I am planting a few sweet cherries this year. They seem to be the most fuzzy fruit trees to grow.
What is the best automated way to irrigate cherries? Pics will be great!
Any other planting strategies to help keep these alive?
What is your favorite pruning style for cherries for home gardens and why? - KGB, TSA, SSA, UFO, etc
I use drip irrigation for everything, not just cherries.
I prefer the KGB system of pruning, to keep the trees compact.
I do too, I modified it a little to fit my needs.
Had to look KGB up so here it is:
Likely a stupid question - you are in zone 9B - that is pretty warm. Can you grow cherries in your climate - I thought cherries preferred cooler temperatures. I assume you picked your varieties for your climate. Would love to hear how it turns out for you.
I too use the KGB method
Dave Wilson Nurseries/Zaiger has introduced a number of low chill cherries. It might be worth trying them?
Thanks all
We get 500-700 chill hours. I am guessing that should do… I’ll keep you updated on how it does.
Are there any pics you can post of your setup around the cherries? Wondering how they’ll get enough water as they grow.
Attached are some photos of Andy’s Orchard cherry trees. This is in Morgan Hill CA., south of San Jose, an ideal growing climate for growing sweet cherries. The other ideal locations are in Brentwood, about 20 miles east of Oakland, Stockton and Lodi, south of Sacramento. Also attached is a California plant hardiness zone map. Zones have nothing to do with warmth, just average annual extreme minimum temperatures. The proper number of chill hours is also a must, 800+ for Bings, less for other varieties. Areas right along the coast do not accumulate enough chill hours. The other half of the battle is guarding against pests such as fruit flies, birds, raccoons and the like. I use very fine mesh fabric to completely cover the tree when the cherries start to turn color. You may also want to graft other varieties to the tree such as Brooks which requires fewer chill hours than most varieties. Stella produces the most for me, Bing the least. Sweet cherries are verry fussy to grow, it cannot be too warm/hot or cool, too wet/humid or too dry, a Goldilocks situation. Plum/pluot/pluerries are much easier to grow.
I have a unique setup and lots of experience trying to grow cherries. What I’ve found is that cherries bloom and set much better outdoors here than in my greenhouse. The greenhouse has twice or more chilling than outside but a shorter winter. I can set the greenhouse up to average 18 Utah hrs a day of chilling. I’ve done that about 45 to 75 days. That’s 800 to 1350 Utah hrs of chilling. Before and after it’s warm during the day, usually 70-90F. Under that setup cherries bloom but the flowers are not fully developed and set is 0-10%. Outside the chilling is much less but the dormant period much longer. Cherries set much better outside. Apricots and pluots to some extent follow the same pattern.
So chilling, even the good kind like Utah hrs, doesn’t tell the whole story.
How do your outdoor cherry trees grow in Alpine? Do the trees handle the summers ok?
The heat is no issue. We seldom get over 100F. Cherries grow in areas of CA that have hotter summers.
I did lose outdoor trees from bacterial canker during a rainy spell. The Krymsk rootstock got infected not the scion.
Mine seem to suffer with the dry hot wind in the summer. I suppose I am hotter than you but not much. I am also having vigor issues, it’s possible I haven’t been watering enough.
The low vigor stocks like G5 are very low vigor for me. I like the DWN dwarfing cherry rootstock better than Giesla.
I have z dwarf, Gisela and mazzard. Z dwarf will be in 2nd leaf I am hopeful. Thanks
