How to grow cherries: useful tips

Cherry is a very popular culture in Russian gardens. Fragrant sweet and sour berries are loved by many. But few know how to grow cherries. Usually a seedling is stuck somewhere in a corner. In the spring he tries, magnificent, magnificent blossoms ... and that’s it. On this his strength is running out and a good harvest can not be expected.

But the tree needs a little help, and it will generously thank you with rich berries. The most basic thing cherry needs:

• proper fit
• pruning
• top dressing
• care

The list is short, very little effort is required. You just need to follow some recommendations on time.

Proper fit

Sometimes we see this picture: the neighbors poked a hole on the bayonet of a shovel, poured some water. Then they planted a seedling, pressed it with his foot. And are these people waiting for a good cherry crop?

The young tree is still too weak, with a small root system. For the first time, he needs some room for growth and a bit of nutrients. After two years, the tree will be able to independently produce moisture and food, but for now - we plant it correctly.

For one seedling, you need a landing pit with sides of at least 50 cm. We lay out the removed earth nearby. We add a bucket of humus or 2 kg of compost to it. Pour a liter jar of ash, add phosphoric and potassium mineral fertilizers (see the recommendations on the packaging). Then thoroughly mix the resulting soil mixture.

The next step is to fill the mound at the bottom of the landing pit at half height. We stick a strong peg in its center. We carefully place a seedling close to it and straighten the root system throughout the mound. Then we begin to carefully sprinkle the roots with earth. You can slightly press the soil with your hands. Further, the near-trunk circle is abundantly shed with water with a root formation stimulator. Then the soil is mulched with peat or mowed grass. The seedling itself is carefully tied to a peg for the first time.

How much to pour? Focus on the color of the bark. Where there was a planting height usual for a seedling, the bark of a different shade. It is not recommended to fall asleep above this mark. Cherry, in principle, does not like a deep landing, it begins to hurt and rot. You can do even easier. Fall asleep seedling, not reaching 5 cm to the site of vaccination. It is always clearly visible even in mature trees.

It is better to plant cherries in early spring. So she will go faster and gain strength. With an autumn planting, the tree may not have time to develop a good root system before frost, and will die in winter.

Tip. Up to 3 years old trees tolerate planting almost painlessly. If you are forced to transplant cherries older than 3 years, then at least try to damage the root system as little as possible.

Pruning

To know how to prune cherries properly, you need to study the impressive mountain of special literature. At first, it will be difficult not to get confused in all these lateral kidneys, skeletal processes and central conductors. But, if you understand the basic principles, you will do it with ease. If you yourself are afraid of cropping incorrectly, then ask someone. Surely among neighbors, relatives or acquaintances there is a suitable craftsman.

Did not find this? So you have to act on your own. The main thing is the removal of old or diseased branches, cutting out crooked branches. You should also get rid of knots growing inside the crown, so as not to thicken the tree. Pruning is done in early spring, before buds open. Or in late autumn, when the seedling will drop all the leaves.

Tip. Not sure where to start pruning? Lean to your taste. Form secateurs a beautiful crown of the correct form.And then the tree itself will grow, as it should.

Top dressing

Cherry is a completely unpretentious plant. But sometimes it must be pampered with various sweets. Once a year, well-rotted manure or compost is brought into the trunk circle. But it’s not just poured onto the surface of the earth, but carefully mixed with the topsoil. This is best done in the spring, even before the leaves bloom.

Several times during the season, cherry is watered with plain clean water. The calculation is very simple: how old the tree is - how many buckets you need to pour under it. During severe drought, the dose of water is doubled. For the rainy period, watering is stopped altogether.

Periodically feed cherries with complex fertilizer solutions. Depending on the type of top dressing, see the dosage recommendation on the product packaging. Classical agricultural technology involves fertilizing once a month, from March to September. Yes, yes, after the harvest, you should not forget about the tree. Otherwise, the next year you can not get cherries at all.

Tip. Do not exceed the dosage of top dressing. This will not bring benefits, but you can easily burn the root system.

Care

Not only people love cherries. Almost all birds adore her. Therefore, prepare at the time of harvest ripening, no, not a slingshot. A special mesh for protection. It is sold in almost any agricultural store. They just pull it on the crown. Such a grid does not block access to rains or sunlight, but it protects from uninvited guests.

This method is suitable for owners of small shrub cherries. What to do for those who already have large trees? How to protect cherries from birds? Surely you have old CDs lying around somewhere. Here they are tied in the crown of the tree so that they freely wound and twisted at the slightest blow of the breeze. The incomprehensible brilliance of reflected sunlight is very frightening for gluttonous birds. You can, together with everything, set rattles or tie satin ribbons, pieces of rustling packets. In a word, everything that glitters or makes strange sounds.

If nothing is done, then a small flock of sparrows or blackbirds can gobble up absolutely the entire crop from a large tree in 15 minutes.

In addition to the birds, many pests will burrow on the cherry. They begin their hunt in early spring, from the moment of bud swelling, and end before the very autumn frosts. Therefore, in the fight against them, a whole range of measures is needed.

1. In the spring, as soon as the kidneys swell, urea is sprayed. 350 g of fertilizer are diluted in 5 l of water. And the whole tree is abundantly sprayed, so that it drips heavily from the branches. At the same time as spraying, the barrel circle is carefully shed.
2. Before flowering, you need to treat the tree with any improvised insecticide of rapid action. If you choose a drug with a prolonged effect, then bees that fly to the flowers will be harmed. If you are an opponent of chemistry, then try to process plants with infusions of tobacco, chamomile, and garlic. Sometimes it helps scare away pests.
3. Immediately after flowering, repeated treatment with insecticides is needed. The weevil is particularly raging at this time. If you still have small bushes or cherry trees, then try to shake them lightly every morning. Insects will fall to the ground or a specially spread sheet. You just have to collect and destroy them.
4. In autumn, after the first real frosts, be sure to dig a circle with a crown of cherry on a spade bayonet. And then immediately treat with urea, just like in spring. Weevil larvae will not withstand such pressure and will quickly die.

Cherry almost always gives a lot of root shoots. It must be removed in a timely manner so that it does not draw nutritious juices from the mother tree. You can try to transplant these sprouts. With proper care, they also give a good harvest, only begin to bear fruit much later.Just be prepared for completely different tastes of new residents.

Be sure to remove the fallen fruits. Having wintered, these berries will give good shoots. Tormented then rip them out of the ground.

Useful Tips

1. Plant at least two trees of different varieties in your garden. Then you will definitely be with the crop, because the same varieties do not pollinate each other well.
2. The distance between the bushy types of cherries should be at least 2 meters. Varieties growing in the form of a tree are planted at a distance of 3-4 meters from each other.
3. By the way, there is one trick to attracting more bees to the trees in spring. At the beginning of flowering, spray the crown with plain water with the addition of a small amount of granulated sugar. About 1 tbsp. l per liter of fluid. The smell of sugar will attract beneficial insects.
4. Be sure to keep the trunk circle. Around it, make a small roller or sides from the ground. This will allow all fertilizers to get strictly to the root system, rather than spreading around.
5. Plant only varieties specific to your area. Otherwise, you will suffer for a long time with the climatic vagaries of cherries, and you will have to forget about a good harvest.
6. Be sure to collect all deciduous litter in late autumn, take it out of the site and burn it. It often hides the larvae of cherry pests and pathogens. For the same purpose, clean the top layer of the old bark on large trees. In invisible cracks all sorts of cherry-eater can also hide for the winter.
7. If there are signs of any disease, do not try to save the tree by spraying. You may not see, and the sore will already capture the branches. Be sure to cut or file down damaged knots with a grab of healthy wood 10-12 cm. And cover the damage with garden var. Not at hand? So ordinary oil paint is suitable.
8. Spray herbal remedies as a preventive measure. Do not wait for the disease to take over your trees.
9. Whitewashing of tree trunks is best done in autumn, and not in spring, as is customary to do. The careless winter sun is much worse than the early spring rays. And young trees often get burns in winter. To whitewash better kept on the trunks, add some building cement to the lime. Of course, it will no longer be so snow-white, but it will keep well on the bark. And such a mixture is applied much softer and lighter.
10. Never overfeed cherry trees with nitrogen fertilizers. This is a great bait for aphids. Otherwise, you will then have to make a lot of effort, time and money to deal with such a pest. It is better to slightly feed the plant.
11. Never mix chemicals during the next treatment. This applies only to herbal infusions. If it becomes necessary to use several insecticides, then treat with a break of 5-7 days. So they will not react with each other.
12. Always use pre-winter watering. In late September or early October, water the cherry trees well. So they will pick up enough juice and fruit buds will winter well.

How to grow cherries? You need to follow useful recommendations and do not forget to take a little care of the tree. Then on your table there will always be fragrant cherry pies and fragrant jam.

Video: felt cherry