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Fruit trees are very important in any gardener’s garden. After all, their fragrant harvest is extremely useful and has a wide range of applications in everyday life and cooking. Cherry plum fruits are great for making delicious jam, with which no winter is scary. Therefore, proper care of cherry plum is very important.
Soil preparation for planting
How to grow cherry plum? First of all, you need to choose the right place for its growth. To do this, it should be borne in mind that the plum does not tolerate drought, but, on the contrary, loves water very much. However, the beginnings of its flowers do not tolerate frost and winter in general.
Ideally cherry plum grows on the southwestern territory of the site, as well as on the slope. May be suitable for tree growth and the western part of the garden. In any case, the planting site of the crop must be reliably protected from the influence of strong winds, frost, lack or excess of water and other adverse environmental conditions.
Before planting plants, the soil must be fed with organic matter (manure or humus), as well as phosphates and potassium salt. After that, the entire area must be dug up. It does not make sense to apply fertilizers to black soil.
Selection of seedlings
Plum will only give a good harvest if it grows from a strong seedling. Therefore, planting material is very important.
Both annuals and biennials are planted in the ground. When buying them, special attention should be paid to the root system. It must be formed, powerful.
The main roots, 0,25 – 0,3 meters long, should be at least 5. Planting grafted trees is also acceptable. Such plants will bear fruit earlier than unvaccinated relatives and will “come to their senses” faster after frosty days.
Video “Landing”
From the video you will learn how to plant this tree correctly.
Seedling preparation
Having acquired the right seedling, you should not immediately plant it. First you need to carefully examine its roots. All dry, damaged, diseased processes must be eliminated with a pruner. Healthy organs need to be trimmed slightly. In this case, it is worth paying attention to the color of the organ. If it’s brown, cut back to white. The roots of culture should be dipped in a special “talker”. This will help maintain the correct moisture ratio and prevent the roots from drying out if they are not properly stored or transported. To prepare the talker, you will need mullein and clay, which will need to be mixed in equal proportions.
It is also permissible to “dip” the organs in the Aktara solution or another from pests and parasites.
Landing scheme
You can harvest a healthy and rich harvest only by placing the crops on the site correctly.
The distance between individuals is determined by the weather conditions of the region of their growth and the fertility of the land. In the south, planting plants in black soil, it is worth observing a 4-meter distance between them, while the gap between rows should be 5 meters. For the northern territories, these figures are 3 and 5 meters.
At first glance, it may seem that such placement of crops will help save territory, but this is a delusion. In the case of active growth, there will be little space for cherry plum. As a result, the tree will simply slow down development.
Therefore, depending on the type and variety of crops, they are planted in this way: actively growing – 7 meters between individuals and 4 between rows, medium-growing – 5 and 3 meters, respectively, and weakly growing – 4 and one and a half meters.
When planting, it is worth considering the fact that plants will need a pollinator. Trees are best able to pollinate winter-hardy crops that bloom at the same time as cherry plum. In this case, the pollinated plant should be at a distance of only a few meters. Only then will pollination be successful.
Terms of planting
You can plant this variety of plum both in autumn and in spring. At the same time, it is better to have time to hold this event before April. After all, then the culture will not yet begin to bud. As for autumn, trees should be planted before mid-September (or at least a month before severe frosts).
Late spring planting will lead to frequent diseases and slowdown of fruit crops, and late autumn planting will negatively affect the root, as a result of which the individual may simply die.
Depth of landing
The root of the seedling should always be at ground level. With not very strong penetration, the roots will be exposed. As a result, “thickets” are formed. If planted too deep, seedlings may begin to wilt, especially if they grow in heavy soil. Slight excessive deepening is possible in sandy or pebbly areas, due to their structure.
Care after landing
After planting, a growing seedling is needed in such measures to care for it:
- Regular sufficient watering;
- Removal of weeds;
- Loosening the soil;
- Mulching the land with compost or humus with chalk or dolomite flour;
- Timely pruning of branches;
- Fight against parasites and diseases.
Protection against pests and diseases
Cherry plum is subject to gray rot, brown spotting, smallpox, rust and gum disease.
The culture is usually attacked by sapwood, bark beetle, downy silkworm, codling moth.
Although the plant is considered relatively resistant, it is also “loved” by fungi. They usually provoke powdery mildew and monilial burn.
To protect the tree, it is worth taking preventive actions: remove and burn infected parts of the plant, remove old bark and infected fruits, and get rid of weeds. Stem wounds are usually treated with dissolved blue vitriol.
Tree formation
Immediately after disembarkation, plum crowns usually begin to form. Everything is taken into account: the number of branches that form the skeleton, their density, the formation of child fruiting branches. Most often, pruning leads to the formation without a tiered or cupped crown.
It is most effective to prune the crown in the spring before the buds begin to bloom. At this time, organ trimming will bring the least pain to the culture.
Accidentally removing more branches will not reduce Cherry plum yields. Dry and diseased organs are removed first, as they are potential carriers of disease. Hairy non-fruiting branches are also subject to liquidation.
Fertilizer
You can collect cherry plums, like other fruits of plums in the middle and end of summer.
After that, in the fall, under each tree, it is necessary to add additional fertilizing of organic nature (half a bucket of compost or humus per unit area). After the flowering of plants, in early spring and in the middle of summer, it is worth fertilizing the crops with urea. The next top dressing involves the introduction of potassium in the amount of 30 grams per unit area.
Watering
Watering is extremely important for cherry plum. Without them, trees will not be able to grow and develop.
Young individuals after planting and pruning should be watered abundantly.
The norm of watering for adult plants is considered to be 4 buckets of water.
It is worth moistening the soil around the trees in spring and early summer (3 times in total).
Winter
Winter frosts negatively affect fruit: roots and bark. The bright sun often provokes burns, and snow can break tree branches.
Therefore, in late autumn it is necessary to mulch the roots with leaves. This must be done before the start of frost, but not too early. After all, the trunk can be damaged and rush.
The first snow is laid on top of the mulch as high as possible.
Soil processing is completely completed in the summer. Phosphorus, which is introduced in August, will help the plant survive the winter.
It is necessary to whitewash the trunks of the tree, its shoots and forks. The tree itself should be covered with burlap.
Growing and caring for cherry plums is easy.
Video “Care”
From the video you will learn how to care for this tree.
