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Caring for cherries in spring is a wide range of measures. In order for the cherry tree to develop well and bring abundant harvests, it needs to be given special attention in the spring.
How to properly care for cherries in spring
The cherry plant in the garden is not considered the most capricious, but it requires some attention. Proper care of cherries in the spring is especially important, after the active growing season begins; it is during this period that it is determined how good the harvest the tree will bring.
Basic measures for caring for cherries in the spring at the dacha
With the onset of spring, several basic activities are required. These include:
- cleaning the site and sanitary thinning of branches;
- wood treatment against pests and fungal diseases;
- spring fertilizing of crops and watering as needed;
- attracting pollinating insects to the garden.
It is spring that becomes the busiest time for a gardener. While the cherry is preparing to flower and lay fruit ovaries, it is important to provide it with maximum support; in later periods, the tree requires much less care.
Cherry trees require special attention in spring
How to care for bush cherries
Bush-type cherries are in many ways considered more convenient than tree-type cherries. It looks more attractive in the garden, has low demands on conditions, and is also easier to harvest from than a cherry tree.
Caring for bush cherries in general differs little from the standard. However, it is recommended to pay special attention to some procedures.
Bush cherries grow much faster. Therefore, it needs to be thinned out more carefully; if the crown is too thick, the fruit shoots will begin to lack light, air and nutrients.
Bush cherries without rejuvenation bear fruit abundantly for only 8-10 years. Therefore, as the bush matures, it is recommended to gradually remove old shoots, replacing them with young ones; this must be done over several years so that the plant rejuvenates without unnecessary stress.
How to care for young cherries
Caring for a young tree is considered simpler than caring for an old cherry tree in the spring.As a rule, a crop begins to bear fruit only at 3-4 years of age and only from this moment does it require increased attention.
Caring for young cherries in the spring comes down mainly to watering on hot days and treating them against diseases and pests. It is important to protect seedlings and developing cherry trees from ticks, aphids and bark beetles, since the bark of young trees is thin, they are especially vulnerable to attack by pests.
In the first 3 years of life, young trees in the spring need to be mainly protected from pests
How to care for cherries before, during and after flowering
Flowering is a particularly important stage; the abundance of the harvest depends on its quality. First of all, you need to pay attention to fertilizing:
- In early spring, before the start of active growing season, it is necessary to feed the crop with urea or calcium nitrate. Mineral fertilizers are scattered in small quantities under the trunk and loosen the soil; saltpeter or urea will promote active growth.
- During the period of immediate flowering, cherries can be fertilized with manure or bird droppings, as well as minerals containing nitrogen. Such care will improve the quality and abundance of flowering, which will have a positive effect on the formation of ovaries.
Caring for cherries after flowering also involves fertilizing. The plant should be sprayed with a urea solution over the crown, and this should be done twice, a week after flowering, and then another 2 weeks later. Fertilizing helps strengthen the ovaries and improves the ripening of fruits.
Caring for cherries for a large harvest
The productivity of a cherry tree depends primarily on the quality of pollination. Crop care for a good harvest comes down to:
- to maintaining a ventilated, unthickened crown;
- to timely prevention and treatment of illnesses;
- to moderate feeding of plants that have entered the age of fruiting.
For a high yield, cherry trees need high-quality pollination.
Rules for caring for cherries in spring
Spring care comes down to simple procedures. But each of them is worth studying a little more carefully - this will allow you not to miss deadlines and carry out care measures correctly.
Pruning, whitewashing and garden cleaning
Caring for cherries in the spring after winter should begin immediately after the snow melts. Even before the start of active vegetation and swelling of the buds, the following procedures must be carried out:
- Pruning. In the spring, it is necessary to remove from the cherry tree all weak branches, shoots that have broken during the winter and branches that thicken the crown. Timely pruning will allow the plant to receive more oxygen and light; in addition, the tree will not spend nutrients on the growth of shoots that do not take part in fruiting.
- Whitewash. The procedure is carried out in March; to whitewash the trunk, a lime or chalk solution is used with the addition of wallpaper glue; you can also add copper sulfate, manure and clay to the solution. Environmentally friendly whitewashing protects the trunk from cracking of the bark and from the effects of pests, and prevents the spread of fungal diseases. Before carrying out the procedure, moss and dried bark are removed from the cherry trunk, and if there are wounds on the wood, they are treated with copper sulfate and covered with garden pitch.Mature cherry trees must be whitened to a height of 1.5 m, and young plants - until the trunk branches.
- Garden cleaning. In early spring, for the healthy development of the plant, you definitely need to spend time cleaning the garden. All last year's foliage and fallen branches are removed from the site. Pests and fungal spores often overwinter under a layer of plant debris, and with the onset of spring, in the absence of cleaning, they wake up and move to the plant trunk.
To prevent the proliferation of pests and fungal diseases, plant debris should not only be removed from the site, but also burned.
At the beginning of spring, it is very important to remove plant debris from the garden and whiten the trees.
Processing tree trunk circles
In the video of cherry tree care in spring, you can see a procedure such as loosening and weeding the soil near the tree trunk. Processing helps achieve several goals:
- provides good access of moisture and air to the roots;
- helps destroy some of the pests overwintering in the soil;
- prevents the growth of weeds.
The soil under the trunks is cultivated in the spring after the snow has melted and the earth has warmed up. You need to weed and loosen the soil under the crown to a depth of about 8 cm. The diameter of the circular cultivation for young trees is about 1.5 m, for adults - from 2 to 4 m.
To protect the roots from overheating and to retain moisture in the soil for a long time, it is also recommended to use mulch in the spring. Humus or hay are the best mulching materials.
Prevention against pests and diseases
Every spring it is recommended to carry out treatment against fungal diseases and pests, even if the tree is absolutely healthy. Preventative care helps prevent diseases and increases the chances of a good harvest:
- In early April, at a temperature of about 15 degrees, it is recommended to treat cherries with copper sulfate, Bordeaux mixture or Homa solution. Spraying and shedding the soil will help protect the tree from moniliosis, coccomycosis and klyasterosporiosis.
- Also, before flowering, you can spray the tree with Prophylactic, a universal remedy against aphids, mites and cherry flies. Nitrafen, which is also used before flowering, has a good effect against insects.
After flowering, it is recommended to once again treat the cherry prophylactically with solutions of Skor, Topaz, Kilzar and Iskra with repeated treatment after 2 weeks. Some harmful insects reproduce in waves, several times per season, so a one-time spring treatment is not enough for high-quality prevention.
It is necessary to spray fruit crops against ailments for preventive purposes.
Feeding and watering
Cherries can produce good harvests only on fertile soil. Caring for cherries for the first year is very simple, but after the tree enters the fruiting phase, you will need to supplement spring care with annual fertilizing with organic matter and minerals:
- In early spring, after the soil has thawed, cherries are fertilized with substances containing nitrogen. During spring care, you can water the fruit trees with a urea solution; about 40 g of fertilizer is dissolved in 10 liters of water.
- Before flowering, you can sprinkle ammonium nitrate or nitroammophoska in the tree trunk circle, and then water the soil and loosen it.
- During the period when buds appear, the soil under the trunk can be shed with a solution of superphosphate or chicken manure and liquid mullein can be added.
- At the end of flowering, the plant is fertilized with a solution of nitrophoska, about 2 buckets of water under the trunk, the substance is diluted in a volume of 50 g per 10 liters of water.
As for regular watering in the spring, in general, cherries are considered a drought-resistant crop, and they tolerate a lack of moisture better than waterlogged soil. Frequent watering is necessary only for young seedlings; they are watered twice a week at first and once a month after rooting.
Caring for a cherry tree at fruiting age is quite simple - two spring waterings of 50-70 liters of water are enough. The first time the tree is watered before the buds open, and the second time - after flowering.
Pollination
Any varieties of cherries produce more abundant harvests if pollinators grow nearby, cherries with similar flowering periods. Planting pollinators is a very important part of care - self-sterile cherries without pollination, in principle, will not bear fruit, and self-fertile varieties will produce only about 40% of the maximum volume of ovaries.
You can improve the quality of pollination by planting honey plants
During the cherry blossom period in the spring, it is necessary to remember that bumblebees and bees play a large role in pollination. To attract them to the garden in maximum quantities, mint, lungwort, lemon balm and other melliferous plants are planted near the cherries or between the rows.
How to protect cherries from spring frosts
Returning frosts in spring are not uncommon throughout Russia. With a sharp drop in temperature, cherry buds, flowers and ovaries can die, and if a temperature around -4 °C is dangerous for the buds, the ovaries fall off at a temperature of -1 °C.
There are two ways to care for young cherries in the spring to protect them from frost:
- Spraying. On the eve of cold weather, you can spray the crown with water, which will help avoid critical freezing of flowers and buds.
- Smoke. During cold weather, dry manure or heaps of straw are set on fire in the garden in the morning, having first sprinkled them with damp earth. After several hours of smoldering, a dense smoke screen forms around the cherry trees, the temperature inside of which rises by about 1.5 °C.
With severe cold weather, partial death of flowers and ovaries becomes almost inevitable. But competent care measures help minimize losses.
How to get rid of cherry growth
Some cherry varieties actively produce root shoots. It must be removed, but it must be done correctly.
You can’t just dig up young shoots entirely in the spring—this has the opposite effect. Very quickly, in place of the dug out shoot, several new ones grow at once. To combat the shoots, it is necessary to cut off only part of the excess shoot, leaving it to rise about 20 cm above ground level. In this case, the cherry will not expend energy either on feeding the shoots or on the development of new shoots.
The growth at the roots of the plant must be trimmed in the spring.
Spring care for cherries in the regions
The rules for caring for cherries in the spring are largely determined by the region of growth. The climate in different regions of Russia can differ significantly, therefore the care of fruit crops depends on weather conditions.
Caring for cherries in spring in the Moscow region
The Moscow region is considered one of the most attractive regions for growing cherries. Spring here usually begins in the middle or end of March, and by mid-April the temperatures are above zero.
However, in early May, frosts often return for several days in the Moscow region. To prevent cherries, especially heat-loving ones, from freezing in the spring, it is recommended to plant them in bright places in the garden under the cover of buildings or high hedges. Spring care comes down mainly to protection from sudden cold snaps; the smoking method is most effective.
How to care for cherries in Siberia
Caring for cherries in spring in Siberia is associated with certain difficulties. Spring in Siberia lasts quite a long time, so in March it is necessary to remove snow from the trunks of fruit trees in the garden plot as soon as the temperature exceeds 0 degrees. Otherwise, the root neck of the cherry tree may dry out due to the long melting of snow under the sun.
To prevent damping off, it is also recommended to initially plant cherries at small elevations of up to half a meter; the soil at such elevations thaws faster.
Siberian spring frosts pose a particular danger to cherries. Fan watering, which significantly increases the frost resistance of trees, and treatment with Epin solution help prevent the death of flowers and ovaries. Young seedlings can be additionally wrapped in light non-woven material during cold weather.
In Siberia, caring for the cherry crop is quite difficult due to the climate
Cherry care in spring in the Urals
Caring for cherries in the Urals includes, first of all, protecting the trees from winds and drought. The rains in spring in the Urals are quite heavy, but strong winds can blow moisture out of the soil and compact the soil.When growing cherries in the Urals, it is important to thoroughly loosen the soil under the trunk in the spring to improve aeration, and it is best to plant trees in a sunny area and under the cover of tall buildings.
In the Urals, flowers and ovaries often fall off in the spring due to climatic changes; dry and hot weather, as well as cloudy and windy weather, can cause damage. To improve flowering and fruiting, it is recommended to treat cherries with solutions of Epin and Novosil.
How to care for cherries in summer
Caring for cherries all year round, and in particular in summer, comes down mainly to periodic watering. The first time, about 5 buckets of water are poured under the tree trunk after flowering, the second time - during the formation of berries. The crop needs to be watered only in hot and fairly dry summers.
From time to time in the summer it is necessary to loosen the soil in the tree trunk circle, removing weeds. During the ripening period, fruit trees can be treated with copper oxychloride and Fufanon; the solutions will protect the cherries from fungal diseases and insects.
Summer care comes down mainly to watering and loosening the soil.
Tips from experienced gardeners on caring for cherries in spring
The presence of pollinators in the garden does not always guarantee high yields. Experienced gardeners use the following method to increase fruiting in the spring. During the flowering period, cherries are sprayed with a sweet solution or containers with honey or jam are hung on the branches. This attracts more bees, which means better pollination.
Spring watering of cherries should be carried out, focusing primarily on the weather. If the spring turns out to be cloudy and rainy, then it is better to exclude additional moisture from the care procedure - cherries do not tolerate waterlogged soil.
After planting cherries on the site, the first spring feeding is usually carried out only in the 3rd year of the plant’s life. Until this time, the young tree has enough fertilizer applied during planting.
Conclusion
Caring for cherries in the spring requires increased attention from the gardener. It is during the period of flowering and the formation of ovaries that it is necessary to take proper care of the fruit plant in order to get a bountiful harvest in a couple of months.
