, and the trees appear to be resistant to powdery mildew, but many of the trees produced in the 1990s were infected with

prune dwarf virus Prune dwarf virus (PDV) is a plant pathogenic virus of the family '' Bromoviridae''. It causes dwarfism of leaves on certain prune and plum plants. It will also cause yellows in sour cherry, especially when present with prunus necrotic ringspot v ...

.Northwest Nursery Improvement Institute
/ref>

Growing regions

Apart from the US Pacific Northwest, Chelan cherries are grown in CanadaBritish Columbia Tree Fruit Production Guide
/ref> and Australia.Cherry Growers Australia
/ref>

References

cherry cultivars {{Prunus-stub