Cherries
the good is they are good for bbq smoke
bad is they take 4 years to grow fruit or to be able to chip wood for smoke
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbKS8HDwOdM
Description
Sweet cherries are the ones most often found in markets. They have a thick, rich, and almost plumb-like texture. Traditionally, sweet cherry trees are self-sterile and best for an orchard or a large garden. You'll need at least two or three trees so that they can pollinate each other. However, a recent and exciting development in sweet cherries is the dwarf self-pollinating “Stella.” (See image below.)
Sour cherries are not usually eaten raw, but are widely used for preserves and other cooking uses. Sour cherries are much smaller than sweet cherries and all varieties are self-fertile.
Standard-size trees start bearing fruit in their fourth year and can produce 30 to 50 quarts of cherries each year.
Dwarf Cherry Tree (Prunus Avium 'Compact Stella'). Credit: www.spaldingbulb.co.uk
Photo Credit:
www.spaldingbulb.co.uk
Sun Exposure:
Full Sun
Soil Type:
Any
Botanical Name:
Prunus avium (Sweet Cherries) Prunus cerasus(Sour Cherries)
Plant Type:
Fruit
Hardiness Zone:
4
5
6
7
Soil pH:
Slightly Acidic to Neutral
Planting
- For sweet cherries, make sure the different varieties will pollinate each other.
- Plant sweet cherries in late fall or early winter if grown outside, or at any time if container grown.
- When planting fan-trained trees, construct the necessary supports before planting.
- Space fanned trees 15 to 18 feet apart.
- Planting for sour cherries is the same as for sweet cherries, however, space bushes and fans only 12 to 15 feet apart.
Care
- Thinning is not necessary.
- Apply mulch to retain moisture.
- Drape netting over trees to protect the fruit from birds.
- Water routinely in dry areas.
- There is no difference in care between sour and sweet cherries.
Pests/Diseases
- Aphids
- Caterpillars
- Brown Rot
- Black Knot
- Bacterial Canker (cut out any branches with signs of black knot or bacterial canker as soon as possible)
- Birds
Harvest/Storage
- Pick fruits with stalks when fully ripe.
- Eat or cook immediately.
- Pick fruits when firm if they are to be frozen.
- Hand-picking may injure the shoots and cause infection; Cut the stalks with scissors
Three Parts:Preparing Cherry SeedsPlanting Cherry SeedsCaring for Young
Cherry TreesQuestions and Answers
All
commercial cherries are grown from grafts or tissue samples so the growers know
exactly what they're getting. Planting the pits is a project for home growers
who want to take on a challenge and see what comes up. Keep in mind that cherry
trees often grow to 25 ft (7.6 m) or taller. You can't always guarantee fruit,
so make sure you want that centerpiece in your yard!
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1.
1
Know what to expect. Cherries
do not grow true to seed, meaning the tree won't be the same variety as its
parent.[1] You might
get a tree that can't survive your climate or local diseases, or that doesn't
bear tasty fruit. But you might get a new and beautiful tree, and either way
you'll have fun along the way.
·
If you want better odds, plant a young tree instead. A local nursery can recommend a hybrid
plant suited to your climate and soil.
2.
2
Choose your cherries. Ideally,
find fresh cherries from a local tree or farmer's market in mid to late summer.
Early-fruiting varieties are often sterile, while grocery store fruit can work
but tends to have a low success rate.[2][3] Get a good
large handful, since not all of them will sprout. There are two common species
of cherry to choose from:[4]
·
Almost all fresh cherries for sale are sweet cherries.
These are the best for eating, but most are only hardy in USDA hardiness zones
5–7.
·
Sour cherries tend to be easier to grow, and can
survive in zones 3-8 depending on variety. The fresh kind can be hard to track down,
so ask around at your farmer's market.
3.
3
Eat the fruit. Lucky for
you, the flesh of the fruit needs to go before planting. Enjoy the fruit and
wipe off the last bits clinging to the seed with a damp paper towel.
·
If it's still early or mid-summer, let the seeds dry
on a paper towel for a couple days, then store in an airtight container in a
cool spot.[5] Retrieve
them in late summer and continue to the next step.
4.
4
Consider planting outdoors in
early fall. Cherries need to experience constant damp and cold for 3–5 months in
order to germinate. If you get cold winter weather about this long but don't
get below -20ºF / -30ºC, you can go the easy route and plant the cherries in
fall. If you decide to do this, skip down to the next section. If you don't
live in this climate or you prefer a method with a higher success rate,
continue to the next step instead.
·
Sweet cherries do best with a couple weeks of warm
weather before the cold. Planting in late summer or the very start of fall can
accomplish this. However, a "warm snap" after the
cold weather has started can send some cherries back into dormancy.[6] Refer to
an almanac or other long-term weather prediction to avoid this.
5.
5
·
Buy fresh, sterile milled sphagnum moss. This material
fights off mold, which is the biggest risk at this stage. Handle moss with clean gloves to avoid introducing spores.
·
Put the moss in a plastic bag or container and add
room temperature water (68ºF / 20ºC).[9] Let it
absorb the water for 8–10 hours, then squeeze out the extra moisture.
·
Pop a few air holes in the lid. If using a plastic
bag, leave it slightly open at the top.
·
Add the cherry seeds and leave them there for two
weeks at the same temperature. Check after the first day or two to pour out
standing water, then weekly to throw out moldy seeds (if any).
6.
6
Transfer to cold, moist
material. Next, you
need to convince your indoor cherries they're going through winter. This
"cold stratification" treatment is very similar to the last step,
with a few details changed:
·
You can use sphagnum moss again, but peat moss or a
50/50 mix of peat moss and sand may work best.[10] Vermiculite
will work as well.[11]
·
Add enough water to moisten the material without
getting it soggy, then add seeds.
·
Place in the refrigerator or other area between 33º
and 41ºF (0.5 to 5ºC) (ideally at the top of this range).[12]
7.
7
Keep refrigerated for about 90
days. Most
cherries need three months of cold treatment before they're ready to plant, and
some prefer five. Check on the seeds every week or so. Pour out standing water
if present, and add a little more water if the material is drying out.
·
Check more often toward the end of this period. If the
hard seed coats have begun to crack, plant right away or reduce the temperature
to 32ºF (0ºC) until you're ready.[13]
8.
8
Plant in spring. As soon as
the last severe spring frost passes, the cherries can go in the ground.[14] Check
out the next section for detailed instructions.
·
If you want to get started early, you can plant the
cherries in a large indoor pot.
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1.
1
Choose a spot with good soil. Cherries
need plenty of sun and good air circulation. They prefer fertile, sandy soil
with excellent drainage and neutral or slightly acidic pH.[15]
·
The young tree needs room for a taproot. If planting
in a container, it should be at least 8 inch (20 cm) deep.
·
Cherries are very hard to grow in clay soil. If you
want to make a serious attempt, build a raised bed 1 foot (0.3 meters)
high.
2.
2
Plant less than 1 inch (2.5
cm) deep. Poke a
hole with your finger down to the first knuckle, and drop a cherry seed into
the hole. Plant the cherries 1 ft (0.3 meters) apart for now, but expect to
transplant the survivors 20 ft (6m) apart eventually.[16]
·
You can plant the cherries closer together, but you'll
need to thin them once the shoots reach 2 inches (5 cm) high.[17]
3.
3
Cover depending on the season. If you
went with the fall planting method, cover with 1–2 inches (2.5–5 cm) of sand.
This prevents a frozen crust from blocking the shoots once they come up. If
you're planting the seeds in spring, just sprinkle a light cover of soil and
water it in.[18]
4.
4
Protect seeds from rodents. If planted
directly in the ground instead of pots, the seeds will be a major target for
digging and burrowing animals. Cover the area with a wire screen or hardware
cloth, bend the edges, and sink them several inches into the ground to form a
barrier.[19] Remove
this barrier once the first sprouts appear.
5.
5
Water occasionally after the
last frost. Water the seeds lightly after the last spring frost. Water only once
the soil is almost dry. Young cherries cannot stand waterlogged soil, but can't
stay dry for too long either.
6.
6
Wait for germination. Cherries
are slow to germinate. If you followed both the warm and cold stratification
steps, you can expect to see some sprouts within the next few months. Even
then, some seeds might take an entire year to germinate, breaking ground the
following spring.
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1.
1
Keep the soil slightly moist. You'll
want to keep the soil moist but not waterlogged. Once the cherry develops a
taproot, test the soil to a depth of 3 inches (7.5 cm) and water whenever this
feels dry. Water in a slow trickle until the soil is wet to the depth of the
root.[20] This won't
take long at first, but remember to adapt as the cherry grows to a proper tree.
2.
2
Transplant once established. Once the
plants have grown to about 6 in (15 cm), or large enough for their roots to
compete or hit the base of a pot, give them some extra space. Either thin out
the shortest sprouts or transfer them further apart. Each tree should have 20 ft (6m) of space.
·
Keep in mind that cherries can grow 25–50 ft (7.6–15.2
m) tall, depending on variety. With pruning, you can keep this to 15 ft (4.6 m)
or less.[21]
3.
3
Mulch annually. Top dress
the trees with well-rotted compost every year in early spring.[22] Start this
the year after they sprout, since mulch can block seeds from breaking through.
·
Fertilizer is best avoided with young trees, since
it's easy to burn them. The compost should give plenty of
nutrients.
4.
4
Protect from pests. The most
difficult part of growing cherry trees is their susceptibility to pests and
disease. Take these steps to protect them once they grow into proper trees:[23]
·
Surround young trees with a cylinder of wire fencing
to protect against deer.
·
Once a month, look for holes in the trunk leaking ooze
or sawdust-like frass. Poke a needle into these holes to kill
insects.
·
In spring, wrap trunks with mosquito netting to stop
boring insects from laying eggs.
·
In late fall, sink a hardware cloth barrier 2 inches
(5cm) down into the soil on all sides to protect against rodents. This barrier
should be high enough to protect against a rodent standing on expected
snowfall.
5.
5
Protect from strong winter
sun. In early
fall, whitewash the south side of the tree with white, nontoxic latex paint,
diluted with water to a thin consistency. The trees are susceptible to sun
damage during this time of year.[24]
·
Whitewash the north side instead if you are in the
Southern Hemisphere.
6.
6
Prune the cherry tree as it grows. Cherry
trees aren't too difficult to prune, but a little will go a long way toward
fruit production and aesthetics. Generally speaking, sour cherries just need a
little pruning to keep the branches symmetric. For sweet cherries, prune back
the central leader to promote lateral growth instead.
7.
7
Consider grafting. Left alone, your cherry
tree will often take five or more years to bear fruit, if it can manage it at
all. Grafting is a little risky with seed-grown trees, since you don't know the
variety, but your local nursery may be able to recommend a fruiting species.
You can graft this onto a two-year old tree and have fruit by the third or
fourth year if the graft takes.
8.
8
Pollinate the blossoms. The beautiful flowers
alone are reason to grow cherry trees. If you'd like to see them replaced with
fruit, though, they'll need to be pollinated. For most sweet cherries, this
means you'll need a second variety of sweet cherry nearby, blooming at the same
time. Honeybees are the most common pollinator for cherries. If you're using
pesticides, make sure they don't affect this important species.[25]
9.
9
Fend off birds. No one has
ever grown cherries without giving birds a share. If you're lucky enough to see
fruits starting to form, set up your defenses before they finish ripening.
There are several ways to distract or scare off the birds, including planting
mulberries (which they find even tastier) and hanging shiny objects from the
cherry branches.
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Tips For Planting Cherry Seeds: Can You Grow A Cherry Tree Pit
Image by radarreklama
If you are a cherry lover, you’ve probably spit your share of cherry pits, or maybe it’s just me. At any rate, have you ever wondered “can you grow a cherry tree pit?” If so, how do you grow cherry trees from pits? Let’s find out.
Can You Grow a Cherry Tree Pit?
Yes indeed. Growing cherry trees from seed is not only an inexpensive way to grow a cherry tree, but it’s also lots of fun and delicious!
First off, can you grow a cherry tree in your region? Cherry varieties are hardy through USDA zones 5-9, depending upon the type.
Now comes the hard part. Eat some cherries. That’s a tough one, huh? Use cherries from either a tree growing in the area or purchased from a farmers market. Cherries from the grocers are stored in such a way, refrigerated, that makes starting seeds from them unreliable.
Save the pits from the cherries you’ve just devoured and put them in a bowl of warm water. Let the pits soak for 5 minutes or so and then lightly scrub them free of any clinging fruit. Spread the clean pits out on a paper towel in a warm area and let them dry for 3-5 days. Then, transfer the dry pits to a plastic container, labeled and fitted with a tight lid. Store the pits in the refrigerator for 10 weeks.
Why are you doing this? Cherries need to go through a cold or stratification period that normally occurs naturally during the winter, prior to germination in the spring. Refrigerating the pits is artificially mimicking this process. Ok, seed planting of cherry trees is now ready to commence.
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How to Grow Cherry Trees from Pits
Once the ten weeks has passed, remove the pits and allow them to come to room temperature. You are now ready for planting the cherry seeds. Put 2-3 pits into a small container filled with planting medium and water the seeds in. Keep the soil moist.
When the cherry seedlings are 2 inches tall, thin them, removing the weakest plants, leaving the sturdiest seedling in the pot. Keep the seedling in a sunny area indoors until all danger of frost has passed for your region, and then transplant outside. Multiple trees should be planted at least 20 feet apart.
Seed Planting Cherry Trees
Growing cherry trees from seed can also be attempted directly in the garden. In this method, you are skipping the refrigeration and letting the seeds go through a natural stratification process through the winter.
In the fall, gather the dried cherry pits and plant them outside. Plant a few since some may not germinate. Set the seeds 2 inches deep and one foot apart. Mark the planting sites.
In the spring, the pits will sprout. Wait until the seedlings are 8-12 inches in height and then transplant them to their permanent site in the garden. Mulch well around the transplanted seedlings to retard weeds and aid in water retention.
And, there you have it! Planting cherry seeds is as simple as that! The difficult part is waiting for those luscious cherries.
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