Growing your own fruit trees is a great way to learn a lot about gardening and get some great fruit out of the deal. There are many diseases and insects that plague fruit trees, so getting them started right and maintaining them to keep them healthy is extremely important. Here's grow and care for cherry trees.
Instructions
1. Select your variety carefully. Consult your local gardening club for the best varieties to grow in your zone. Cherries also come in sweet and tart varieties, so decide what you will use them for as well. Tart cherry trees are less vigorous, which means less pruning, easier to grow and do somewhat better in poorer soils than sweet cherry trees.
2. Choose your growing location. Cherry trees need deep, well-drained soil with a slightly acid pH. All fruit trees will bear more fruit if planted in a sunny location and sweet cherry trees need lots of room to grow, about 18 to 24 feet apart to allow for this growth. Tart cherry trees can be planted closer between 15 and 18 feet apart.
3. Plant more than one cherry tree. Just like apple trees, some cherry tree varieties are self-fertile, meaning you will get some fruit even if you only have one tree, while some are not, meaning you will have to plant more than one tree so they can pollinate one another. But you will always get more fruit if you plant more than one tree.
4. Apply fertilizer evenly under the spread of the branches when growing cherry trees. Do this about a month or two before spring growth starts. Use less for a young tree and more for an older cherry tree.
5. Prune In the spring. Cherry trees can be pruned in a fan shape or a bush. For the first 3 years pruning is vigorous. For a one-year-old tree, prune the first year by cutting 18 to 24 inches off the main stem. This sounds harsh, but it must be done to encourage lateral growth and fruiting.
6. Drape the entire tree with bird netting in the summer to protect the fruit from birds. Pick sweet cherries when ripe and cut off sour cherries to avoid damaging the spurs.
7. Mulch your cherry tree in the fall with a layer of garden compost. This will help protect the surface roots from frost and encourage healthy spring growing.
Tags: care, cherry, tree, cherry tree, fruit trees, more than, cherry trees, cherry trees, cherry trees, feet apart, meaning will
