How to care for cherries in spring: tips from experienced gardeners, rules for care after flowering, for a good harvest

Cherry care in the spring is a wide range of measures. In order for the cherry tree to develop well and bring abundant harvests, it needs special attention in the spring.

How to care for cherries in spring

The cherry plant in the garden is considered not the most capricious, but it requires some attention. Especially important is the proper care of cherries in the spring, after the start of active vegetation, it is during this period that it is determined how good the tree will bring.

The main activities for the care of cherries in the spring in the country

With the onset of spring, several major events are required. These include:

• cleaning on the site and sanitary thinning of branches;
• wood processing from pests and fungal diseases;
• spring top dressing of crops and watering as needed;
• attract pollinating insects to the garden.

It is spring that becomes the most stressful time for the gardener. While the cherry is preparing for flowering and fruiting, it is important to give it 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-like ones. It looks more attractive in the garden, is not very demanding on conditions, and besides, it is easier to harvest from it than from a cherry tree.

Caring for bush cherries as a whole differs little from the standard. However, some procedures are recommended to pay increased attention.

Bush cherry grows much faster. Therefore, it needs to be thinned out more carefully, if the crown is too thick, the fruit shoots will begin to experience a lack of light, air and nutrients.

Bush cherry without rejuvenation abundantly bears fruit for only 8-10 years. Therefore, as the bush grows older, it is recommended to gradually remove old shoots, replacing them with young ones, this should be done for several years so that the plant rejuvenates without unnecessary stress.

How to care for young cherries

Caring for a young tree is considered easier than caring for an old cherry in the spring. As a rule, the culture begins to bear fruit only for 3-4 years of life and only from that moment requires increased attention.

Care for young cherries in the spring comes down mainly to watering on hot days and to treatment for diseases and pests. It is important to protect seedlings and developing cherry trees from mites, aphids and bark beetles, since the bark of young trees is thin, they are especially vulnerable to pest attack.

In the first 3 years of life, young trees in spring should 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 crop depends on its quality. First of all, you need to pay attention to top dressing:

1. In early spring, before the start of active vegetation, it is necessary to feed the culture with urea or calcium nitrate. Mineral fertilizers are scattered in a small amount under the trunk and loosen the soil, saltpeter or urea will contribute to active growth.
2. During the period of direct 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 positively affect the formation of ovaries.

Caring for cherries after flowering also involves fertilizing. The plant should be sprayed with a solution of urea along the crown, and this is done twice, a week after flowering, and then another 2 weeks later. Top dressing allows you to strengthen the ovaries and improves fruit ripening.

Cherry care for a big harvest

The yield of a cherry tree depends primarily on the quality of pollination. Crop care for a good harvest comes down to:

• to maintain a ventilated, unthickened crown;
• to timely prevention and treatment of ailments;
• to moderate top dressing of a plant that has entered the age of fruiting.

For a high yield, cherry trees need high-quality pollination.

Cherry care rules in spring

Spring care comes down to simple procedures. But each of them should be studied a little more carefully – this will allow you not to miss the deadlines and carry out care measures correctly.

Pruning, whitewashing and cleaning the garden

Cherry care in the spring after winter must begin immediately after the snow melts. Even before the start of active vegetation and swelling of the kidneys, the following procedures should be carried out:

1. pruning. In the spring, it is necessary to remove all weak branches from the cherry tree, 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 consume nutrients for the growth of shoots that do not take part in fruiting.
2. Whitewash. The procedure is carried out in March, for whitewashing the trunk, a lime or chalk solution is used with the addition of wallpaper glue, copper sulfate, manure and clay can also be added to the solution. Environmentally friendly whitewash protects the trunk from cracking of the bark and from the effects of pests, prevents the spread of fungal diseases. Before carrying out the procedure, moss and dried bark are cleaned from the cherry trunk, and if there are wounds on the wood, they are treated with copper sulfate and covered with garden pitch. Adult cherries must be whitened to a height of 1,5 m, and young plants – until the trunk branches.
3. Harvesting now. In early spring, for the healthy development of the plant, be sure to take time to clean the garden. All last year’s foliage and crumbling branches are removed from the site. Pests and fungal spores often hibernate under a layer of plant residues, and with the onset of spring, in the absence of cleaning, they wake up and move to the plant trunk.

To prevent the reproduction 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 in the garden and whitewash the trees.

Trunk circle processing

In the spring cherry care video, 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 to destroy part of the pests wintering in the soil;
• inhibits the growth of weeds.

The soil is cultivated under the trunks in the spring after the snow melts and the earth warms up. It is necessary to weed and loosen the soil under the crown to a depth of about 8 cm. The diameter of circular processing 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. As a mulching material, humus or hay is best.

Prevention against pests and diseases

Every spring, it is recommended to treat fungal diseases and pests, even if the tree is absolutely healthy. Preventive care helps prevent diseases and increases the chances of a good harvest:

1. In early April, at a temperature of about 15 degrees, it is recommended to process cherries with copper sulfate, Bordeaux mixture or Hom’s solution. Spraying and spilling the soil will help protect the tree from moniliosis, coccomycosis and clasterosporiasis.
2. Also, before flowering, you can spray the tree with Prophylactin – a universal remedy for aphids, mites and cherry flies. A good effect against insects is given by Nitrafen, which is also used before flowering.

After flowering, it is recommended to prophylactically treat cherries again with solutions of Skora, Topaz, Kilzar and Sparks with re-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 from ailments in order to prevent

Top dressing and watering

Cherry is able to bring good yields only on fertile soil. Cherry care for the first year is very simple, but after the tree enters the fruiting phase, you will need to supplement spring care with annual top dressing with organic matter and minerals:

1. In early spring, after thawing the soil, cherries are fertilized with substances containing nitrogen. During spring care, fruit trees can be watered with a solution of urea, about 40 g of fertilizer is dissolved in 10 liters of water.
2. Before flowering, you can scatter ammonium nitrate or nitroammophoska in the near-stem circle, and then water the ground and loosen it.
3. During the period of budding, the soil under the trunk can be spilled with a solution of superphosphate or chicken droppings and liquid mullein can be added.
4. 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 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 at first twice a week and once a month after rooting.

Caring for a cherry tree at the age of fruiting is quite simple – two spring waterings of 50-70 liters of water are enough. The first time the tree is watered before bud break, and the second time after flowering.

Pollination

All varieties of cherries produce more abundant crops if pollinators grow nearby, cherries with similar flowering periods. Planting pollinators is a very important part of care – self-fertile cherries without pollination, in principle, will not bring a crop, and self-fertile varieties will give only about 40% of the ovaries of the maximum volume.

You can raise the quality of pollination by planting honey plants

During the cherry blossom season in the spring, it must be remembered that bumblebees and bees play an important role in pollination. To attract them to the garden in the maximum number, mint, lungwort, lemon balm and other honey plants are planted near cherries or between rows.

How to protect cherries from spring frosts

Return frosts in spring are not uncommon throughout Our Country. With a sharp drop in temperature, the buds, flowers and ovaries of the cherry can die, and if the temperature in the region of -4 ° C is dangerous for the buds, then the ovaries fall already at a temperature of – 1 ° C.

There are two ways to care for young cherries in spring to protect them from frost:

1. spraying. On the eve of a cold snap, you can spray the crown with water, which will help to avoid critical freezing of flowers and buds.
2. Smoke. During a cold snap in the morning, dry manure or heaps of straw are set on fire in the garden, after sprinkling 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 a strong cold snap, the 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 give root shoots. It must be removed, but it must be done correctly.

You can’t just dig up the whole young shoots 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 overgrowth, 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 shoots at the roots of the plant must be pruned 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 Our Country can vary significantly, therefore, the care of fruit crops depends on weather conditions.

Cherry care in the spring in the suburbs

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, solid positive temperatures are established.

However, in early May, frosts often return for several days in the Moscow region. So that cherries, especially heat-loving ones, do not freeze 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 method of smoking shows itself most effectively.

How to care for cherries in Siberia

Cherry care in the spring in Siberia is associated with certain difficulties. Spring in Siberia lasts quite a long time, so in March it is necessary to shovel snow from the trunks of fruit trees on the garden plot as soon as the temperature exceeds 0 degrees. Otherwise, the root neck of the cherry may rot due to the long melting of snow under the sun.

To prevent dampening, it is also recommended to initially plant cherries on small hills up to half a meter, the soil on such hills thaws faster.

Siberian spring frosts are especially dangerous for cherries. Fan watering, which significantly increases the frost resistance of trees, and treatment with Epin’s solution helps prevent the death of flowers and ovaries. Young seedlings for the period of cooling can be additionally wrapped with light non-woven material.

In Siberia, caring for cherry crops is quite difficult due to the climate.

Cherry care in the spring in the Urals

Cherry care in the Urals includes, first of all, protecting trees from winds and drought. Rains in the spring in the Urals are quite plentiful, but strong winds can blow moisture out of the soil and compact the soil. When growing cherries in the Urals, it is important to carefully loosen the soil under the trunk in 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, both dry and hot, and cloudy and windy weather can 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

Cherry care all year round, and in particular in summer, comes down mainly to periodic watering. For the first time, about 5 buckets of water are poured under the tree trunk after flowering, the second – during the formation of berries. It is necessary to water the culture only under the condition of a hot and fairly dry summer.

From time to time in the summer it is necessary to loosen the soil in the trunk circle, removing weeds. During the ripening period of berries, fruit trees can be treated with copper oxychloride and Fufanon, solutions will protect cherries from fungal diseases and insects.

Summer care comes down mainly to watering and loosening the soil.

Tips from experienced gardeners for 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 spring. During the flowering period, cherries are sprayed with a sweet solution or hung on the branches of containers with honey or jam. This attracts more bees and therefore improves pollination.

Spring watering of cherries should be carried out, focusing primarily on the weather. If the spring turned out to be cloudy and rainy, then it is better to exclude additional moisture from the care procedure – the cherry does not tolerate swampy soil.

After planting cherries on the site, the first spring top dressing is usually carried out only for the 3rd year of the plant’s life. Until this time, the young tree has enough fertilizers 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 properly take care of the fruit plant in order to get a bountiful harvest in a couple of months.