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Red cherry plum is often used to decorate gardens and parks, but its advantages are not limited to decoration. Among cherry plums with red leaves, there are varieties with very tasty large fruits, which are cultivated not only because of their external beauty. Breeders tried to breed hybrids of southern cherry plum and plum, which can grow in the middle lane and even much further north, among them there is a variegated cherry plum, a beauty with reddish leaves and useful juicy fruits.
History of creating a variety
The red-leaved cherry plum is one of the varieties of the large-fruited cherry plum subspecies. In the southern regions, especially on the Caucasian coast, the Pissard plum is often grown. It looks amazingly beautiful with its pink flowers that darken towards the end of the process in the spring, cherry-red fruits in the summer and very bright red leaves in the fall. Botanist Pissard once brought her from Iran to Europe, where she took root in areas with a warm climate. The first specially created varieties of this variety were “Rosa”, “Hollywood”, which pleased with tasty and fairly large fruits.
A more winter-hardy variety, in demand in Our Country, is called “Hessey” (or “Hessei”). This shrubby version of the splayed plum is able to withstand frosts down to -30 degrees. Its pale green leaves, growing, acquire a purple-violet color, cream or pink border along the very edge. Delicate white flowers bloom in late April (or early May).
The columnar trees of the Cysten variety look very beautiful. The ovate leaves with a serrated edge, 6–8 cm long, are red-violet above and dark purple below, densely covering a two-meter tree, look spectacular against the background of the traditionally green foliage of other trees or the dark green of Christmas trees and pines.
The leaves of tall seven-meter trees of the “Early” variety, red-brown above, intensely red below, densely cover a rounded crown, remaining a bright color spot of the garden throughout the summer. It is hard to believe that such beauty is grown for the sake of delicious fruits, also made in red.
In the middle of the last century, breeders began to purposefully work on the creation of cherry plum varieties capable of bearing fruit in the difficult climatic conditions of the center of Our Country.
A more winter-hardy plum was taken as a basis. 
The specialists set themselves a number of tasks – they tried to create varieties that can grow and actively bear fruit in areas with cold winters, resist known types of biological aggression, and meet high requirements for fruit quality. A very good result of their work can be called the Lama variety, which is successfully cultivated not only in the middle lane, but even in the difficult conditions of the Khabarovsk Territory and the Far East.
Video “Description”
From the video you will learn a lot of new variety of red cherry plum.
Description and distinctive features of the variety
Cherry plum ‘Lama’ is a semi-dwarf tree growing from 1,3m to 2m. Young seedlings have smooth reddish-brown bark that becomes dark and rough as they mature. The flat-rounded crown quickly thickens, but is easily formed, tolerates pruning well.
The leaves are long up to 18 cm, with a serrated edge, the upper side is shiny, greenish-burgundy, and the lower side changes color during the growing season from dark red to bright chocolate. The flowers are white-pink, 3,5 cm in diameter, collected in small inflorescences of 3 – 5 pieces.
The fruits begin to ripen by mid-August, they are quite large, up to 42 g in weight, you can already pick them red, but as they ripen they become darker, almost black fall off the branches. The stone is easily separated from the dark red fibrous pulp, which is quite rare in cherry plum fruits, more often plum can boast of this. Fruits of a pleasant sweet and sour taste with a delicate almond aroma contain pectin, sugars, acids, many vitamins and minerals that strengthen the health of the body. The seeds contain a lot of oil, which is compared with almonds.
A miniature tree tolerates frosts of -35, and flowers are not afraid of frosts down to -6 degrees. It easily tolerates drought, southern genes help to withstand heat up to +40 degrees. One tree can give from 40 to 300 kg of fairly large tasty fruits, and fruiting begins in the second or third year. The tree is compact and low, which makes it easy to care for, it is almost not attacked by pests and is resistant to most diseases.
To obtain fruits, trees of other varieties are needed that will participate in cross-pollination; the Mara, Vitba, Asaloda varieties do well with this. In order for the harvest to be annual and high, one must not forget about regular pruning.
Landing
It is best to purchase seedlings from local nurseries so that they certainly grow well in your climatic conditions. It is better to choose one- or two-year-old plants with an open root system, so you can carefully examine them and select specimens with even healthy roots and aerial parts. If the root system is closed, then you need to evaluate an even stem without bumps and damage, it’s good if young roots have sprouted through the holes in the package. 
It is best to choose seedlings in the fall, in the southern regions they are planted in mid-October, but the northern residents must dig seedlings in a semi-horizontal position and wait for spring, when the air temperature is set at +12 degrees, and the earth warms up to the desired depth.
For the middle lane, the best landing time is the end of April or the beginning of May. If the tree was bought in a container, then it can be planted even in summer.
Cherry plum with red leaves can grow anywhere, it is used to surviving in the middle of mountains, on rocky slopes, even in swampy lowlands, the main thing is that the soil is not too acidic. But to get a rich harvest, it is better to settle it on bright hills or slopes, protected from the cold wind, so that neither tall trees nor buildings block the sun from it.
It is better to choose a fertile, well-permeable water and air soil, and groundwater should lie no closer than 1,5 – 2 m to the surface of the earth. If it is too acidic, then lime or dolomite flour should be added in advance. Two weeks before planting, you need to dig a hole up to 60 cm deep and about 1 meter wide, mix the excavated earth with superphosphate and humus, fill half the hole with this mixture. Several trees are planted at a distance of one and a half meters from each other. If a cherry plum garden is laid, then the rows are placed every two meters.
In the middle of the pit, a strong peg up to 1 meter high is driven in. Before planting, the roots are dipped into an earthen mash with the addition of Heteroauxin. They are straightened, evenly laid out over the entire width of the pit, sprinkled with earth, carefully ramming it. The root neck is left a couple of centimeters below ground level. The stem is tied to a peg, the tree is watered abundantly using several buckets of water, then the entire surface above the pit is mulched with grass or dry earth. All shoots are shortened by a third.
Care of a tree
Caring for an adult tree does not involve constant trouble, it does not require constant attention. Cherry plum needs to be watered, fed, cut, sheltered for the winter, protected from pests and diseases, cut off the fruits in time so that they do not have to be collected from the ground later.
Mature trees may well tolerate periods of drought, but young ones should be watered every two weeks before fruiting (especially in the middle of a hot summer). Watering should be plentiful so that all the roots are well saturated with moisture, 3 – 4 buckets will have to be poured into the prepared hole around the trunk. For an adult tree, watering is carried out according to the weather, but twice a season it is necessary to fill the near-stem circle with water – when the fruits begin to form (May or early June) and after harvesting before preparing for the dormant period (September – October).
Before bud break in the spring, experienced gardeners recommend spraying the tree with a solution of urea, this is both a foliar top dressing and a preventive measure that protects the plant from enemies and diseases. It is often advised to carry out such top dressing a few weeks after planting, but urea can burn young leaves, it is better to do this top dressing on unblown buds.
It is mandatory to apply nitrogen fertilizers in the spring for the first two to three years in order to accelerate survival and stimulate plant growth. Granules of ammonium nitrate are advised to scatter over the root system, in the region of half a meter around the trunk. For an adult tree, it is enough to apply complex mineral fertilizers, including nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus, into a specially prepared groove along the perimeter of the near-stem circle every year in the spring. Humus and compost are used instead of mulch, stacking them around the trunk (50 cm radius) for the overall health of the tree, supporting a regular bountiful harvest.
The same goal – abundant fruiting, the general health of the tree – is regular pruning. For the first few years, pruning is aimed at forming a crown – for a good growth of this compact, low tree, 9 – 11 skeletal branches are enough. Annually, starting from the second year of life, it is necessary to shorten the annual shoots, which grow by 1–1,5 meters per season, it is on their middle part that the fruits appear. Cherry plum is prone to thickening, so every year you have to cut out extra shoots and shorten existing ones so that the sun gets inside the crown. Pruning is done with sharp tools in early spring before the buds open. All sections, the diameter of which approaches 1 cm, must be treated with garden pitch to prevent infection and help the tree heal the wound.
Toward the end of autumn, with the approach of frost, the tree trunk and the bases of the skeletal branches are whitened with a mixture containing clay, chalk and Karbofos, you can simply use acrylic or water-based paint. The trunk circle is mulched with manure, compost or humus, covered with dry earth on top. If very severe frosts are expected, then they cover with spruce branches, lutrasil or other material. If there are a large number of rodents nearby, then the trunk and skeletal branches should be wrapped with burlap or something else. Rodents usually do not touch whitewashed trunks, so whitewashing is at the same time a good protection against mice and hares.
Diseases and pests
Cherry plum in general, and the Lama variety especially, thanks to the efforts of breeders, shows amazing resistance to pests and diseases. But there are such adverse circumstances, the confluence of which provokes various diseases. So, a long period of humidity combined with coolness or, conversely, prolonged heat can weaken the plant and strengthen pathogens. Then the cherry plum is threatened by fungal diseases: perforated spot, monilial burn or verticillium. This happens very rarely, but special drugs will come to the rescue. To avoid the troubles associated with diseases, you need to monitor the cleanliness around the trees, remove leaves and weeds, loosen and mulch the ground, make sure that the entire crown is penetrated by sunlight, and do not leave fallen fruits under the tree.
Harmful insects, and these can be aphids, mites, codling moths, hibernate or leave offspring in the ground around the tree or under its bark. If you monitor the cleanliness of the near-stem circle, whiten and clean the bark of a tree, remove root shoots in time, then pests will not interfere with a quiet life and fruiting.
Harvesting
Fruits on compact low trees of the Lama variety begin to ripen from mid-August. When they turn red, they can already be harvested, during storage they will ripen, acquire a darker color. Usually the berries are harvested in a day or two, without waiting until they become completely dark, because they do not hold well on the tree, a summer downpour or a strong wind is quite capable of transferring the entire crop from the tree under it. That is why experienced gardeners under cherry plum trees allow clover or other grass to grow, which has not too deep roots – it will not take many nutrients from the tree, and when the fruit falls, it will save them from injury.
In the second – third year, the tree can already give up to 30 kg of fruits, and after ten years – up to 300 kg of delicious sweet and sour berries. Berries keep well for several months if placed in wooden boxes and kept at a low temperature. They are very useful when consumed fresh, but many of the substances our body needs are also contained in delicious desserts made from them. Juices, preserves, jams and marmalades, marmalades and even sauces for meat – all this is made from cherry plum.
Video “Growing”
From the video you will learn how to grow a cherry plum fruit tree.
