Tip Top Cultivar Cherries
Tip Top cultivar is a new cherry variety discovered as a chance seedling in 2005 and patented by Tip Top Orchards, LLC.
The parentage of Tip Top cherries is unknown. The seedling was found in a commercial Sweetheart cherry orchard planted in 2002 near Wenatchee, WA. In 2005, it was observed that the seedling was markedly different from the surrounding trees. It was similar in appearance to a Rainier cherry tree but was distinguished from Rainier by its sweeter, crisper fruit and its early maturity.
Tip Top cultivar cherries have a high sugar content averaging 23-25 brix. The firmness levels of this cherry average about 450. The cherry has a clear flesh, likely due to moderate to high malic acid levels, and a similar shape as Rainier cherries. Tip Top is considered a bi-colored cherry with a prominent orange-red blush that almost entirely disguises the yellow background. The cherry is somewhat resistant to bruising and browning.
– propagation of this tree is strictly prohibited –
United States Plant Patent
Patent No.: US PP21, 006 P3
Date of Patent: May 25, 2010
Tip Top’s Story
Tip Top Orchards is a family-owned and operated cherry orchard located on Halverson Canyon near Wenatchee, WA. The partners Troy and Kim Toftness, Robert and Nancy Van Hoven, and Jack and June Toftness, have farmed Sweetheart and Rainier cherries there since 2002.
In 2005, Troy and Kim suffered the unimaginable loss of their infant daughter, Skylar Rae Toftness. Shortly after and while working in the orchard one rainy day, Grandpa Jack Toftness looked up to the sky with tears in his eyes and asked for a sign to help him deal with this great loss. A rainbow fell down upon the section of orchard where later the family would soon discover a new cherry variety with high sugars and firmness and unique but unknown genetics. The new cherry was named Tip Top cultivar. Today, select, high-quality Tip Top cherries are taken to market as Skylar Rae® brand cherries.
During harvest, Skylar Rae’s brother Brock, frequents the tree to ask for “more please” of the very sweet and firm cherry while passing up other varieties grown nearby. This is quite common from any visitors that have had a chance to enjoy a Tip Top cherry.
Another new miracle blessed the Toftness family. They were gifted a baby girl, Brylee Sky, born on the same day as her big sister Skylar Rae.