How to Grow and Care Cherries
Cherries are one of the most popular fruits in America. Well, who doesn’t like cherries? It would be hard to find anyone who doesn’t like cherries. If you are growing cherries, you can have lots of benefits. Cherries are filled with lots of vitamins such as vitamin A, vitamin C, and vitamin B6. Cherries are also a good source of potassium. So growing cherries can benefit us in lots of ways. Growing cherries can also support your financial support because cherries are very popular. I have been growing cherries in my home garden for almost five years, and I got more than six cherry plants in my house. Well, growing cherry trees does require some space. If you have a backyard with lots of space or you have enough space in your garden, you must plant cherry trees. Well, if you grow two or three cherry plants in your garden or backyard at the end of the season, you will have enough cherries so that not just you can put for yourself, but you will also be able to share them with your family, friends, and neighbors. You can also make many delicious dishes with cherries such as cherry pie. Although cherry pie is my favorite. So let me show you how you can also grow cherries in your garden or home backyard and how you will get benefit from it. I will share my experience with you on how I grew cherries in my garden.
Cherry Variety
Well, if you want to grow cherries in your home backyard or in your garden, choosing the right variety is also very important. As for cherries, there are actually two types of cherries: sweet cherries and sour cherries. Well, to be honest, many people are obsessed with the sweetness of fruits. If you like sweet fruit, I would suggest you should plant sweet cherry plants. Although you can also plant sour cherries. I got both sweet and sour cherry plants in my home garden. As for me, I like sweet fruits, so sweet cherries are my favorite. Well, if you like sweet more than sour, you should choose sweet cherry plants. Sweet cherry trees are called (Prunus avium), and as for sour cherries, they are called (Prunus cerasus). Sweet cherries have lots of varieties such as Bing, Rainier, Lapins, Sweetheart, and Stella. Among them, Bing is the most common and popular one. They are deep red when they are ripe, they become black, and also this one is my favorite. As for Rainier, they are also very popular. They are yellow and sweet to eat. Lapins cherries are also very famous. They are dark red and super sweet. As for sweet cherries, they are ideal to eat fresh. Now let’s talk about sour type cherries. They are better for cooking and preserving. There are also lots of sour varieties, and those are Montmorency, Morello, Balaton, Early Richmond, and English Morello. And also, there is one important thing I missed. Well, for sweet cherry trees, they grow really big, and for sour cherries, they don’t grow that big. They just require medium space. Well, if you are lacking space in your backyard, you should grow sour cherry trees.
Get Cherry Trees
Cherry trees are a very ideal and good tree to plant if you are a sweet fruit lover like me. Well, as for cherry trees, you can get a good quality of cherry plants from a closest nursery. That saves lots of work and time if you ask me. Well, if you want to grow cherry tree seedlings from seeds, you can also grow them. Many people ask me that they got good variety of cherries and they want to use them to grow cherry trees. Well, I will tell you how you can also grow cherry tree seedlings from cherry seeds. This method is pretty easy if you ask me. I also did grow cherry tree seedlings from seeds. Let’s get into it. First, you have to get some cherries. You can eat them or you can just cut them to remove cherry pits. After removing cherry pits from cherries, you will need a nail cutter or a plier. By using a plier, cut the edge of the pit and remember you have to be gentle in this process. Do not get hurt while opening the pit. With a nail cutter, you can cut off the rest of the pits. After removing seeds from pits, you need to get two napkins. Put the seeds on top of napkins and water them with a spray. After watering, cover them with a layer of napkins and water them again. After that, put them in a plastic container and put them in the fridge for three months. After three months later, put them outside of the fridge and remove the napkins, and you will see some big roots coming out of the seeds. The next step is to prepare some pots. Fill the pots with regular potting mix and make a hole with your finger in the middle of the pot. After making a hole, bury the seeds and water it. You have to water them regularly. After two weeks later, you will get your seedlings to plant in your home garden. Like I said, it takes some time, but it’s also easy. To be honest, I would recommend you should buy a good quality of cherry tree, which will be much quicker.
Soil
Soil is the most important factor for every kind of plant and vegetable. Not just for cherry trees, even if you wish to grow other trees in your garden, you must have prepared perfect soil for them to grow properly. Like I said before, I have been growing cherries in my home garden for almost five years. And I do know what kind of soil cherry trees like and in which soil they grow better than other soils. For cherry trees, they like loamy soil. You may ask me what is loamy soil? Loamy soil is a mixture of clay, silt, and sand. And the soil must have good drainage so that waterlogging doesn’t cause a problem. Although waterlogging can bring serious problems for cherry trees, waterlogging can cause your cherry trees’ root rot. You also have to check your soil pH level. For cherry trees, they like slightly acidic neutral soil with a pH between 6.0 to 7.0. If you find your soil is too acidic for cherry trees, you can also raise the pH level by using lime.
Soil Preparation
Soil preparation is a must-needed for cherry trees. If you wish to grow cherry trees in your home garden or backyard faster than others, you have to prepare the soil before planting cherry trees. First of all, you cannot just plant cherry trees in your home. You will need the right location to plant your cherry trees. Not just for cherry trees, a perfect location is needed for every kind of plant. For cherry trees, they require six to eight hours of sunlight to grow properly. So for that, you have to choose a location in your home garden where sunlight can reach for more than eight hours of time. And also, you have to choose a location with plenty of space so that cherry trees can grow properly. Like I said before, cherry trees do require some big space. After choosing the right location, you have to clear the area. I mean, if your planting area has weeds, grass, or debris, you have to remove them completely before planting. Like I said before, cherry trees like loamy soil. I already explained what loamy soil is. Although if you see your soil is heavily clay, you can add sand or perlite so that your soil becomes loamy and has enough drainage. And also, you have to use some fertilizer or organic fertilizer before planting so that your plants have enough nutrients to grow properly. I will talk about which organic fertilizer or compost you should use in the next topic.
Fertilizer
Fertilizer is essential for every kind of vegetable and fruit. If you wish to have a good yield at the end of the season, you must use fertilizer. And for cherry trees, you also have to use fertilizer. You have to use some organic compost before planting to enhance enough drainage. For that, you will have to use well-rotted compost, aged manure, or leaf mold before planting. If you use those, mixing your cherry trees will start to grow faster from the beginning, and those composts can also help to enhance enough drainage for the trees to grow properly. For an alternative mix, you should use 60% garden soil, 20% compost, and 20% sand. For cherry trees, they require three key nutrients to grow: nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. They can all be found in organic fertilizer and compost. Now let’s talk about which fertilizer we should use at the growing process. For young cherry trees like one year old, you should use balanced compost or something that is formulated for only fruit trees. As for grown or mature trees, you should use fertilizer with a high potassium ratio, which can support production and also helps to reduce disease. For young trees, I recommend you should use 10-10-10, and for mature trees, I recommend 5-10-10. Now let’s talk about when we should use fertilizer. Or you can also say the perfect time for fertilization. Well, early spring is the growing season for cherry trees. You should use compost in the early spring so that cherry trees can grow faster with enough nutrients. As for mature trees, you should use compost in the midsummer. It can help you to improve fruit development. And also, you have to remember not to apply too much compost to your cherry trees. That can cause problems.
Planting Method
Planting method is necessary while you are planting a cherry tree. I talked about in a previous topic how you should choose the right direction and how you should use proper fertilizer before planting. But now I will talk about how to plant this cherry tree in the right way. The distance between the place you are planting your cherry tree and other trees must be 15 to 20 feet so that the cherry tree can grow to its full potential. After removing all weeds and grass, dig a hole that is twice as deep as the size of your cherry tree’s root ball. After mixing the required fertilizer, just bury the root ball, and your cherry tree plantation is done.
Taking Care
Taking care is the most important part. Not just for cherry trees, if you do not take proper care of your tree, you may get a poor harvest at the end of the season, worst part your tree can die. So taking care of your tree is very important. If you are growing cherry trees, you must have to water the plant properly. So you must have remembered to give your cherry plant plenty of water so that they can grow big, bear fruits quickly. Fertilization is also very important. Without proper fertilization, your tree may also grow slowly. As for cherry trees, they require three key nutrients to grow properly, and those nutrients are nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. All these nutrients can be found in organic fertilizer or compost. So you must have to use proper fertilizer for your cherry tree. And there are lots of cherry tree diseases such as brown rot, powdery mildew, cherry leaf spot, and cankers. So you must have to check your cherry tree every week so that if your cherry tree gets these diseases, you can take proper action quickly.
Harvesting
Well, if you are growing cherry trees in your garden or in your backyard, you have to wait longer to get your first harvest of cherries. First of all, cherry trees take a long time to grow fully. After planting a cherry tree in your garden, normally, it will take at most three years to grow fully. After those three years later, if your caring method was good, you will get your first harvest of cherries. Well, in some cases, it also takes five or six years. But once your cherry tree begins to fruiting, it will continue for many years.
