Can cherries be grown in the south? Analysis of southern growing conditions
AbstractCherries can be grown in the south, but suitable varieties and rootstocks need to be selected. Since the soil in the south differs from the sandy loam of the north, soil improvement is needed before planting. Since the south has more rainy weather, building a growing shelter can be considered. During the rainy season, pay attention to timely drainage. In the hot summer, pay attention to laying shade nets, and use fruit-setting agents reasonably to increase yield.
1. Can cherries be grown in the south
Cherries can be grown in the south. There are many varieties of cherries, and it is enough to select suitable varieties for planting. However, European large cherry varieties all require more than 900 hours of chilling, and the south does not have such chilling conditions, so they cannot be grown there.
2. Precautions for growing cherries in the south
1. Choose suitable varieties and rootstocks
When growing in the south, the first step is to choose varieties and rootstocks suitable for the south. Large cherries require relatively high chilling, and if grown in the south, the main manifestation is flowers that do not set fruit and severe dropping of young fruit. You can choose varieties with relatively low chilling requirements, such as Meizao, Hongdeng, Huangmi, and Lapins. Choose local mountain cherry that can adapt to southern soil as the rootstock, or choose the Gisela series rootstocks, which have a relatively wide range of adaptability.
2. Improve the soil
The soil in the south differs from the sandy loam in the north. Southern soil easily becomes compacted and is relatively heavy and clayey. Such soil affects the roots' absorption of nutrients, is unfavorable to root extension, and easily forms fibrous roots. You can use orchard grass growing, crush straw and return it to the field, plow peat soil or humus soil into the soil, and also apply organic fertilizer made from animal manure to improve soil texture and increase the soil's organic matter content.
3. Build a growing shelter that blocks wind and rain
The south has more rainy weather, which brings many diseases to open-field cherries, mainly pythium rot, gummosis, and bacterial shot hole, among others. Therefore, building a growing shelter can both reduce diseases and reduce fruit cracking. To prevent bird damage, protective nets should also be hung around the growing shelter during the cherry ripening period.
4. Soil management measures
The rainy season in southern regions is relatively long, with more and concentrated rain, and heavy rainstorms often occur in summer. Large cherry roots are relatively shallow and fear waterlogging. If planting in plains or low-lying places, it is necessary to do good work in raising ridges and drainage, planting on raised ridges and digging drainage ditches well to prevent waterlogging disasters.
5. Do good work in cooling and shading
The hot summer has a certain adverse effect on flower bud differentiation and will form a large number of multi-pistil flowers, double-pistil flowers, and ovary flowers, leading to the appearance of twin fruits. After building a growing greenhouse, when temperatures are relatively high, it provides convenience for laying shade nets. You can also take methods such as growing orchard grass or spraying water in the orchard to cool down, so as to achieve the goal of reducing twin or multiple fruits caused by excessive flower bud differentiation.
6. Use fruit-setting agents reasonably
Reasonably using fruit-setting agents is a necessary means to increase cherry yield. Even if management is very good and planting is very good, fruit-setting agents must still be used for high yield.
Lessons summarized from the failure experience of a large number of growers in the south show that if fruit-setting agents are not used, relying purely on natural pollination to achieve high yield is simply a fantasy. On the market, even varieties that are self-pollinating, or those that set fruit through natural pollination, have flowers but no fruit, and the fruit-setting rate is very low. A large number of young fruits turn yellow and drop, and only very few fruits can persist to maturity.
In order to increase cherry yield, many growers, through repeated experiments, found that spraying fruit-setting agents from the flowering period to the pit-hardening period can increase the yield of most large cherry varieties and achieve the goal of high yield.