Cherry Tree Propagation and Cultivation Methods and Key Points for Pest and Disease Control
Cherry is a tree species with extremely high ornamental value and is an important flowering tree for landscaping. Cherry belongs to the Rosaceae family as a deciduous tree, featuring lush branches and leaves, dense shade like a canopy, and blossoms covering the entire tree. Cherry has a long history of cultivation in China. Let's take a look at the key points for cherry tree propagation, cultivation, and pest and disease control.
1. Ecological Characteristics
Cherry is native to the Yangtze River Basin in China and prefers warm, humid, and sunny environments. It is cold-tolerant and drought-tolerant but afraid of waterlogging. The optimal growth temperature is 13-18°C, and it can withstand low temperatures of -10°C in winter. Deep, fertile, well-drained sandy loam soil is ideal. It tolerates saline-alkali soil but is sensitive to smoke damage.
2. Propagation Techniques
Cuttings: Use hardwood cuttings in spring or softwood cuttings during the plum rain season. Treat the base of the cuttings with a 0.3%-0.5% indolebutyric acid solution for 1-2 seconds, insert into a sand bed with misting, and maintain high air humidity. Roots form in 20-30 days after insertion with a high survival rate.
Grafting: Use cleft grafting in March-April of spring or bud grafting in July-August. The rootstock is commonly cherry or wild cherry seedlings. After the grafted seedlings survive, cultivate them for 3-4 years before transplanting and establishing.
3. Cultivation Key Points
Choose a planting site with sufficient sunlight, deep soil, fertile and well-drained conditions; it is most afraid of waterlogging. Apply sufficient base fertilizer before planting, and apply top dressing once in early spring and once after flowering. Generally, no pruning is done during cultivation. After flowering and before bud break in early spring, remove dead branches, diseased and weak branches, and water sprouts to maintain a full and rounded canopy.
4. Pest and Disease Control
Shot hole disease commonly occurs and can be controlled by spraying 70% mancozeb wettable powder at 600 times dilution. Pests include red spider mites, nettle caterpillars, scale insects, and lace bugs, which can be controlled by spraying 50% fenitrothion emulsifiable concentrate at 1500 times dilution.
The above are the key points for cherry cultivation techniques, for reference only. For more agricultural knowledge, please follow Huinong Academy!
What Should Be Noted When Cultivating Cherry? Key Points for Cherry Cultivation
The cherry blossom season is approaching soon, and beautiful cherry blossoms are deeply loved by people. So, what should be noted when cultivating cherry? The following are key points for cherry cultivation.
1. Keep the soil breathable. Cherry is a shallow-rooted sun-loving tree species. 60% of its root system is distributed within 60 cm of the surface, and it is mainly distributed in the top 20 cm of topsoil. Therefore, the planting site must be an open, sunny area with good drainage, loose soil, and good aeration. Avoid waterlogging and dryness. Around the tree, especially within the root distribution range, never allow people, livestock, or vehicles to compact the soil, as this will compact the soil surface, affect root growth, shorten lifespan, and even lead to death.
2. Fertilization. Cherry grows relatively fast and blooms profusely, so it must be fertilized twice a year, preferably with acidic fertilizers. One application in winter or early spring with decomposed organic fertilizers such as soybean cake and chicken manure; another after flower drop with quick-acting fertilizers such as ammonium sulfate, ferrous sulfate, and superphosphate.
3. Wound disinfection. After the branches and trunk of cherry are injured, the wounds heal relatively slowly. Based on this characteristic, pruning cherry should be done with special caution, mainly pruning overlapping branches and diseased or pest-infested branches. After pruning, disinfect the wounds promptly with medication to prevent rain from allowing pathogens to invade the wounds and cause rot. Applying preservatives gives better results.
4. Avoid continuous cropping. If the previous crop in the planting site was cherry or closely related species or genera of Rosaceae such as peach, plum, or apricot, it will seriously affect normal growth. Therefore, special attention should be paid to the type of previous crop when selecting a cherry seedling nursery site. Use soil improvement methods by replacing soil with leaf mold and peat.
5. Cross-pollination. Cross-pollination is the main pathway for the formation of cherry varieties and can even form intergeneric hybrids. This characteristic should be fully utilized to breed more and better cherry varieties.
Extended Reading:
Cherry pest and disease control, flower language and flowering period, cherry propagation techniques, cultivation techniques and methods
2011 Annual Pest and Disease Forecast for Landscape Trees
January1. January climate characteristics: dry and cold weather, little or no rain, and frequent fog. A warm winter is favorable for pests and diseases to overwinter and reproduce.
2. Pest and disease occurrence this month: The main affected species this month are Ficus microcarpa thrips, Ficus microcarpa 'Golden Leaves' nettle caterpillars, scale insects, hibiscus, Michelia alba aphids, and scale insects. Lagerstroemia speciosa stem borers. Willow canker disease.
3. Main pests and diseases in January and their control methods: Mainly aphids, thrips, scale insects, stem borers, powdery mildew, and brown spot disease. Control methods include spraying omethoate plus dichlorvos plus thiophanate at 800 times dilution. For stem borers, inject omethoate diluted 5 to 10 times with water for toxic killing, and cut off affected branches and burn them in a safe place.
4. Cultivation and management key points: Winter pruning: Carry out comprehensive shaping and pruning of deciduous trees; prune dead branches, damaged branches, and diseased or pest-infested branches on large and small trees. This month focuses on watering for moisture retention, loosening soil, and clearing the garden. Promptly prune dead and diseased branches and dead trees.
5. Do a good job in sanitation and cleaning, and promptly remove garbage.
6. For scale insects that are difficult to control, use the highly effective scale insecticide Kuangshajie at 1000 times dilution for control, which can also control multiple other pests at the same time.
February
February: Temperatures rise somewhat compared to last month, but trees are still in a dormant state.
1. Maintenance is basically the same as January.
2. Pruning: Continue pruning dead and diseased branches of plane trees and large and small trees. Complete pruning of all trees before the end of the month.
3. Pest control: Continue to focus on controlling nettle caterpillars and scale insects.
March
In March, the main focus should be on controlling the overwintering generation of pests and diseases.
I. A warm winter will lead to increased activity of overwintering generation larvae. The control of the overwintering generation of pests should be one of the key pest control priorities in March. Among the pests that overwinter as mature larvae, the following two should be noted:
1. Bagworm moth, which overwinters as mature larvae inside the bag. It is mainly found on trees such as camphor, cherry, cypress species, and osmanthus. In March, overwintering ends and it will begin to damage tree leaves, pupating at the end of March. Therefore, the bags should be removed in early March.
2. Scarab beetles, which overwinter as larvae (white grubs) in the soil. They are mainly distributed in the soil around the roots of ground cover plants such as dwarf lilyturf and rain lily, as well as lawns. They will begin to cause damage in March and pupate from April to May. Therefore, they should be killed by combining with tilling and turning the soil to reduce their population base, which is extremely beneficial for subsequent control. Dihaiping can be used for control.
II. Another key control focus in March should be on aphids. The rise in temperature in March will lead to massive reproduction of aphids. Aphids have now been found causing damage on various plants, such as coral trees, Euonymus japonicus, firethorn, Pittosporum tobira, red-leaf plum, and peach trees. All maintenance units should promptly carry out control to avoid unnecessary losses. Control can be done by spraying imidacloprid-type insecticides (Yibianjing) or fenvalerate (which should not be used too frequently as it easily develops resistance).
III. Box tree pyralid. Due to temperature reasons, not many overwintering larvae have started feeding, but there are sporadic occurrences with varying instars. Activity increases in early March, so early control should be carried out to prevent an outbreak of the next generation. Its first generation is expected to occur at the end of March. Observation should be strengthened and timely control should be carried out. Control can be done by spraying pyrethroid and BT-type insecticides.
IV. Powdery mildew. Powdery mildew can infect seedlings of woody flowering plants such as Chinese rose and rose. The disease mainly occurs on leaves and also harms tender stems, flowers, and fruits. It has also sporadically appeared on Mahonia fortunei and Euonymus japonicus. With rising temperatures, there is a possibility of a major outbreak. Control can be done by spraying Penconazole at 1000-1500 times dilution or 50% Tianwei No. 3 at 1500-2000 times dilution every 10-15 days, for 2-3 consecutive applications, combined with pruning to cut off diseased and pest-infested branches and leaves.