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Planting, Growing, and Harvesting Cherries
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I brought a house two years ago that had cherry trees. The cherries fall off the trees before they are ripe. I think they have been neglected. I have been watering them and have put steer manure around them for two years, but the cherries still fall off. Can you offer any advice?
My ? is and haven't asked locally why. But say i go to shop for tree, its been sitting there for maybe a couple yrs, more, and i still have to wait 3-4 yrs? Why is that? thank you
It’s more so about the age of the tree than how long it’s been in the ground. If the tree has been sitting in a container for several years and has been taken care of appropriately, it will likely be ready to fruit within a year or so of planting (it still needs a little time to settle in, however).
My biggest problem is I live out in the country and if it isn't possums, raccoons or birds, I never get any of my bing cherries. How can I prevent this? I've tried metal shields up 4 ft from the ground around the trunk; chicken wire around the tree; hanging silver streamers on several branches; even tried putting net bags over the fruit on the branches but nothing seems to keep these critters away from me harvesting my own. One year, we were watching the berries as they got a little yellow with a tinge of pink and the next day every last cherry was already gone. VERY FRUSTRATING!
We grew apples and peaches as well as lots of veggies when I was a kid. My Dad owned 2 acres of suburban land, half of which was forested. He never liked our cat. But, that was because he only saw the unpleasant part of cleaning her box when she wanted to stay inside during the cold of the winter. He never realized how critical she was, in the summer, to his harvests in the fall.
For the first 16 years of the cat's life, we always managed to harvest a plentiful crop every single year. That's because the cat would catch critters that eat fruit and veggies), ranging from squirrels, possums, birds, et. al., shortly after they were born in the springtime. The size of the mother critter didn't really matter because she didn't go after the adult critters. She cleaned out their young. There is always a period of time when baby critters are left alone, while their mother goes out to get them food. That is when the little killing machines, otherwise known as cats, strike!
When our cat finally became geriatric, her hunting skills waned. Critter numbers, given the abundance of hiding places for them in the forest, began to explode. That little cat died at the age of 18 and a half. And, during the last two years of her life, we didn't manage to harvest even one whole fruit. All the fruits were bitten and eaten, in whole or part, by one animal or another. As to the veggies, well, the rabbits made off with all the lettuce, celery and other greens. They didn't bother with tomatoes, peppers, or beans, so we managed harvest those even without the help of our cat. But, nothing else.
My advice is to adopt a few cats. The number will depend on the size of your property. We had 2 acres, and one cat was enough until she grew old and started eating only cat food...
We feel and understand your pain. One of our editors planted a peach tree and had a similar experience. It sounds like you’ve tried all of the usual and recommended techniques. We found an idea from the folks who grow Bings best—cherry orchardists in Washington state. Here’s the solution (Hint: it involves sugar): https://www.goodfruit.com/sugar-sours-birds-on-eating-valuable-cherry-crops/ You might also reach out to the source of this information for more advice or ideas.
We have a lot of roots that grow up out of the ground from the cherry tree(suckers). My husband is thinking rototilling the whole base under the tree would help. I am worried about rototilling hurting the roots. It is a small rototiller. Any thoughts?
Prune the sucker-roots to the ground; as soon as the roots appear; do not rototiller; REPLANT TREE IN A DEEPER SOIL or ADD alot TOP SOIL around Tre;
I had both a Nanking and a Hansen bush cherry in AR. Both set cherries very well. Did they pollinate each other? My grandkids loved them
Will a Nanking Bush cherry tree pollinate a Carmine Jewel dwarf tree?