Felt Cherry - Care Tips

Cherries have become an integral part of our gardens. This fruit tree has a wide variety of varieties. This article will focus on felt cherry. The felt cherry variety has its own characteristics and characteristics that have made this tree an important element of many household plots. This article will be devoted to the description of the felt cherry, its type and varieties.

Characteristics of the species

Few people know that the Chinese cherry belongs to the Plum subfamily. For the first time, a Chinese woman was raised, no matter how difficult it is to guess, in China. But still Korea, China and Mongolia are considered her homeland. A wild species of this tree grows here. The spread of felt cherry as a cultural species took place in the middle of the 20th century. During this period, they began to grow in eastern Europe and North America. Today it is one of the most common species, which mainly grows in Ukraine and Russia. So, in the Moscow region there is a nursery where a large number of varieties of this type of cherry are grown.

Chinese cherry blossoms beautifully and start to harvest early. This species is very well suited for the harsh conditions of Siberia.

Felt cherry in appearance is more like a bush than a tree. It is a fairly small shrub that can grow to a length of about one and a half meters. But with proper care, it can grow up to three meters in height. A photo of the felt cherry is shown below.

Branches, especially perennial ones, are gray-brown in color, they are thick and rough. But annual shoots are green or brownish-green. The buds on the shrub itself are located on bouquet and very short fruit twigs. On annual shoots, they are collected together in three pieces. The buds, which are located on the sides, are fertile, and vegetative ones grow in the middle. Fruit formations live up to four years.

The leaves of the felt cherry are small and wrinkled, the leaf blade is smooth above, and pubescent below. A distinctive feature of felt cherries is the presence of a fleecy and fluffy crown. The shrub has a rather dense, spreading and oval crown. It is this crown that is the reason for the name of this cherry variety "felt". Pubescence, to varying degrees, can be found on the leaves, peduncle, fruit skin, and even on annual shoots.

Bloom

A flowering Chinese tree looks great. The pink buds of the Chinese woman turn into white-pink flowers. This species begins to bloom about two weeks earlier than other varieties. The flowers are pink and begin to turn white by the end of flowering. Flowers bloom in May (middle or end of the month, blooms profusely for two weeks. Due to the presence of a short peduncle, during flowering it seems that the flower is located directly on the branches. Cherries during this period resemble a huge, beautifully smelling bouquet.

Fruit

A distinctive feature of this species is polymorphic berries. Also, this type of fruit tree differs from other cherries in sweeter fruits. Berries are sweeter due to the fact that they contain significantly less acid. Their pulp contains a large amount of beneficial nutrients: vitamin C, polysaccharides, etc. The color of the fruit is red or pink, but sometimes it is also white or black (depending on the variety). The weight of one berry varies within 3 g. The first fruits appear on the felt cherry in the second year after planting.The berries ripen at the end of June, and they can stay on the branches for a long time. The stone is very small and is rather problematic to separate from the pulp.

The use of this type of berries increases appetite, strengthens capillaries and improves digestion. They are suitable for preparing compotes, preserves, jams, marmalades and other types of preservation.

Often, felt cherries are planted as an ornamental crop, although it has a fairly high fertility and up to 12 kg, sometimes even 15 kg of fruits can be harvested from one bush per season, and with proper care of the felt cherry, you can get all 20 kg.

Growing conditions

This species is a tree that is absolutely unpretentious to soil indicators. But it is worth planting them in sufficiently sunny places. In the case of planting in a darkened area, as well as with frequent rains, it is possible for the berries to rot right on the branches.

One of the positive properties of felt cherry is that it has a higher frost resistance compared to other varieties. It can tolerate a temperature drop of up to -40 degrees without problems. At lower temperatures, freezing of the cambium and core may occur. In this case, the branch data should be deleted. During the flowering period, a sudden cold snap can damage the color. A particularly important advantage is the high resistance of this type of cherry to coccomycosis.

This type of fruit tree is self-fertile. This means that there are both male and female flowers on the same bush. For this reason, such cherries are planted close to each other and in an amount of not less than 3 - 5 shrubs. In this case, the pollinators are very close, which will facilitate fruiting. It is characterized by the formation of a large number of shoots, which is very convenient to plant. The only thing you need to make sure that this growth does not spoil the appearance of the garden.

You can cross such a cherry with a peach, plum, apricot and cherry plum. But you cannot cross it with an ordinary cherry, since they are genetically very far from each other.

Video "Felt Cherries"

In the video below, you can find out some of the details of the characteristics of the variety. In addition, this video contains information about the peculiarities of growing felt cherry in Siberia.

Varieties

This type of cherry is characterized by the presence of a large varietal variety, which have certain properties and characteristics.

According to the ripening period, Chinese cherries are divided into 3 groups:

• early - Delight, Alice, Children's;
• medium-fruited - Eastern, Oceanic Virovskaya, Fairy Tale, Natalie, Princess;
• late - Altana, Beauty, Summer.

Before planting a tree, you must familiarize yourself with the description of a specific type of Chinese cherry in order to know all the features of the variety.

For southern varieties of felt cherry, similarly as for varieties of plums, early maturity and the formation of a large number of fruits are characteristic, which are formed on the tree during the fruiting period. In this case, the felt variety looks like a tree with a wide and spreading crown. These varieties have very sweet and tasty fruits. The content of nutrients (vitamins, microelements) in them is the greatest. This type includes the following varieties: felt cherry Natalie, Tsarevna, Lyubskaya, Apukhtinskaya, Alisa, Bagryanaya.

Also, the differences between the varieties are in their resistance to diseases. For example, the Malinovka variety, which belongs to the early varieties, has the lowest susceptibility to coccomycosis. It is this property that increases the attractiveness of such species.

The most classic variety of felt cherry is Vladimirskaya, which is most widespread in Europe and East Asia. In the nursery near Moscow, you can find all of the above varieties.

The varieties that are intended for planting in the middle lane have increased winter hardiness. These include Mayak, Nezyabkaya, Polevka.

Recently, a new variety, Shokoladnitsa, has become very popular, which can grow up to 2.5 meters in height. Its fruits are dark burgundy, and sometimes almost black, which is why its name.

Before planting a particular variety in your garden, you should familiarize yourself with its characteristics and useful properties.

Care

As mentioned above, this variety is an unpretentious tree in care. The Chinese tree is easy to grow at home.

Caring for felt cherries begins from the moment they are planted in your garden. Felt cherries can be planted in spring and autumn, in rare cases - at the end of summer. It is best to plant felt cherries in light sandy loam and loamy soils. Do not plant it in peat bogs or waterlogged soils. The place of its placement should be well lit, and stagnation of water should be prevented. If the cherry is in the shade, then its branches will elongate, and the yield and quality of the fruit will decrease.

With proper care, felt cherries begin to bear fruit in the second or third year. But even with a plentiful and high-quality harvest, caring for felt cherries should not be stopped. This tree will bear fruit annually, and its annual yield will average about 10 kg. But if the cultivation of the felt cherry is correct, then a harvest of up to 14 kg can be expected.

For adult cherries, care should be taken in autumn and spring, but only after flowering is complete. During this period, rejuvenating and formative pruning should be carried out, as well as the necessary feeding. Do not forget about the prevention of various diseases and protection from pests.

Water the tree abundantly immediately after planting and during periods of drought. At other times, moderate watering is required.

By doing all this, you can not only increase the yield of the tree, but also improve the characteristics of its fruits and significantly extend the period of fruiting.

Pruning

It is important not to forget about pruning Chinese cherries. Pruning a bush or tree takes place in the fall or spring. It is carried out both for the purpose of thinning the crown and for rejuvenation. It is also produced with a strong increase per year. The bush must have at least 6 strong skeletal branches. Annual shoots are shortened to 40 cm. The next year, the side branches are cut by 1/3. Broken, dry and painful branches must be removed and burned to prevent contamination. Pruning should be done every year for better fruiting.

Spring pruning is carried out, leaving 8 strong skeletal shoots.

Rejuvenating pruning is done only on mature shrubs or trees. In the course of it, the branches of the first and second rows are cut, which go up to the first branch. With a large number of branches, it can be carried out twice a year. But you should not get carried away with this process in order to prevent cherries from freezing.

Top dressing

After the seedling has been planted, the fruit tree is fed annually. It consists in the introduction of organic and mineral fertilizers, rich in nitrogen, into the soil. Top dressing is distributed along the perimeter of the trunk circle. The soil should be loosened to a depth of 5 cm. But this must be done carefully so as not to damage the roots.

In autumn, fertilizing is carried out using fertilizers that do not contain nitrogen, so as not to stimulate the growth of branches in the winter. In winter, Chinese cherries are not fertilized.

Reproduction

Reproduction of this type of cherry is carried out in the following ways:

• with the help of bones;
• vegetatively;
• cuttings.

The stone fruit method is the most effective, since the seedlings are already accustomed to the environmental conditions. However, trees planted in this way are more susceptible to disease. Only large seeds are involved in planting. In early autumn, they are stratified by placing them in wet sand.

First, the bones are peeled from the pulp and dried. Store them in a cool and dark place before planting.

At the end of autumn, they are planted in the ground at a shallow depth, at a distance of 2 cm between themselves. They should be covered with sawdust, foliage and humus. Seeds after stratification should be planted in a permanent place of growth in early spring. During the summer, seedlings germinate 1 cm. With proper care, they can reach 40 cm in one year. In spring or autumn, they are seated.

When propagated by green cuttings, an excellent varietal material is obtained. But this can only be achieved in a greenhouse that is equipped with a fogging unit.

As you can see, felt cherry, due to its characteristics and properties, will be a useful purchase for your garden.