In the Ural gardens (and not only in them) it often happens that after the abundant cherry blossoms we were left completely without cherry. What's the matter?
The reasons are very different, but, first of all, it is the absence of pollinating varieties. The vast majority of cherry varieties grown in our country are cross-pollinated plants, i.e. self-infertile or, at best, partially self-fertile.
To make it clear to a beginner, self-fertile varieties are tied when pollinated with their own pollen from 20 to 40% of the fruits, partially self-fertile - from 10 to 20%, and self-fertile - no more than 5% of the fruits. But the most important thing is that for each variety there are only "own" pollinator varieties that bloom at the same time as it. And if there are no such pollinating varieties nearby, then it is better not to hope for a good cherry harvest.
Cherry pollination occurs normally if the pollinated variety is no more than 35–40 meters from the pollinator variety. Therefore, it is very, very important to agree with the neighbors on the site of the varieties of cherry trees planted on the basis of their mutual pollination. And even if you have purchased the most fashionable self-fertile cherry variety, it will still not give you an outstanding harvest alone, but it will bear incomparably better fruit if several more cherry plants of other varieties bloom nearby, blooming at the same time as your cherry. Cherry harvest will increase even more if there are bee hives nearby.
Another massive cause of cherry infertility is weather, our capricious Ural weather during flowering. If at this time the weather is cold, cloudy, windy, then the bees completely stop "working". If, on the contrary, it is very dry and hot, then the pollen of the flowers dries up greatly and most of the flowers remain unpolished. Such an ovary reaches the size of a pea, turns red and then quickly crumbles.
Bad weather cannot be completely avoided, but its effects can be mitigated. To do this, cherries must be placed in elevated places, well protected from the wind and illuminated by the sun. You can also insure yourself against bad weather by sprinkling cherry bushes on the buds with one of the preparations - "Ovary", "Bud", etc. In this case, cherry ovaries will begin to grow better even in the absence of pollinating varieties and insects.
The next reason for a poor harvest of fruits is even more commonplace - it is a simple freezing of flower buds... Moreover, in cherries, this can happen not only in cold winters, but also in ordinary winters with long thaws, and even in spring and autumn. The fact is that cherry fruit buds ripen for a long time, especially if at the end of summer you abused nitrogen fertilizing or infusion of mullein and bird droppings, as well as abundant watering. In this case, during the early autumn frosts, the fruit buds may freeze too much.
But much more often flower buds freeze slightly in late winter and early spring after frequent and sharp alternation of high and low temperatures. With complete freezing of fruit buds, cherry blossoms are absent, since completely dead buds dry out and crumble. And with partial freezing, slightly damaged buds open very slowly, the plants bloom, but the fruits either do not tie at all, or they tie, but most of them crumble, and only single fruits remain until ripening.
Late spring frosts during flowering can also wreak havoc on cherry crops. Cherry buds die at a temperature of -4 ° C, flowers at -2 ° C, and ovaries at a temperature of -1 ° C. Late frosts are especially dangerous when the average daily air temperature has risen to 6–10 ° С, ie. when the weather is already warm.
To reduce the harm from spring frosts, gardeners, before the temperature drops, mainly carry out evening watering, abundantly wetting the soil. It is much more difficult to organize smoke or small-drop sprinkling of plants in a small amateur garden.You can also protect cherries with non-woven covering materials. But it will be better if you also insure yourself by spraying the cherry bushes before the frost begins with Epin-extra or Novosil stimulants, which sharply increase the resistance of plants to unfavorable weather conditions, including low temperatures.
By the way, and hot weather at the time of flowering with temperatures above + 30 ° С also leads to a sharp deterioration in the conditions for pollination of cherriessince the viability of the pollen and the quality of the nectar are reduced, and therefore the bees visit flowers worse.
Inexperienced care of grafted cherry plants often also greatly affects the fruit yield. The fact is that the grafted part of the cherry gradually dies, and the root shoot that has grown to replace it from the wild root grows magnificently, blooms even better, but this is a completely different cherry and it gives a very low yield. Only the owner of the site is to blame for this, who forgot that he had a grafted cherry. And for such a "special" cherry and care should be special.
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The fifth reason is even more commonplace - growing in the garden of non-zoned varieties... In the Urals, these include Central Russian varieties that do not withstand low temperatures and freeze in frosts below -20 ° C, as a rule, at the level of snow cover.
It is completely unacceptable to purchase cherry seedlings brought from the southern regions of the country - this is a real "pig in a poke". No matter how good the southern variety is, its frost resistance in our conditions will certainly be much lower, and it will be immediately damaged by low temperatures in the first place.
The main requirement for a cherry seedling is its high frost resistance, i.e. it must be zoned for cultivation in our conditions. Therefore, it is necessary to acquire only zoned varieties of cherries of Sverdlovsk selection and only in a specialized nursery, but not on the numerous trucks that stand along highways in spring and autumn, and even less on the “wild” market.
By the way, why chase them when among the zoned varieties of Sverdlovsk selection there are simply magnificent varieties. Thus, the varieties "Mayak" and "Standard of the Urals" are not inferior in size, taste or yield to the famous Central Russian variety "Lyubskaya", but in contrast to it they tolerate our low temperatures satisfactorily.
The next reason for a poor cherry harvest is similar to the previous one - it is the presence in the garden of plants obtained from sowing cherry seeds, even the best varieties. Firstly, the seedlings grown from these seeds enter the fruiting season very late, and secondly, they give a very low yield.
Insufficient plant nutrition during the most important period for them - the next 2-3 weeks after flowering, has a great influence on the yield. That is why foliar top dressing (spraying on the leaves) with urea (1 tablespoon per 10 liters of water) is extremely useful 10 days after flowering, and then another 12-15 days later.
And finally, the last reason - numerous fungal diseases of cherry, most often coccomycosis, which must be seriously dealt with. Indeed, with this disease, the leaves fall from the tree much earlier than the natural fall of leaves. At the same time, tree tissues do not ripen well and plants can freeze too much, even if negative temperatures are much higher than critical ones.
And, among other things, one should not forget that cherries need good lighting and soil conditions... Cherry gives a high yield of fruits only with the systematic application of organic, mineral fertilizers, with the maintenance of the soil on the tree trunks in a weed-free and loose state. It should be borne in mind that fertilizers are effective only on soils with a neutral reaction. And if the groundwater level is less than 2 meters, then it is necessary either to drain the soil, or to plant it on piled hills.
Now you probably understand why on your site, despite the abundant flowering of trees in spring, cherries remained completely fruitless in summer, and your rainbow dreams of dumplings with cherries and cherry liqueurs remained dreams.
"Ural gardener", No. 3, 2011
