Cherry, like apple and plum, has always been a sought-after source of vitamins. The culture is of interest to gardeners for its exquisite form of flowers, its fruits are widely used in cooking, and the tree is a honey plant. Cherry is considered an undemanding crop and grows well in any climatic environment. In terms of the quality of berries and yield, the plant simply has no equal. How to care for cherries to achieve such results? This will be discussed further.
Tree care
Constant fruiting is the result of conscientious care regardless of the type of cherry. The decisive methods of plant care are the same for all fruits: watering, loosening the earth, protection from pests and diseases, fertilizer and pruning. Starting from spring throughout the growing season, the soil under the trees and bushes of cherries should be porous and clean from weeds. And yet, how to care for cherries exactly at this time?
In order to guarantee the safety of the culture, it is necessary to apply such methods of care:
- Throughout the spring, mulch the soil around the planted tree. For these purposes, gardeners use fertilizers or sawdust. A similar procedure will make it possible to protect the earth from moisture evaporation, covering the soil with bark and lack of oxygen to the roots.
- If the soil was well fertilized when planting cherries, then the first two years to feed a young culture is not necessary. Young cherry is periodically required to be watered, freed from weeds and loosened the ground.
- At the end of September, you need to dig the soil in a circle of trees. Near the trunk, the depth should be no more than 10 cm, and in the trunk circumference - 20 cm.
Watering the crop
How to care for cherry seedlings at the first time of planting? It is often necessary to water the plant. The norm is 12 irrigations for the entire season, but the volumes can be increased in the hot summer. It would be better not to fill the water in the near-stem circle, but to use drip irrigation or aryky irrigation method. After watering, the circle is loosened into a small depression to improve the structure of the earth and prevent it from drying out.
Cherry Fertilizer
How to care for a young cherry? If the goal is to get plentiful harvests, then when growing crops, you may need to constantly add compost to the soil. For this, gardeners use such methods:
- every two years during autumn digging, organic fertilizers are required, for which rotted manure, compost or peat is used;
- in early spring it will be necessary to add urea or ammonium nitrate under the tree itself (dosage of nitrogen substances - 50-70 g);
- during the growing season of cherry, two additional top dressings with complex or nitrogen fertilizers need to be carried out (the first recharge is carried out immediately after flowering of the plant, and the second after 15 days);
- they also fertilize cherries with phosphorus fragrances with a weight of 180-200 g or potash substances, the norm of which is 70-80 g.
Tree pruning
How to care for cherries in spring? At this time of the year, it is just necessary to cut the berry crop. Only doing it is better on a warm, not on a frosty day. Cutting the tree is required before the time when the sap flow begins and the buds swell. To form the crown of young trees, take some strong, main branches and cut them along the length of the lower ones. Low sprouts remain without pruning. The defining center branch is cut 20 cm above the common point. Part of the intermediate shoots are removed, making sure that they do not get confused with each other.
In fruiting cherries, whose age is more than 4 years, only crowns are thinned out. Young trees should not be pruned, as this can lead to the intensive appearance of sprouts. As a rule, thinning is performed every 2-3 years and only too long gains are removed.
How to prune a cherry tree
Cutting the excess length of the tree branches will be useful if this is a plant with a one-year growth and its shoots are at least 50 cm long. Cutting the branches to 1/7 of the length will help to create a good crown and bouquet stems. Annual sprouts can be shortened even throughout the summer. Anti-aging pruning is done when the annual growth is at least 15 cm. How to care for cherries and when is it better to start cutting the shoots?
It is better not to rush to cut the cherry in the spring (both tree-like and bush), since there is a chance that the culture froze during the winter period, and which branches are healthy and which are lifeless - it will become known only at the beginning of summer.
Pest and Disease Control
How to care for cherries, if the tree can attack various diseases and parasites? First of all, it is necessary to protect the plant from many insects trying to intensify their actions after frost. At this time, you need to carefully monitor the state of the cherry, because in the spring it can easily catch any disease. Most often, the tree suffers from such ailments as moniliosis and coccomycosis. And it can also be damaged due to the presence of different bugs.
Who can harm the culture
There are many parasites that can easily penetrate the cherry tree, namely:
- goldfish, larvae of the ringed silkworm and hawthorn (eat young leaves and buds);
- caterpillars of the mucous sawfly (spoil the petals);
- cherry weevils (ruin the pulp of berries and flowers);
- flower aphid (damages stems and leaves);
- cherry moth (injures the kidneys during swelling).
Some tips
How to care for cherries in the spring and protect it from insects? To protect the tree, you need to spray. The most effective means are azofoska and Bordeaux solution. To obtain the best result, it is proposed to use these tools by alternating them. For example, during the opening of the kidneys, it is recommended to spray with an azophos, and after two weeks, repeat spraying with a Bordeaux mixture.
The timely and appropriate implementation of all procedures for the care of a cherry tree serves as a guarantee of cultivating a healthy crop and getting a generous harvest.
How to care for felt cherries
Such a plant, in its simple and biological properties, is closer to plum. It can interbreed not only with it, but also with apricot, cherry plum and even peach. But felted culture does not combine with ordinary cherries. It is still an individual type of microcherry.
The birthplace of felt cherry is China, which is why it has a second name - Chinese cherry. It grows like an ornamental shrub. In Russia, this variety appeared thanks to Michurin, who created a large garden view and gave it the name Ando.
Felt cherry is called due to pubescence on leaves, branches, sometimes fruits.
Care
How to care for cherries, which needs a kind of care? Yes, not as difficult as it might immediately seem. This tree cannot self-pollinate, and therefore several varieties should be planted simultaneously. The most favorable period for planting is the beginning of spring, when the buds have not yet opened. If planting is done in the fall, then it is necessary to plant no later than September. And seedlings purchased late, it will be better to dig in until spring.
The central part of the crown needs to be thinned out every year, and also leave somewhere 10-12 solid shoots. It is wonderful to bear felt cherry already in its third year. With one tree with a correct planting and appropriate care, you can remove up to 4 kg of fruits.
The berries themselves are very juicy, have a sweet taste and delicate aroma. The color of cherries varies from bright pink to dark red (color depends on the variety).
Felt cherry is bred with seeds, which are planted in October in holes of 2-3 cm. Young shoots rise in spring.