Cherry care in autumn and preparation for winter

Despite the fact that cherry is a rather unpretentious stone fruit crop (compared to an apricot or even more so a peach), the tree needs some care in the autumn to get decent annual harvests.

Below you will find useful information on how to properly prepare cherries for winter, which is advisable to have time to do in a cherry orchard in autumn.

How to care for cherries in the fall: a list of activities

Proper autumn care for cherries, as well as measures to prepare the tree for winter, consist in the following procedures:

• autumn feeding;
• autumn sanitary pruning;
• cleaning the trunks from old dead bark, various mosses and lichens;
• cleaning the tree trunk circle from plant and other debris (it is possible before processing, and it is possible after);

Important! If the tree did not hurt, then garbage (except for fallen fruits) can be throw on the compost heap... If the cherry was affected by various fungal diseases and pests, then plant residues need either burn, either bury it very deeply, or simply take it out of the site.

• eradicating autumn treatment from diseases and pests;
• whitewashing of trunks (necessarily after processing).

Advice! All about autumn whitewashing fruit trees (including cherries) described in detail in this material.

• autumn water-charging watering and digging of the earth in the near-trunk circle;
• protection of a young tree from rodents, sunburn and damping of the root collar.

And now about everything in order.

Autumn feeding of cherries after fruiting

ABOUTcanopy fertilizers - this potassium-phosphorus fertilizers.

Important! In no case do you try feed in autumn nitrogen fertilizers (Same urea or ammonium nitrate).

For forming bones all stone fruit crops need a sufficient amount of calcium in soil, therefore, periodically you should fertilize cherries with calcium fertilizers. In general, feeding can be combined with the procedure soil deoxidation, which is recommended once every 5 years. This is perfect for this dolomite flour... IN wood ash (used as a potassium fertilizer) also a lot of calcium.

Pay! The site already has a detailed article about how to feed cherries in autumn (after fruiting and harvesting).

Autumn pruning

In autumnare usually carried out exclusively sanitary pruning of cherries, i.e. get rid of dry, broken and diseased branches (especially affected moniliosis, which have a monilial burn).

The main pruning of cherries (and any other fruit trees) is done in early spring.

Why is it better to prune in the spring than in the fall?

As practice shows, autumn pruning is in a sense dangerous for the health of fruit trees: the cuts often do not have time to grow and prepare for low temperatures, as a result, in severe frosts in such places, the tree freezes.

Eradicating autumn spraying from diseases and pests

It would seem, why carry out processing when the season has already ended. However, thanks to the autumn eradication spraying of cherries, you can get rid of almost from all remaining pathogenic fungi and insect pests (including their eggs) so that they could not overwinter on / in the bark and near-trunk circle (in the soil).

Advice! The site has a separate detailed article about when and how to properly carry out the autumn eradicating spraying of the garden from diseases and pests.

Most often used as fungicidal agents for the autumn treatment of trees inkstone in combination with urea or Bordeaux liquid.

Important! If in the summer you noticed that the leaves and fruits on your cherries have dried up, they are hanging as if "burned", then just know: this monilial burn (moniliosis).

Autumn eradication treatment also helps from the disease. bordeaux liquid.

Video: how to spray cherries from moniliosis in autumn

Whitewashing of trunks

The purpose of the autumn whitewashing of any fruit trees (including cherries) is prevention of frostbites (sunburn), cracks in the bark, which are formed due to temperature changes (plus-minus, plus-minus) in the transitional winter-spring period (in February-March).

Note! Whitewashing in the spring (April-May) does not make any senseapart from the aesthetic.

Whitewash should be old and especially young trees... Moreover, to whitewash the trunks of young seedlings, weaker solutions should be used (the concentration of lime should be reduced by 2 times) so as not to burn the young bark. In any case, whitening is very, very desirable, since young seedlings have very thin bark, which can be quite easily damaged in late winter and early spring from sunburn (it simply bursts due to the temperature difference).

By the way! The site already has an article about when and how to whitewash fruit trees in autumn (all trees are whitened in the same way).

Option! It is believed that very young seedlings with smooth bark it is better not to whiten, but to wrap with special tapes... So you not only prevent sunburn, but also protect the seedling from rodents (more on this in the next section).

Autumn water-charging irrigation

Autumn watering of cherries with water is another useful event, thanks to which you can better prepare the tree for winter, so to speak, by "filling" it with moisture.

As you know, moist soil freezes less and has greater thermal conductivity, in other words, the heat from the lower layers of the soil will warm the roots of your cherry in the cold season.

Thus, water-charging watering is recommended for all fruit trees and berry bushes.

How long does it take?

• After falling leaves, on the eve of cold weather (even at a positive temperature).

When is winter watering especially necessary?

• In case you have sandy loam soil and autumn does not indulge in frequent and heavy rains, and winter is not snowy.

It is worth understanding! Of course, if autumn in your region is "well, very wet", then you can completely do without water-charging irrigation.

How much water is required?

• Approximately 40-100 liters of water per 1 square meter of the trunk circle (for young - 40-60 liters, for adults - 80-100 liters), i.e. you need to calculate the area according to the crown projection (its perimeter). The more mature and massive your tree is, the more water you need: from about 40 to 200 liters.

Advice! And after watering (for example, the next day) it is very desirable also loosen the soil in the near-barrel circle, because loose earth freezes less.

Of course, if you have a good layer of sod under the trees or grass (lawn) just grows, then you do not need to touch it.

How to properly cover cherries for the winter: protecting young trees from rodents

The last stage, mandatory for young seedlings, which still have a thin bark, which hungry rodents like to gnaw so much in cold winters.

For guaranteed protection of trees, various kinds of metal mesh frames are installed, but there are other methods.

By the way! The site already has a separate material about how to protect fruit trees (including cherry ones) from the attack of mice and hares in winter.

As you now understand, all fruit trees require approximately the same measures for autumn care and preparation for winter. You just need to also pay attention to your cherry orchard (Don't forget about cherries too!).

Video: how to properly prepare fruit trees for winter