Growing Cherries From Sprouts

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Novice gardeners often believe that sweet cherry is one of the most whimsical and pampered fruit crops, capable of fully growing only in sunny southern conditions. Nevertheless, it is quite possible to get rich harvests in central Russia as well. And you can grow a sweet cherry from the growth, the main thing is to comply with all the necessary conditions during planting and provide it with proper care

Growing secrets

Experienced summer residents often remove and discard cherry shoots, and it is completely in vain - excellent trees can be grown from it! One-year-old shoots will be the most suitable for growing future fruit trees, and it is necessary to dig it out in the second year after appearance (in the very first year it should grow a little and get a little stronger, since young shoots at this age are still very weak).

Approximately in the middle of April (in the second year), they begin to prepare pits in which cherry shoots will be planted. And since the beautiful cherry reacts extremely painfully to any transplantation, it is important to try not to miss the choice of a suitable place for planting it.

Two-year-old shoots are planted in pits with dimensions of 50x50x50 cm. Before planting, the upper soil layer is mixed with a couple of tablespoons of nitrophoska and a bucket of humus. It is especially important to do this on acidic soils, which cherries do not like very much. It does not hurt to add wood ash to this mixture - a liter jar will be enough. The pits are filled with such a composition by about 1/2 - 3/4, and the contents of these pits are sprinkled on top with ordinary unfertilized earth, after which, having planted young shoots, they are well watered. If the seedlings are trying to go deep into the soil when watering, then, holding them by the trunks, they are neatly pulled up. And, finally, at the very end, near-trunk circles are formed and mulched thoroughly.

Development features

Experienced gardeners do not recommend fertilizing the planted shoots for the first couple of years - the seedlings will have more than enough regular watering and pruning of excess shoots that take away their strength.

As a rule, cherries begin to delight with their flowering only in the third or fourth year after planting. And since during the growing season, young sweet cherries manage to grow quite a lot, excess branches should be cut off in time - the tree crowns should be well lit by the sun.

For a year, the shoots have time to grow approximately sixty to eighty centimeters. It is best to prune them closer to the beginning of autumn. You should not ignore pruning, since the formation of the crown takes place over four to five years, and in the absence of pruning, cherry trees can easily grow up to five meters in height, and this will inevitably lead to an insignificant amount of fruits and a rather low quality of the crop.

Which varieties should you prefer for planting?

In order for the sweet cherry to successfully take root on the site, you should not discount the climatic conditions of your region. In areas with an unimportant climate, it is best to try to grow such winter-hardy varieties as Sinyavskaya, Chermashnaya or Fatezh. Both for the Moscow region and for the regions located to the north, they will be the best option. However, the Fatezh variety will grow well in the middle lane, as it is characterized by resistance to cold weather and unexpected spring frosts even during the flowering period. The first fruits of a tree of this variety begin to give already after reaching three years, and in the ninth or tenth year, closer to mid-July, it will be possible to collect two to three dozen kilograms of wonderful pink fruits from them.

Such varieties as "Ovstuzhenka" and "Inut" with "Rechitsa", as well as "Veda", "Tyutchevka" and fragrant "Revna" are also distinguished by good winter hardiness. And the most winter-hardy are rightfully considered "Bryanskaya rozovaya", juicy "Krasnaya Gorka" and spectacular "Bryanochka".

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Sweet cherries are almost always grafted on their fellow tribesmen, but in the middle lane and in more northern regions it is best to graft them on cherry seedlings (the Shubinka variety is especially good for this). As a rule, cherries grafted onto cherries are formed in the form of three- or five-stemmed bushes - upon reaching the age of ten, such bushes often reach two or two and a half meters in height.