Detailed Explanation of Cherry Planting Techniques and Management Methods

Cherry (scientific name: Cerasus pseudocerasus) is a general term for certain plants of the genus Prunus, including the subgenus Cerasus, the subgenus sour cherry, and the subgenus cherry laurel. It is a tree, 2-6 m tall, with grayish-white bark. The branchlets are grayish-brown, and the young shoots are green, hairless or sparsely pubescent. The winter buds are ovate and hairless. The fruit can be eaten as a fruit, and its appearance is bright in color, crystal-clear and beautiful, red like agate and yellow like congealed fat. The fruit is rich in sugar, protein, vitamins, and various elements such as calcium, iron, phosphorus, and potassium.

Cherry planting time:

The best planting season is the season when all things revive, that is, early spring every year. At this time, the survival rate of planting cherries can be as high as 95 percent. Next, at this time its growth speed and physiological functions are relatively vigorous, which can shorten the fruiting period and allow it to bear fruit as soon as possible.

Cherry planting methods

1. Cherries are suitable for cultivation in fertile, loose sandy soil with a deep soil layer. The soil pH is generally 6.0-7.5.

The vertical distribution of Chinese cherry roots is generally mostly concentrated in the soil layer about 20 cm deep, requiring loose soil and good drainage and irrigation conditions. Heavy clay is not suitable for growing cherries. Since cherries are not resistant to transport, orchards should be established in locations with convenient transportation.

Planting density should vary according to variety, rootstock, and soil conditions. On fertile flat land, Chinese cherry adopts Y-shaped training for close planting, with 1 x 3 m and 220 plants per mu. If natural clump shape or natural open-center shape is used, 2-3 m x 3-4 m may be used. In the young stage, the density may be appropriately increased further, and after the orchard is established, thinning measures may be taken.

Planting time is generally divided into two periods: autumn and spring. In areas with cold, dry, and windy winters, spring planting is preferable, and spring planting should be done before the seedlings sprout. In places with warm winters, autumn planting may be used.

Before planting, the soil should be deeply plowed and aged, and large planting holes should be dug. Apply 25-50 kg of organic fertilizer per hole. After mixing the fertilizer thoroughly with the soil, plant the seedlings and immediately water with settling water.

2. Soil, fertilizer, and water management

For cherry soil management, according to our experimental observations, the management method of spring irrigation plus mulching and intertillage and weeding in other seasons is better. Because mulching reduces the impact of spring drought on the plants, it has a good effect on fruit growth. After cherry harvest, remove or plow under the mulch. According to calculations, generally an adult orchard should be covered with 2000-2500 kg of wheat straw per mu. Cherry trees should be fertilized 3-4 times a year. That is:

1. Fertilization after fruit harvest is mainly to restore tree vigor, promote flower bud differentiation, and increase next year's yield. Immediately after fruit harvest, apply barnyard manure and poultry and livestock manure and urine, and add an appropriate amount of chemical fertilizer. Apply 30-60 kg of poultry and livestock manure per tree depending on the amount of fruit borne.

2. Fertilization before budbreak and flowering

Apply additional fertilizer mainly based on quick-acting nitrogen fertilizer. Apply 15-20 kg of poultry and livestock manure water per tree, or 0.5 kg of urea.

3. Fertilization during the rapid fruit growth period After flower drop, the fruit enters development. For large fruiting trees, apply one additional application of quick-acting chemical fertilizer, together with an appropriate amount of phosphorus and potassium fertilizer.

4. Apply base fertilizer well In autumn from September to October (in warm southern areas, from October to November), apply base fertilizer well before leaf fall to rejuvenate tree vigor and increase the stored nutrient content in the plant. Since cherries require only more than 40 days from flowering to fruit maturity, the amount of stored nutrients greatly affects fruit size and quality. Therefore, the application of base fertilizer is very important and should account for 50-70% of the annual fertilization amount. It should be mainly organic fertilizer, such as compost, barnyard manure, chicken manure, decomposed soybean cake, etc., and an appropriate amount of superphosphate or calcium magnesium phosphate fertilizer, etc. should be added.

In addition to the above soil fertilization, from the initial flowering stage to the full flowering stage, at an interval of 10 days, spray twice continuously with 0.5% urea, or 600 times dihydrogen potassium phosphate solution, or 0.3% borax solution, which helps increase the fruit setting rate.

3. Training and pruning

1. Training

a. The natural clump shape is a commonly used tree form for Chinese cherry. Generally there are 5-6 main branches, extending and growing outward in all directions, and each main branch has 3-4 side branches. Fruiting branches are borne on the main and side branches. After the main branches age, they are renewed by using root suckers. This tree form has a relatively open angle, forms quickly, and bears fruit early. But the interior of the canopy is prone to becoming crowded.

b. The natural open-center shape is mostly used for sweet cherry. The trunk height is 30-40 cm, and the whole tree has 3 main branches with a branching angle of 30 degrees. Initially the central leader is retained, and after 4-5 years of planting, the central leader is removed to form an open-center shape. This tree form is easy to train, requires little pruning, has an open canopy, good ventilation and light penetration, bears fruit early, has high yield, and the fruit quality is also relatively good.

c. The modified leader system has a trunk height of 40-60 cm and a central leader. There are 6-7 main branches, arranged in 3-4 layers staggeredly on the central leader. The first layer has 3 main branches with an opening angle of 50-60 degrees; the second layer has 2 main branches with an opening angle of about 45 degrees; the third and fourth layers each have 1 main branch. The spacing between the first and second layers is 60-80 cm, between the second and third layers is 40-50 cm, and the spacing of the upper layers may be appropriately smaller. Each main branch is equipped with 2-4 side branches. At the same time, fruiting branch groups are cultivated on the backbone branches at all levels.

d. "Y" shape tree form In this tree form, the rows run north-south, and each plant has two main branches symmetrically on both sides. During the training period, a support frame is needed for fixing and tying. This tree form has good ventilation and light penetration, is easy to flower and bear fruit, is suitable for close planting, is convenient to manage, and produces good fruit quality.

2. Pruning

a. Matters needing attention in pruning Cherry branches are divided into two types: vegetative branches and fruiting branches. There are more vegetative branches on young trees, and their terminal leaf buds extend and grow to expand the canopy, while the lower axillary buds produce fruiting branches.

After entering the fruiting period, except that the terminal buds of most one-year-old branches are leaf buds, the axillary buds are mostly flower buds, and these are called fruiting branches. Fruiting branches are divided by length into long fruiting branches (15-20 cm), medium fruiting branches (5-15 cm), short fruiting branches (about 5 cm), and flower cluster fruiting branches (1-2 cm). In terms of fruiting ability, long fruiting branches have relatively poor fruit-setting ability, generally about 40%; the fruiting ability of medium fruiting branches varies by variety; short fruiting branches have a high fruit-setting rate, and the fruit quality is also good; flower cluster fruiting branches are the main fruiting branches on vigorous trees in full fruit period, and the fruit-setting rate can reach about 80%.

The fruit quality is the best, and the lifespan is long, with continuous fruiting for 10-20 years. Fruiting branches and flower cluster fruiting branches are the basis for yield formation. Chinese cherry and sour cherry have a large proportion of long and medium fruiting branches in the initial fruiting stage, while in the full fruiting stage short fruiting branches and flower cluster fruiting branches predominate.

b. Pruning of young trees In order to promote early fruiting of young trees, on the basis of training, the pruning degree for all types of branches should be light, mainly by pinching during the growing season. This controls vigorous shoot growth, increases branching, and accelerates canopy expansion. Winter pruning time should be postponed until before budbreak to avoid water loss and drying of the pruning cuts. In addition to heading the main branches and extension branches and appropriately thinning some overly dense and crossing branches, medium and small branches should be retained as much as possible.

c. Pruning of fruiting trees Summer pruning is often carried out after fruit harvest. Thinning is used to remove overly dense, overly vigorous perennial large branches that disrupt the canopy, adjust the canopy structure, and promote flower bud formation. When thinning large branches, note that the wounds should be small and smooth to facilitate rapid healing.

When thinning one-year-old branches, they may first be cut above the axillary flower buds at the base, and after fruiting and becoming bare, they may then be thinned out. During winter pruning, attention should be paid to appropriately heading back the tips of backbone branches and the 2-3 year old branch sections of short fruiting branches, to stimulate vegetative growth and the continuous formation of new fruiting branches, and to prevent the fruiting from moving outward and the interior of the canopy from becoming bare.

d. Pruning of aging trees The main task is to renew and rejuvenate in a timely manner and use vigorous water sprouts to form a new canopy. For backbone branches that have first weakened and have no fruiting ability, they should be headed back in a timely manner. When using latent buds for heading back and renewal, the latent buds of Chinese cherry have a lifespan of about 5-10 years.

In order to head back with branches for renewal, it is best to have relatively normal small branches at the heading-back site, which causes less damage to the tree. The water sprouts produced after heading-back pruning should be selected for direction, position, and growth vigor, and outward-extending branches should be used to cultivate new main branches and side branches. Excessive ones should be thinned out, and the rest should be headed to promote branching, then left unpruned to allow them to form fruiting branch groups. When renewing large branches, it should also be done after fruit harvest to avoid causing gummosis at the wounds.

4. Flower and fruit preservation

For flower preservation, attention should mainly be paid to fertilizer and water management in spring to promote complete formation of floral organs and normal flowering. The purpose of fruit preservation is to increase the fruit-setting rate of robust fruits. Measures include: artificial supplementary pollination; using insects visiting flowers for pollination; spraying plant hormones such as gibberellin (GA3), PP333, Greenfarmer foliar fertilizer, etc.; in order to promote robust fruit, it is necessary to thin flowers and fruits and to prevent and reduce fruit cracking.

Cherry pest and disease control

The main pests and diseases harming cherry trees include white peach scale, slug moths, red-necked longhorn beetle, apple clearwing moth, golden buprestid beetle, scarab beetles, peach fruit moth, and anthracnose, cherry leaf spot, bacterial shot hole, gummosis, crown and root rot, etc., and integrated measures should be taken for their control.

During winter pruning, cut off and burn diseased and insect-infested branches, and at the same time spray once with 5 degrees Baume lime sulfur mixture during the leaf fall period; before the spring shoot leaves stop growing, spray once with 40% dimethoate 1200 times plus 70% thiophanate-methyl 800 times; in July-August, spray once with 50% malathion emulsion 1000 times plus 65% zineb 400-500 times.