Tips On Growing Cherries
The two
main types of cherry trees that are cultivated for their fruit are the
sweet or dessert cherry and the acid or sour cherry. The sweet is eaten
as a raw dessert and the acid is usually cooked. Named varieties are
propagated on to rootstocks by budding in mid or late summer or by
grafting in early spring. A mature cherry tree may grow up to 10m
(33ft), but the Bush Morello An (acid) tree rarely reaches 5m (16ft).
The cherry tree will need to be grown in a deep, very fertile, well
drained loam with a pH of 6.0-7.0. Sweet cherries need full sun, but
acid cherries prefer light shade.
You can plant cherry trees at any
time between mid-autumn to early spring, add mulch annually with manure
or compost. Standard and bush trees need very little pruning. Maintain
an open, balanced habit and remove dead,crossing and rubbing branches.
Sour cherries fruit shoots formed the previous season. Let the cherries
ripen on the trees for as long as possible. Sweet cherries are best
eaten at once, but acid cherries can be stored for a few days. Freeze
or preserve the cherries if you want to store them longer.
Sweet cherries will
fruit best if grown near to another variety from the same group that
flowers at the same time. You do not have to do this for the
self-pollinating types like the Morello or Stella. Flowering times are
as such early- season, mid-season, late-season. So for an example Early
rivers and the Bedford Prolific which are from the same group and are
early flowers would grow best together.
Some diseases to watch
out for are bacterial canker and silver leaf, both which are spread by
pruning. That is why the only reason to prune the cherry tree is to
keep the fan shape and to ensure that there is a constant supply of new
wood. Avoid making large cuts, as this is most likely to allow canker
to infect the tree. The main pests are birds, blackfly
(aphids) and winter moths. |
