Increasing the intensity of plantations is a basic precondition for the renewal of fruit growing in Hungary. The intensification of production of stone-fruit species is difficult for several reasons. In particular, knowledge of dwarfing rootstock is very limited. In this study, we tried to achieve smaller-sized, intensive crown formation by co-ordinating the date and degree of pruning. In intensive cherry production, the most important variety-dependent characters determining the formation of the required productive surface are vigour of growth, branching potential and quantity and quality of the buds. In this paper we have demonstrated that significant differences exist between varieties in these characters.