How to care for cherries in spring and autumn: detailed instructions

Spring and autumn are two periods when the trees in the garden are undergoing serious changes. For the gardener, both the one and the other period are the most voluminous in terms of the work performed. The material below will help you organize cherry care during the transition seasons with the greatest possible time savings.

Growing dates, work calendar

All the necessary measures for the care of cherry trees is quite difficult to reduce into a simple scheme, since many of them, for example, feeding or processing from pests, need to be built individually. Some gardeners treat trees from pests once in the spring and once in the fall, others require up to 4-5 treatments per season.

Main work calendar: table

Treatments from pests and diseases should be built individually. Some diseases may require more frequent, time-honored treatments, for example, they treat the soil against scab even before the beginning of spring, at the very beginning of the dissolution of the buds, after flowering and after harvesting.

How correct the care can be seen in yield and annual growth - not less than 30-40 cm per season. Too large growths are also not favorable - this means that the plant is overfed with nitrogenous fertilizers, it will later bear fruiting, and it will not have time to prepare well for the winter.

Of course, the timing varies by region. You should focus not so much on dates as on certain natural events: the beginning of sap flow, the beginning of steady frosts, weather conditions. At the time of discretion and depending on the conditions, the following types of work are performed:

1. Loosening soil around trees.
2. Weeding.
3. Disease inspection, pest collection, unplanned treatments.
4. Watering.

Whitewashing a cherry trunk before sap flow

Propagation of cherries - the main ways

Cherry is successfully propagated by all possible means, both vegetative and seed. Of course, during seed propagation, not all of its varieties inherit varietal traits, but this does not mean that the method is less popular. It is actively used for growing felt cherries, which successfully repeats the signs of mother plants, for growing stocks or trees that are highly resistant to difficult local conditions.

Propagation of cherries by cuttings in spring

Cuttings are taken as green - in the summer, and lignified - after leaf fall and before the awakening of the kidneys.

Propagation of cherry lignified cuttings

Cuttings are harvested in late autumn or winter. They are taken only from healthy trees. Diameter - not less than 4 mm. They are kept in the refrigerator until spring. How to root?

1. It is important that the roots begin to develop earlier than the kidneys. Otherwise, the stalk will die. Therefore, you need to put the handle itself in cool, and the roots - in the heat.
2. Refresh the cut at the bottom of the handle, make vertical cuts along the bark, 3-4 cm each.
3. Lower kidneys, if there are too many of them on the handle, remove.
4. To process the place of emergence of future roots with a stimulator (Kornevin, Epin) according to the instructions.
5. Plant the cuttings in boxes, with the expectation that 10-15 cm of area should be in each stalk.
6. Soil - from sawdust and earth in a ratio of 3 to 1. The mixture should be loose, breathable. You can pre-drop each blacklock in separate packages, and then in a common box, so that later it is easier to transplant them.
7. Cuttings are placed vertically, so that the slices are hidden by 1 cm.
8. The box itself is placed in a cool, bright room.
9. Different devices are used to heat the soil, the simplest is ordinary incandescent lamps located in a container with holes, on which the box is placed.
10. After 10 days, the roots will begin to appear.
11. Transplanting young plants in the fall.

Propagation of cherries with green cuttings

Cuttings are harvested until mid-summer. Strong green branches are chosen from the south side. Cut diagonally. Cuttings are soaked in water, the tops with leaves are cut off. There are cuttings with several leaves. They are planted in a box filled with a breathable mixture. In winter, the boxes are dug up, in the spring, rooted cuttings are transplanted to a permanent place. The rules for planting are the same as for young seedlings.

Plants obtained from green cuttings begin to bear fruit a year after planting in a permanent place.

Propagation of cherries by shoots

Growing cherries from root shoots is one of the easiest ways. In early spring, the root cuttings are separated from the mother tree, drip at an angle of 45 degrees. As soon as fresh shoots appear, it is transplanted to a permanent place.

25 years old cherry root around a tree

Vegetative propagation of cherries: vaccination

One of the best ways for rare, large-fruited varieties and late varieties. When grown from seeds, such varieties do not inherit varietal traits; it takes too long to wait for yields from one-year-old seedlings. Inoculate cherries with the methods of budding, copulation, splitting and over the bark. Wild cherries, cherries, plums are used as stock. The best rootstocks for cherries are considered wild cherry bird antipka, clone stocks Rubin, OVP-2, P-7, VTs-13 and compact VSL-2.

Growing Cherry from Bone

Growing cherries from seed allows you to get strong plants adapted to the conditions of the region. This method is good for felt cherries and individual varieties. Seeds, like all stone fruit plants experiencing a long period of dormancy, need stratification. The best way: free the bones taken from fresh cherries from the pulp, let them sap, mix with sand, put in the general compartment of the refrigerator for 5 months. In the spring (April-March) sow in pots. As soon as the soil warms up, young seedlings are planted in a permanent place. If conditions allow, you can stratify the bones in vivo: in this case, they are sown in the fall.

Proper watering of cherries

Cherries are drought-resistant, do not like excess moisture. However, in spring and summer, if they are very arid, cherries are watered abundantly. 3-4 weeks before harvesting, watering is stopped. Excessive watering will lead to diseases, the berries will crack and rot. For 1 young cherry tree, 1-2 buckets of water are required in the first year of life. Repeat 4-5 times a season or more often, up to 15 times, that is, 1 time every 1-2 weeks - the frequency depends entirely on the conditions. In any case, keep in mind that young seedlings have a small root system, which is located in the upper soil layer. It can dry out quickly enough, so in the first year cherries pay a lot of attention. Older trees are watered 2-3 times per season, take 2-4 buckets per tree, depending on its size. Watering time - evening or early morning, do not water in the afternoon.

Proper watering of almost all fruit trees is the same. It is described below in a step-by-step instruction with a photo at the beginning of ripening:

1. A ring and beads are formed around the tree. This is done so that the water does not spread over the site.
   

   Groove around cherry tree for watering

2. Water should not stand near the trunk, so as not to provoke heating and bark diseases.
   

   One adult tree will need five watering cans of 10 liters

3. After the water is absorbed, you can tear the dug groove with a chopper so that the moisture does not evaporate so much.
   

   So that moisture does not evaporate, the soil around the tree is loosened and leveled with a chopper

Is it possible to pour boiling water over cherries

Boiling water, even before the dissolution of the kidneys, is watered by fruit plants to rid them of pests. While the water is loaded into a watering can and delivered to the plant, it cools to the desired temperature - 80 ° C. This ancient method is successfully used for gooseberries, currants. There is no data on the use of boiling water for processing cherries. Either no one tried such a technique, or tried, but unsuccessfully, and as a folk method, he did not take root. For cherries and fruit crops, such as apples and pears, use a spray of Bordeaux mixture.

When to water cherries in spring, summer, autumn

The very first spring watering - immediately after planting a seedling. This is necessary to compact the soil around the tree and provide the roots with better survival. In spring, they focus on flowering time, which depends on the region. And also watering may be required during the ripening and filling of berries. Touch the soil if it is dry and gray to the depth of the chopper, and the weather is hot and dry, the tree should be watered.

After falling leaves of cherries, pre-winter or moisture-charging irrigation is carried out, this allows trees to better prepare for winter. Despite the state of rest, in winter, the trees also lose moisture. To avoid winter draining and provide the roots with more comfortable conditions, moisture charging is necessary. It should be plentiful, it will take from 40 to 100 liters of water, depending on the size and age of the trees.

The nuances of cherry care in different regions of cultivation

Cherry is not the most capricious plant; it grows well and bears fruit in Ukraine, in Belarus. In the Urals, in Western and Eastern Siberia, in the Far East, it is better to choose varieties adapted to the conditions of these particular regions. In the middle zone, culture grows well, blooms, but you have to work hard to get the crops.

Proper care begins with the selection of a variety for your region:

1. Moscow region and more northern regions, for example, the Tver region: Turgenevskaya, Morozovka, Kharitonovskaya, Dessert Morozova, Zhukovskaya, Griot Moscow, felt Natalie.
2. Large-frilled felt cherry for the Far East: Alice, Krasnaya Fairy, Tsarevna, Natalie.
3. Steppe cherry for Siberia: Ob, Blizzard, Krasa Altai, Maksimovskaya, Altai swallow and other varieties of Altai selection.
4. For Siberia, late-flowering varieties should be chosen. But keep in mind that there are very few varieties of common cherry for these regions, in 2018 in the State Register there is only one variety - Gradskaya, zoned for the Urals. You should look for specific cherries, hybrids, or grow cherries by grafting on frost-resistant stocks.

The most important departure points depending on the region:

1. In cold areas, it is important to properly shelter cherries for the winter - in some varieties the wood itself freezes, in some flower buds die. Branches of bush cherries are bent so that the snow completely hides them. In standard forms, the trunk is wrapped. Think over protection against rodents, proliferation.
2. There are reviews that any attempts to grow cherries in a garden in Siberia, in the Urals, will fail. The problem is solved in several ways: growing seedlings from seeds, choosing and buying the right varieties in local nurseries, proper soil preparation. Too often too little attention is paid to the preparation of the soil, and this is a systemic moment of care - errors will not be immediately noticeable, but they will certainly have an effect.
3. In the middle lane, cherries are severely affected by moniliosis. Regular treatments are a must.

Protecting the cherry stem from damage by rodents

Features of caring for different types of cherries

Among the more than a hundred types of cherries that exist in nature, as a rule, only two are grown in orchards: ordinary cherries and felt cherries. Dwarf is called the second. There are other compact types of cherries: glandular (up to 1.5 m), warty (from 0.5 m to 1 m), gray-haired (up to 1.5 m), Kuril (up to 1.5 m), steppe (from 20 cm to 1.5 m), sandy (up to 1.5 m), but they are rare and are quite specific. They, along with felt, are even singled out in a separate genus - microcherry. They are closer to plums, they do not cross with ordinary cherries, but they are tolerant to many related stone fruits: plums, apricot, peaches. Today, on the basis of these cherries, many varieties, both miniature and medium-sized, with different qualities, have been bred. For example, one of the zoned varieties of steppe cherries is Early Steppe. The bush is really low-growing, with a raised spherical crown, very winter-hardy, with small and tart berries. As for sand cherry, today in the Russian Federation only 6 varieties are registered and all of them are admitted to the register only in 2018.

Note. Speculation of cunning sellers on the desire of gardeners to have miniature, but productive plants in the garden did not pass by and cherry. Most varieties that are sold under the name "dwarf", "miniature cherry" are not included in the State Register, have an unclear origin, their actual characteristics are not known to anyone.

Let's touch on the main points of caring for specific cherries:

1. Steppe Cherry. Bush-shaped, there are standard forms. The most frost-resistant. Harvested even in cold places, for the winter it is enough to bend the branches so that the snow covers them well. As a rule, it is self-infertile, therefore several varieties are planted nearby. It forms a lot of root growth, which can be used for reproduction. Well propagated by green cuttings.
2. Sand cherry. Homeland - North America, therefore, in our country, it feels at home. Unpretentious, grows fast, loves open sunny places, hygroscopic permeable soils. To the nutritional value of the soil is not demanding. It tolerates frost and drought.
3. Ferruginous Cherry. She is also called Russian sakura.The varieties of Alba Plen and Rosea Plen are really very spectacular. Originally from Korea, China, the southern parts of the Primorsky Territory. Loving, the fruits are edible, winter-hardy, but in severe frosts non-lignified shoots can be damaged. It can grow in many regions of Russia, but, of course, in the conditions of the Urals or Siberia with sharp continental winters, it will require careful shelter for the winter. Young plants are planted as soon as the threat of freezing passes.
4. Gray cherry. Unpretentious, very drought-resistant, but loves heat, very damaged by frost. Therefore, they plant it in the warm regions of Russia. It is popular in Turkey, Transcaucasia.
5. Kuril cherry. Originally from Sakhalin and the northern regions of Japan. Very decorative in spring and autumn, when the leaves become bright red. It grows very slowly. It needs protection from the wind, it is hardy enough, but it loves warmly. Planted in well-lit areas with well-drained soil.
6. Warty Cherry. In the wild, grows in Tajikistan, Altai, and the Pamirs. Truly miniature mountain shrub. Needs like most cherries: a bright sunny place, hygroscopic soil, no stagnation of moisture. It is very rare in culture.

Flowering cherry glandular

How to grow dwarf cherry

Growing begins with the selection of varieties. If there is no desire to take risks, then it is better to opt for felt cherry. She comes from China, so she is often called Chinese. The plant has already proved itself well in Russia: winter-hardy, easily propagated from seeds, abundantly bears fruit, very effective during flowering. Today there are many varieties, from early ripe to late ripe, there are exotic ones, for example, the variety Belaya with cream berries.

The most important characteristics of felt cherry:

1. Genetically ordinary cherries and felt are far apart and do not interbreed.
2. Harvest ripens from late June to late July.
3. Blossoms in late May, long and plentifully, for 2 weeks. Flowers tolerate frosts to -3 ° C.
4. Begins to bear fruit early: plants from green cuttings for 3 years, grafted - for the 2nd, from seeds - for the 4th.
5. In drought, the fruits may be smaller, but not prone to shedding.
6. Fruits ripen in 10 days, can hang on a tree for a long time.
7. The yield from the bush is 5.5-14 kg. With good care, records are possible - up to 20 kg from the bush.
8. It tolerates frosts. At temperatures below -40 ° C, skeletal branches may freeze in her. Therefore, the bushes for the winter are weighed down, pinned, wrapped with burlap, so that during the first snowfalls they can be completely covered with snow. Frozen branches are cut in the spring.
9. The plant reproduces well by self-sowing.

Felt cherries during flowering

The cultivation of dwarf Chinese (felt) cherries does not differ much from the general rules for cherries:

1. Plants obtained by seed or vegetative methods are planted in well-lit areas. In the shade, cherries are very elongated, worse fruit bearing.
2. The distance between the seedlings is 1.5-2 m, the closure of the crown - to 8-10 years.
3. The soil is light, loam or sandy loam, well-drained. Acidic, salty, heavy soil, high standing groundwater, clay soil, lowland, peat bog - all these types of soils are unsuitable for cultivation. The plant can be planted in them, it will even grow, but you should not expect good yields and quality plantings, and after 2-3 years the cherry is likely to die.
4. When planting and preparing the soil, climatic conditions are also taken into account. If the region is arid enough, loam is also suitable. Where summer can be cold and damp, sandy loam is best.
5. Soil fertility is not demanding, can grow on poor soils. The only thing that can not stand is stagnation of moisture. Active roots in felt cherries lie shallow - up to 30-35 cm, it is necessary to take care of the physical qualities of the soil. It should pass moisture and air well.
6. He does not like acidic soils. Before planting and then it makes sense to control the acidity of the soil with a litmus test. The desired level of acidity is 6.7-7.1 pH.

Fruits of felt (Chinese) cherry ripen

Chinese cherry care

Leaving is also not very different from caring for regular cherries. The most important points to consider:

1. Felt cherry has a very active growth. The plant quickly begins to bear fruit, respectively, also aging quickly. When leaving, intensive and regular anti-aging pruning will be required. It is carried out as soon as the growth of the crown has stopped, or every 4-5 years.
2. In the year of planting, cut 1/3 or 1/4 of the length of the main branches.
3. An adult bush leaves no more than 12 strong shoots. Felt cherry prone to thickening.
4. Annual branches are pruned only if they are too long - over 60 cm, in this case 1/3 of their length is pruned.
5. After the plant fades, for 1 m of plantings make: 5-7 kg of organics, 70 g of phosphorus, 30 g of nitrogen, 20 g of potassium.
6. 1 time in 5 years spend liming. Dig the soil, applying to each square. m. 200-300 g of slaked lime.
7. Propagated by seeds, green cuttings, grafting with budding or cuttings. Very rarely, felt cherry is propagated by layering or lignified cuttings. The choice of breeding method depends on the region. With stagnant spring water and a high risk of trunk warming, it is better to plant grafted plants. Young cherries grown from green cuttings are sensitive to excess moisture.
8. Seedlings of plum, apricot, and clone stock of VVA-1 can act as a stock.

Pruning and cutting

Pruning cherries is a moot point. It is believed that cherry trees are too sensitive to this, it is better to prune them only at a young age. There is another thing: supposedly it is not worth trimming a tree if it is qualitatively covered with flowers. However, thinning cherries is necessary if there is a desire to receive not only beautiful flowering, but also the maximum yield. On the other hand, for a beginner, the pruning procedure itself, especially when it comes to an old tree, is quite complicated. Today, there are even visiting specialists who, for a fee, will conduct competent pruning of adult cherries.

The main rules for pruning fruit crops

The pruning rules depend on the type of cherry: bushy or tree-like. The first fruits mainly on annual growths, in tree-like fruits, in addition to annual growths, they form on bunchy branches. Flower buds are located on annual branches from the outside of the crown. Cherry begins to bear fruit early on the annual branches, which are a continuation of the skeletal. With the age of the tree, by 15-20 years, annual growths are greatly weakened, skeletal branches become bare, yield decreases. On annual growths longer than 40-50 cm, flower and growth buds are formed, on shorter ones, flower buds are formed only on the sides, and growth ones on top. After harvesting, such branches remain bare.

Formative pruning: basic rules

How to thin out cherries in spring

Highlights for pruning bushy or tree cherry:

1. Before pruning, you should understand how the annual shoot of the bush is arranged. It has both flower and growth buds, collected 2-3 per knot. The older the bush, the smaller the growth buds. On a short annual growth - 20 cm - growth buds are located only at the apex.
2. In trees, flower buds are located differently: on bouquet branches, fruiting and living for several years.
3. The optimal length of annual growth for bush cherries is 30-40 cm.
4. If the growth is longer than 50 cm, overfeeding with nitrogenous fertilizers or freezing of the kidneys takes place. Too long growths mean a reduced number of flowering buds.
5. The branches at the bottom of the crown are cut to the branches that are directed upwards.
6. If the growth length is less than 20 cm, an even more intensive anti-aging pruning is required. They remove all unhealthy branches, those that do not have branches and growths.
7. If pruning is primary, be sure to moderate pruning so that the tree does not immediately lose too much mass at a time.
8. Hemps do not leave during pruning.

Trimming rules for ring and translation

How to get rid of cherries in the area

Cherry - depending on the variety and species, of course - forms quite a few side shoots. This shoot is regularly removed: for the purpose of reproduction, and so that it does not take vitality from the main tree. It is carried out simply - the shoots are cut to the root. It is important to do this so that a new plant does not begin to grow from a new growth point in a few weeks. And this is more than likely if the shoots are simply cut off or cut off above ground level.

To get rid of the shoots qualitatively, each shoot is carefully dug up, reaching the large roots of the main tree. Shoots are cut from the root, the wound is treated with garden var.

The root growth of cherries is removed from the point of growth of the main roots

There is an option to get rid of the shoots with a herbicide from weeds - Roundup, Secateurs, Hurricane. Unnecessary shoots are treated like weeds. But not all gardeners like the use of chemicals.

To avoid the growth of overgrowth in the area, the root system of cherries is enclosed. They use linoleum, slate, old barrels of 200 l (they are cut into rings), but the garden system should be thought out and prepared before planting the seedling.

How to get rid of cherries in the garden forever

What to do if it is necessary to remove an old, diseased tree or bush, and so that in the future the root shoot does not interfere with other plants? Special questions are caused by the removal of the root system - after all, individual roots can reach a length of 3-5 meters. To represent the size of the roots, focus on the size of the crown. If the height of the cherry is 2 meters, then the roots are about the same length. Step-by-step instructions for uprooting a cherry tree:

1. Order a tractor.
2. The tree is filed, leaving the trunk at a height of 1-1.5 meters.
3. Large roots carefully dig. This is to make the plant easier to pull out with all the roots.
4. Tie the tree to the tractor with a strong cable.
5. Tear out a tree.

This method is quite effective. Only small roots remain in the earth, which alone are not ways to survive. The site can be processed for the next landings.

Manual removal of the roots is not effective, it will require a lot of time and effort.

There are recipes with salt:

1. Remove the crown from the tree.
2. Dig a tree, chop large and medium visible roots.
3. Rocking the trunk, cut the roots that are closer to its center.
4. After the maximum roots are chopped, cut the trunk as low as possible.
5. Sprinkle a hemp with salt, wrap it in cellophane.
6. Leave for a year.
7. A year later, the stump will rot.

A significant minus of the method: soil salinization is not beneficial for plants.

How to remove cherry roots without uprooting

Without rooting out, there is only one way to destroy the stumps and roots of old or unnecessary plants: chemical. Wood residues are burned with a strong oxidizing agent - nitrate. It allows you to destroy even deep roots. The procedure is simple: in the stump or the remains of a tree, in the beginning of autumn or the end of summer, many holes are drilled. Potassium or sodium nitrate is poured into the obtained pits, watered with water to better soak, wrap with a film, and dress.

Holes for laying ammonium nitrate are drilled around the perimeter of the stump

On a medium-sized tree with a trunk of 15 cm in diameter, 2 kg of nitrate is needed.

Stumps treated this way are not touched until next summer. During this period, all the roots and the stump itself, under the action of the substance, will dry out. Wait for the tree to dry completely after the rains. Now it’s enough to make a fire near the stump. When it is completely burnt, the soil is dug up. That's all - the place is completely free, you can not be afraid of the appearance of the root growth of cherries.

Instead of ammonium nitrate, you can take urea. The sequence of action is the same.

Despite its effectiveness, the method has drawbacks. Nitrate is a good fertilizer, but during the action on the stump the soil is oversaturated with it, which can be harmful to many fruit or tuber crops.

Observe safety measures when working with chemicals!

Chemical stump removal - video

Of course, when planting a cherry orchard or planting individual trees, it is worth exploring the most important issues much more deeply: competent pruning technology, the nuances of choosing a variety for your region, protecting cherries from diseases, which is especially relevant for the Middle Strip in recent years. All this, together with proper care in the spring and autumn, will allow you to receive abundant harvests.