Why Are There Many Exposed Branches On A Cherry And How To Avoid It?

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

With a dream of a cherry orchard. Part 2

Read the first part of the article: Growing cherries: fighting coccomycosis, pollination of cherry flowers, pruning cherries

Cherry bark problems

Wounds are very serious

You should not be indifferent to any of the most insignificant wounds, because any of them can become a real gateway for infection. And it is quite possible that this infection will lead to the loss of the tree in the future. Therefore, it is necessary to immediately cover up the cuts with garden pitch during the pruning process. And to do everything possible so that the tree does not have additional wounds: from frost, burns or gum lesions. Remember that it takes a long time to heal wounds (sometimes many years) and with very variable success, especially on elderly and weakened trees.

It is much easier to avoid the appearance of wounds. And you need to protect trees from wounds from the first year of life, because even then, forgetting about safety measures, you can "reward" them with severe burns, which will then have to be treated for almost the rest of your life.

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Wound healing

Any wounds are cleaned with a garden knife to healthy wood and covered with garden varnish or a talker made of mullein and clay. In my opinion, the second option is preferable, because wounds heal better, and applying this composition with a brush much faster than a garden var (I prepare such a composition in early summer, store it in a closed container and take it as needed).

When treating large and poorly healing wounds, it is not bad to first disinfect them with a solution of copper sulfate (300 g of copper sulfate per 10 liters of water) before putting them on with garden varnish, simply rinsing them with this composition once and letting them dry a little (for 20-30 minutes).

To some extent, it stimulates wound healing, and also disinfects its common garden sorrel. Having picked its leaves (they need to be crumpled a little in your hands so that the leaves give juice), you should then carefully wipe the surface of the wound and apply fresh and also crumpled sorrel leaves on it. Tie and close with burlap. After a day or two, remove and repeat exactly the same operation 1-2 times more. After that, the wound must be covered with pitch.

Gum therapy

On the trunks of cherries, gum discharge is quite common. Gum removal can greatly deplete the plant, so this issue should be taken extremely seriously. As practice shows, the stronger the tree, the less it is affected by gum flow and, accordingly, vice versa.

The gum is cleaned from the trunks, then the wounds are disinfected with copper sulfate (30 g per 1 liter of water) or fresh sorrel and covered with garden varnish or a chatterbox after the trunk has dried.

Cherry bark rejuvenation

It is worth recognizing that for a long time in Russia this method was used to rejuvenate the bark of old apple trees. It consisted in cleaning the trunks from pieces of old bark (this is done after the rain, gently cleaning off the upper, soaked and semi-peeled part of the bark), followed by applying a talker made of clay and mullein to the tree trunk (prepared in a 1: 1 ratio).

In cherries, the bark does not need to be peeled off in this way, but they also like the use of a talker made of clay and mullein. Over the summer, after such a procedure, the bark becomes fat, cracks and wounds heal, and the growth of cherry bushes increases.

Frostbite and cherry sunburn

Both the first and second damage on cherries, especially in recent unfavorable winters, are very common. As for sunburn, they can be avoided without problems. It is enough just to whitewash the trunks well.

With frostbite, everything is more complicated. But certain measures lead to a significant decrease in their number and depth.

Especially about whitewashing cherries

The main purpose of the whitewash is to protect against sunburn, and the secondary purpose is to protect against frost damage arising from the changes in day and night temperatures.

In the Urals, trees need to be whitewashed only in late autumn. True, this is fraught with certain difficulties. On the one hand, you need to choose a period without rains so that the whitewash dries perfectly. On the other hand, it is important that the lime dries on the bark and does not freeze.

The bases of skeletal branches are coated with the following composition: 2.5 kg of quicklime are dissolved in 10 liters of water, 1 kg of clay and 0.3 kg of copper sulfate are added. You can add 20 g of heated wood glue to this composition. The glue will improve adhesion, and the copper preparations (in particular, copper sulfate) contained in the whitewash will protect the most vulnerable part of the tree (the base of the skeletal branches) from diseases.

Frostbite prevention measures

1. Careful tree care. This means timely pruning, watering and fertilizing if necessary. Oppressed trees in neglected plantations without watering and fertilizers, and in addition overloaded with crops, freeze much more than healthy, densely leafy and with good growths.

2. Mandatory autumn whitewashing, which protects the base of the skeletal branches from sunburn and, to some extent, from frost cracks. Remember that the lower the trunk, the worse the bark ripens, and therefore whitewashing the trunk and the bases of the skeletal branches is absolutely necessary.

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Cherry dressing

As well as for apple trees, for many years I have used the option of fairly intensive summer-autumn dressings for cherries. This means that fertilizers are applied somewhat differently than in the classical version, when it is recommended to apply organic fertilizers under the cherry once every three years, and mineral fertilizers are applied annually: phosphorus-potassium fertilizers - in autumn, and nitrogen fertilizers - in early spring.

In the Urals, and even in the conditions of a short and cold summer and with extremely poor soils and a strong spread of coccomycosis, this option is completely unacceptable. I worked out my own fertilization scheme. But first, it should be noted that cherries, unlike apple trees, have a shallow root system.

The main group of roots is located at a depth of 20-40 cm. Therefore, fertilizers are applied to pits, which are made to a depth of about 30 cm. In the winter, such pits are filled with compost, and in the spring new ones are made, but in other places.

The pits themselves are made using ordinary two-liter plastic beverage bottles. The upper and lower parts of the bottles are cut off, and they themselves are placed in holes pre-made with a suitable stake. The holes are located along the contour of the crown, where the main suction roots are located, and inside the contour at a distance of 1 m from the trunk. In this case, the upper part of the bottles should protrude slightly (about 1 cm) above the ground. It is in these bottles that I pour the nutrient solution (or apply dry fertilizers, combining this with the usual watering in the pits) throughout the season. It turns out quickly enough, because no holes need to be pulled out.

There should be enough pits to provide adequate nutrition for the trees. It is advisable to arrange them in concentric circles at a distance of 1 m (or less) from each other. The smallest circle should be 1 m from the trunk, and the largest should slightly exceed the crown circumference.

Basic feeding rules

1. It is necessary to introduce into the soil the amount of fertilizers strictly defined according to the norms and at certain times. Both an excess and a lack of fertilizers will lead to negative results for plants: a hungry plant gradually ceases to bear fruit, and when overfeeding it degenerates: substances harmful to the human body even appear in its fruits.

2. In parallel with the application of the main dose of fertilizers, an adjustment should be made for the peculiarities of the state of a particular tree. Depending on the location of the site, on filling the soil, on the weather conditions, a particular tree may need a greater degree of one or another nutrient. Therefore, you need to carefully monitor the state of its leaves. And at the slightest shortage of some nutrients, provide additional input.

3. The more crops there are, the more food and water the tree needs. Therefore, the amount of fertilizer increases in proportion to the expected yield, and the number of fertilizing increases accordingly.

When waiting for a bountiful harvest, you need:

• in late June - early July, feed the trees with complex mineral fertilizers and additionally spill a mullein solution (1 bucket per 1 m²) with ash (1-2 glasses per 1 m²);
• to double the amount of applied nitrogen fertilizers.

Cherry root dressing

As organic fertilizers for spring application, you can use both semi-rotted manure or compost, and the excellent organic fertilizer "Biox", which appeared several years ago, of the order of 300-600 g per 1 m². "Biox" can also be used for summer liquid fertilizing.

As for the specific norms of fertilizers, they are given taking into account sandy soils that do not hold fertilizers well (about 1/4 less will be required for clay fertilizers). The amount of the given potash fertilizers is to some extent conditional and depends in our region directly on weather conditions. In cold and rainy summers, the need for potassium in plants increases significantly, and therefore the amount of necessary potash fertilizers increases.

As you can see, you have to use a lot of fertilizing, which is physically difficult and financially expensive. Therefore, after the long-acting fertilizers, which have long been widespread in the West, appeared on sale, I immediately switched to them, which allowed almost completely (in a too rainy year, when the consumption of potash fertilizers increases, it may be necessary to feed the bushes once with potassium sulfate) to refuse additional fertilizing. Cherry just liked it. I have adult cherry bushes 3 m high, and for each one once a year I put three APION-100.

Foliar feeding of cherries

Urea (1 tablespoon per bucket of water)

- 5-6 days after flowering;

- 30-40 days after flowering.

Potassium sulfate (1 tablespoon per bucket of water)

- at the slightest signs of potassium starvation in the second half of summer, spraying is repeated 2-3 times with an interval of 7-10 days.

Complex fertilizers with microelements and huminates of the "New Ideal" type (1 cap per 1 liter of water)

- if possible, from the moment of full blooming of leaves with an interval of 10-14 days.

Treatment with stimulants

Growth stimulants "Epin" and "Silk"

- alternately once a week during the entire growing season.

Fruiting stimulants "Ovary" or "Gibbersib", or "Bud"

- three times - at the time of flowering, immediately after the end of flowering and at the time of physiological abscission of the ovary.