Cherry is suitable for planting in most areas of our country, so do you know that cherries are suitable for planting in the south? Here are the reasons why cherries can be grown in the south that I have compiled for you. I hope it will be useful to you.

Reasons why cherries can be grown in the south

European sweet cherries generally require 900 to 1400 hours of low temperature below 7.2°C to complete winter dormancy, which limits large-scale cultivation in southern my country . Therefore, Chinese cherries are still the main cultivated varieties in the southern provinces and regions of my country. At the same time, there are very few excellent varieties of Chinese cherries. The cultivated varieties generally show many shortcomings such as small fruit, sour taste, pre-harvest fruit cracking, and fruit drop. Therefore, cherries can be grown in the south, but Chinese cherries are the main species. There is now a variety in Chongqing called Black Pearl, which is a good variety.

Cherry planting technology in the south

1. Garden construction

1. Variety selection and configuration Since cherries are not resistant to storage and transportation, early planting should be considered when selecting varieties. , mid-ripening and late-maturing varieties are planted together, and fresh-eating and processed varieties are matched with those with good transportability. Whether it is local varieties or introduced from other places, you should choose high-yielding, large-grained, high-quality varieties. In the southern region, winters are warm and the low temperature period is short, so it is best to choose Chinese cherry varieties that require less cooling, including Hongfei, Yunwu Hongying, Nanzaohong, Black Cherry, Black Pearl, etc. Best variety. Chinese cherries are all autoflowering varieties, but pollination trees can also be appropriately deployed, generally accounting for about 10% of the total number of plants planted.

2. Planting density: Planting density should vary according to variety, rootstock, and soil conditions. On fertile flat land, use natural open-shaped, trunk sparse-layered and cluster-shaped shapes, and can be planted in 4×2 meters or 4×3 meters. On slopes, they can be planted in 3×1.5 meters or 3×2 meters. If you want to avoid rain, it is recommended to plant according to 3×1.5 meters or 4×1.5 meters. You can also increase the density appropriately in the juvenile stage, and take thinning or thinning measures after the garden is established.

Chinese cherry***Southern cherry*** needs less cooling, has a long growth period, and falls leaves late. They usually enter the budding stage just after the leaves fall, so the best time for planting should be after the leaves fall in winter. It is carried out at the time of germination, that is, winter planting. The best time is from early December to the end of January. Before planting, the soil should be deeply plowed and matured, or a large hole should be dug for planting. Apply 25 to 50 kilograms of organic fertilizer to each hole. Mix the fertilizer and soil thoroughly and let it mature for 30 days before planting the seedlings. Immediately after planting the seedlings, pour enough water to set the roots.

2. Soil, fertilizer and water management

1. Fertilizing saplings

After planting cherry saplings, start fertilizing when the new shoots are 5 cm. For fertilization methods, please refer to Peach. Cultivation. Adopt the principle of applying thinly and frequently, and stop fertilizing until early June to promote flowering.

2. Fertilizing adult trees

***1*** Fertilize before budding and flowering. Topdress fertilizers based on quick-acting nitrogen fertilizers. Apply 15 to 20 kg of poultry and livestock manure water, 0.5 kg of urea, and 0.3 kg of potassium sulfate to each plant.

***2*** Fertilization after fruit harvesting is mainly to restore tree vigor, promote flower bud differentiation, and increase next year’s yield. Immediately after picking the fruits, apply manure, livestock manure, and appropriate fertilizer. Apply 30 to 60 kilograms of poultry and livestock manure to each plant depending on the number of results.

***3*** Base fertilizer is best applied in autumn from September to October *** in warm southern areas from October to November *** before the leaves fall to rejuvenate the tree vigor and increase the number of plants. Nutrient content stored in the body. Since it only takes more than 40 days from cherry blossom to fruit maturity, the amount of stored nutrients affects the size and quality of the fruit to a great extent. Therefore, the application of base fertilizer is very important, accounting for 50% to 70% of the annual fertilizer application, and is mainly organic fertilizer, such as compost, ring fertilizer, chicken manure, decomposed bean cake, etc., and appropriate amounts of superphosphate or calcium phosphate fertilizer should be added wait.

In addition to the above soil fertilization, foliar fertilization should be carried out from the early flowering stage to the full flowering stage, once every 10 days, 2 times in a row, with 0.1% urea + 0.2% potassium dihydrogen phosphate solution + or 0.1 % borax liquid helps to increase fruit setting rate.

3. Cultivating, weeding, and soil improvement ***See Part 1, Chapter 2 of this book***

4. Ground covering, irrigation and drainage

Because mulching reduces the impact of spring drought on plants, it can increase fruit and yield. Cover with weeds and crop stalks before germination in early spring. After the cherry is harvested, and before continuous rains come from May to June, the covering should be removed or buried.

Cherry blossoms are sensitive to rainfall during this period from flowering to fruit maturity. In case of drought, irrigation should be combined with fertilization. Since water in tissues with low juice concentration will flow to tissues with high juice concentration during drought, immature fruits have the weakest resistance and are most susceptible to drought. When planting cherries in areas with severe spring drought, water supply factors must be fully considered. However, if there is too much rainfall or too much irrigation in spring, it will cause the branches to grow longer and aggravate the fruit drop. At the same time, too much rainfall or irrigation will cause serious fruit cracking in cherry fruits, especially if there is a sudden heavy rain after a severe spring drought or too much irrigation at one time, the fruit cracking will be more serious. Therefore, while watering, drainage ditches must be well organized, ready for drainage at any time, and the soil should be kept loose and ventilated to ensure that the soil is soaked and not waterlogged.

3. Shaping and pruning

1. Shaping

***1***Natural open-shaped shape is mostly used for sweet cherries. The trunk height is 30 to 40 cm. The whole tree has three main branches with a branch angle of 60 degrees. The center stem is initially retained, and after 4-5 years of planting, the center stem is removed to create a heart-shaped tree. This kind of tree shape is easy to reshape, needs little pruning, has an open crown, good ventilation and light transmission, early fruiting, high yield, and good fruit quality.

***2***Natural cluster shape is a common tree shape of Chinese cherries and sour cherries. Generally, there are 5 to 6 main branches, which open and extend to all sides. Each main branch has 3 to 4 side branches. The fruiting branches are born on the main and side branches. After the main branches become senescent, they are regenerated by sprouting tillers. The angle of this tree shape is relatively open, forming quickly, bearing fruit early, and the tree body is short, making it easy to pick fruits. However, the inside of the crown is easy to close, so it is not suitable for varieties with obvious layering.

***3*** The main trunk is sparsely layered. The trunk height is 40 to 60 cm, with a central trunk. There are 6 to 7 main branches, scattered in 3 to 4 layers on the central trunk. There are three main branches on the first floor with an opening angle of 50 to 60 degrees; there are two main branches on the second floor with an opening angle of about 45 degrees. The third and fourth floors each have one main branch. The distance between the first and second layers is 60-80 cm, the distance between the second and third layers is 40-50 cm, and the distance between the upper layers can be appropriately smaller. Each main branch is equipped with 2 to 4 side branches. At the same time, fruiting branch groups are cultivated on backbone branches at all levels. This kind of tree shape is suitable for most cherry varieties, especially varieties with strong dryness and obvious layers. However, due to heavy pruning, the fruiting is often delayed. At the same time, the tree is tall, making management and harvesting inconvenient.

2. Pruning

***1*** Types and characteristics of branches Cherry branches are divided into two types: developing branches and fruiting branches. There are more developing branches on saplings. , its front leaf buds extend and grow, expanding the crown, and the lower axillary buds sprout fruiting branches. After entering the fruiting period, most of the top buds of annual branches are leaf buds, and most of the axillary buds are flower buds, which are called fruiting branches. According to the length of the fruiting branches, they are divided into long fruiting branches***15~20cm***, medium fruiting branches***5~15cm***, short fruiting branches***about 5cm***, and flower cluster-shaped fruiting branches** *1～2cm***. From the perspective of fruiting ability, the fruit-setting ability of long fruiting branches is poor, generally around 40%; the fruiting ability of medium-fruiting branches varies depending on the variety; the fruit-setting ability of short-fruiting branches is high, and the fruit quality is also good; the flower-clustered fruiting branches are the most prosperous trees in the fruiting period. The main fruit-bearing branches on the tree have a fruit setting rate of about 80%. The fruit is of the best quality and has a long lifespan, and can bear fruit continuously for 10 to 20 years. Fruiting branches and flower cluster-shaped fruiting branches are the basis for yield formation.

Chinese cherry saplings have a high germination rate and branching ability; the buds are precocious, highly polar, have small branching angles, and the branch polarization is very obvious. In the early fruiting stage, the proportion of long and medium fruiting branches is large, while in the full fruiting stage, short fruiting branches and flower cluster-shaped fruiting branches dominate. Chinese cherries have single buds, so care should be taken when pruning them.

***2*** Pruning of saplings In order to promote early fruiting of saplings, the degree of pruning of various branches should be light on the basis of shaping. The sapling stage has strong growth momentum, and the main purpose is topping during the growth period to control the growth of branches, increase branches, and accelerate the expansion of the crown. Pruning in winter should be delayed until before germination to prevent the cutting edge from losing water and drying out. Except for short-cutting the main branches and extension branches and appropriately thinning out some overly dense and crossing branches, the remaining middle and small branches should be retained as much as possible. The flower buds of the fruiting branches of saplings are generally split at the top of the branches, so they should not be cut too short. Since Chinese cherries have single buds, short pruning is generally not required except for strong branches. If short pruning is necessary, heavy pruning is required to promote flowering and a large number of branches.

***3*** Pruning of fruit-bearing trees is often done in summer after fruit picking. Use thinning pruning to remove large perennial branches that are too dense or too strong and disrupt the crown, adjust the crown structure, and promote flower bud formation. When thinning out large branches, make sure the wound is small and flat to facilitate rapid healing. When thinning out annual branches, you can first cut them above the axillary flower buds at the base, and then thin out the branches after they are bare. When pruning in winter, attention should be paid to appropriately retracting the tips of the backbone branches and the 2-3-year-old branch segments of short fruit branches to ensure vegetative growth and the continuous formation of new fruit branches, and to prevent the fruiting parts from moving outward and the interior of the crown being bare.

***4*** The main task of pruning senescent trees is to renew and rejuvenate them in a timely manner and to use the long branches with strong growth potential to form a new crown. If the tips of the backbone branches are weak and have no fruiting ability, they should be retracted in time. The life span of the hidden buds of Chinese cherry is about 5 to 10 years, and the hidden buds can be retracted and regenerated. In order to allow branch renewal during retraction, it is best to have small branches with relatively normal growth at the retraction area, which will cause less damage to the tree body. Retract the leggy branches after pruning, select branches with appropriate direction, location, growth, and outward expansion to cultivate new main branches and side branches, and top them in time. Excessive ones should be thinned out, and the remaining ones should be cut short to promote branching, and then released slowly to form a group of fruiting branches. When renewing large branches, it should also be done after picking the fruits to avoid causing glue leakage in the wounds.

4. Flower and fruit management

1. Preserving flowers and fruits When preserving flowers, attention should be paid to fertilizer and water management in spring to promote the complete construction of flower organs and normal flowering. The purpose of fruit preservation is to increase the fruit setting rate of healthy fruits. Measures include: artificial assisted pollination; using insects to visit flowers for pollination; spraying plant hormones, such as gibberellin, PBO, etc. Spraying 1000 times Calibor + 1000 times Potassium Dihydrogen Phosphate during the early and full flowering stages can promote fruit setting.

After the flowers fade, spray foliar fertilizers such as Hengbao, Kali Potassium, Kali Calcium, and Green Fenwei to preserve the fruit and promote fruit enlargement; in order to promote strong fruit, it is necessary to thin the flowers and fruits to promote fruit enlargement, especially for red fruits. Feifei cherry has a very high fruit setting rate. If the fruit is not thinned, the fruit will not be as big as a large fruit.

2. Preventing and reducing fruit cracking Cherry fruit cracking is a major problem faced by southern cherries. Under normal circumstances, choose varieties with strong fruit cracking resistance such as Hongfei, Nanzaohong, and Wupi cherries*** Black pearls* can reduce the fruit cracking rate. In addition, timely irrigation during droughts and deep trench drainage during rains can also reduce fruit cracking. However, nothing can be done in some special weather years. For example, in Chongqing in 2010, it rained for 10 consecutive days during the cherry ripening period, causing a large number of cherries to crack, reducing production, and causing heavy losses to fruit farmers.

In recent years, we have adopted simple rain shelters. The method is the same as the rain-shelter cultivation of grapes. They are only protected from rain during the maturity period. The anti-cracking effect is excellent; at the same time, it can increase the quality of the fruit and extend the picking period. Ensure a good harvest during the rainy season and fetch a high price. In addition, cover the tree disk with mulch 10 days before maturity so that the rainwater can be drained into the ditch when it rains, which can reduce fruit cracking.

5. Disease and Pest Control

The main pests and diseases that harm cherry trees include white mulberry scales, thorn moths, pink-necked beetles, apple-winged moths, golden-edge girdles, and scarabs. , pear heartworm and anthracnose, cherry leaf spot, bacterial perforation, gum disease, root neck rot, etc., comprehensive measures should be taken to prevent and control them. The control method is similar to that of peaches and plums. When pruning in winter, cut off and burn the diseased and insect-infected branches. At the same time, spray Baume 5 degree lime sulfur mixture once during the leaf fall period; spray fenmethrin ***10 before the leaves stop growing in spring. % suspension agent***Add difenoconazole***10% water dispersion***1500 times liquid once; spray cyanogen chloride·chlorpyrifos***522.5g/L EC***1000～1500 from July to August Add thiram·thiram*** 80% wettable powder to the solution 500 to 600 times a time.

Also:

1. What is the method of growing cherries in the South?

2. Cherry varieties suitable for growing in the South

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4. Technology for growing cherry trees in the South

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6. What are the climate conditions required for growing large cherries? Which