How to water a cherry tree in the summer, does it like water, how often is watering required and how to do it correctly

Should you water cherries in summer?

During the entire growing season, cherries are watered 3-4 times.

Activities are tied to specific phases of tree development:

after flowering - depends on the climate and variety, so it’s difficult to give an exact date;
at the stage of ovary formation;
after the harvest, but often the procedure is postponed to the beginning of September;
until October 20, during preparation for wintering.

The last watering is not carried out if it is a rainy autumn. Otherwise, moisture will accumulate in the upper layers of the soil, which will lead to rotting and death of the roots.

Does she like water?

Cherry is a drought-resistant crop that prefers to be saturated with moisture occasionally.

Experienced gardeners recommend adhering to watering in accordance with the phases of the growing season.

This is interesting:
Step-by-step instructions for cutting cherry trees in the summer with your own hands
Instructions for transplanting cherries to another place in the summer for beginner gardeners

Features of cultivation

It is no secret that now in Russia cherry trees grow in almost every dacha. In addition to the beautiful appearance of trees and bushes, as well as the taste of the berries, an equally important role is played by the fact that this plant is a honey plant. Another advantage is the ease of growing a crop that requires relatively simple care. Given that cherries grow in almost any climatic conditions, they are characterized by record yields.

A bountiful harvest is always the result of proper care, regardless of the characteristics and varietal properties of the cherry. But, unfortunately, in some cases, even constant care for the plant does not allow achieving the desired results.

The reason for such troubles is the mistakes made by gardeners when growing crops.

And one of the key points will be the correct landing. In this context, the following important points need to be highlighted.

At the material selection stage, it is recommended to give preference to varieties that will be most suitable for specific climatic conditions. At the same time, attention should be focused on such indicators as frost resistance, productivity and resistance to the negative effects of pests. Another key factor is pollinators. The absence of such trees in the immediate vicinity of the cherry orchard is often the main reason why ovaries do not form, including during heavy flowering.
When purchasing, all seedlings should be carefully inspected. You can count on a rich harvest only if you use high-quality planting material.
Of course, problems associated with the fact that cherries drop their ovaries and bear fruit poorly also arise due to diseases. Taking into account a number of nuances, competent processing of plants at different stages is required. Depending on specific situations, spraying can be carried out, for example, before buds open or at the so-called rose bud phase.

How often to water

In addition to phased watering, gardeners use an artificial water shower.

The following nuances are taken into account:

Seedlings are given water regularly during their first year of life. Every 2 weeks, 1.5–2 buckets are poured under the bush.
In dry, hot weather, water is given to adult bushes 2 times a month, and to one-year-old seedlings every week.
During fruit formation, the volume of liquid is increased at your discretion. If the soil is very dry at a depth of 5-6 cm, increase the amount of water by 2-3 times.

In dry October, up to 4 liters of water are poured under the tree. This way it will survive the winter better.

Important! With each watering, 1 plant consumes 10 to 15 liters of liquid.

The soil is mulched with cut grass, compost or humus to prevent moisture evaporation.

Sprinkling

This procedure is often carried out on leafy crowns of cherry trees in dry and hot conditions. Both young seedlings and mature mature trees respond positively to it. It is recommended to do it in the evenings or early in the morning. The weather should be cloudy. During the day and in hot weather, it is prohibited to sprinkle, since drops of water on the surface of the leaf blades will cause severe burns.

How to plant cherries in the Urals in spring

In addition to saturation with moisture, sprinkling also strengthens winter hardiness, which is important before severe frosts. The effectiveness of the procedure will begin to appear immediately after a sharp temperature jump. In this case, sprinkling is carried out late in the evening and extended throughout the night until dawn.

Important! The effect of watering increases if you loosen the soil in a timely manner.

Water requirements for irrigation

For one-year-old trees, use settled water kept overnight or for several days.

It is allowed to water with rainwater from an outdoor container that has been standing in the open air. Adult plants are moistened with plain water from a hose or bucket.

What can I add?

After fruiting, a mixture of 40 g of superphosphate and 60 g of potassium salt is added to the tree trunk circle and watered well.

At the beginning of summer, cherry leaves are sprayed with a urea solution: 40 g of the drug is diluted in 10 liters of water at a temperature of +30...+35°C. This will activate the growth of green mass, improve the formation of ovaries, and prevent the appearance of cherry sawflies, weevils and black aphids.

How to properly water cherries in summer

Frequent watering harms the plant, so the soil is fed rarely, but abundantly. It is good if the liquid penetrates to the lower roots to a depth of 40 cm.

A few more tips:

light and frequent irrigation harms the plant, since little oxygen enters the soil and the roots are not saturated with it;
water is poured only into the trench around the tree;
try not to wet the root collar;
after water procedures, loosen the soil;
remove weeds regularly;
Sprinkle the roots with soil if they begin to peek out after moisture has entered.

If the cherry grows in a dark and poorly ventilated area, moisten it only 2 times: during the fruiting period and in mid-October.

What mistakes to avoid

It is not recommended to flood mature trees. It is better to irrigate young seedlings using a watering can using the sprinkling method, otherwise the pressure of water from the hose will damage the thin trunk and the cherry will bend towards the ground.

Watering cherries when planting

The procedure is performed in spring or autumn, after planting . First, create a near-trunk circle at a distance of 50 cm from the seedling. Pour 2-3 buckets of water into it.

As soon as the moisture is absorbed, the soil is lightly compacted. The top layer of soil is mulched with dried grass, compost or humus.

For the first time, the seedling is watered from a watering can. This way the moisture will be better distributed over the entire surface of the earth.

Advice! If the rains were moderate in summer, watering is carried out after the top layer of soil has dried. During prolonged rainy weather, additional irrigation is stopped.

To saturate a newly planted tree with moisture, use 10–15 liters of warm water.

During flowering

Watering cherries during flowering is a mandatory procedure. The period falls in the first half of May, and in the southern regions - at the end of April.

Water the plants according to the following scheme:

3–5 buckets are poured under 1 bush at a time;
Irrigate twice a month;
if the weather is too hot and dry in May, apply 30–50 liters of water under an adult tree every week.

During fruiting

Water the cherries no later than 15 days before the start of harvest. Use 3-5 buckets, and in drought - 8-10.

Excessive moisture will cause cracking and rotting of the fruit.

How to feed cherries: feeding schemes from spring to autumn

Adding an article to a new collection

Sometimes gardeners forget about fertilizing cherries - and in vain! After all, a crown strewn with fruits is the result of properly fertilized soil. Let's figure out together all the nuances of this procedure so that you can properly plan your summer cottage work.

Let us remind you that cherries do not like wet and heavy soils. Tolerates drought well. Feels best on hills or hills. It blooms in May - early June, bears fruit from late June to mid-August, depending on climate conditions and plant variety. But cherries are more moisture-loving and less demanding on fertilizers. Blooms from mid-April to mid-March. Fruits from late May to early July. When feeding it, the main thing is moderation and balance.

To supply these fruit trees with nutrients, two types of fertilizers are used - organic and mineral.

Organic fertilizers - compost, well-rotted manure, sawdust, chicken droppings, etc. – improve the structure of the soil, making it loose and fertile.

Mineral fertilizers supply the plant with macro- (nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus) and microelements (iron, copper, boron, manganese, sulfur, etc.) necessary for full growth, increased immunity and stable fruiting. Such preparations can be bought in the store, for example, urea (urea), ammonium nitrate, potassium salt, superphosphate, etc. Complex fertilizers with calcium, magnesium or sulfur are also used: nitroammophosphate, azophosphate, ammophosphate, etc.

Nitrogen fertilizers are applied from spring to mid-summer. Later feeding will lead to the fact that the trees will continue to actively increase their vegetative mass and will not be able to prepare for the coming winter.

The main methods of feeding: root (soil) and foliar (by leaves).

For root feeding, dry compounds or their solutions are used. The finished fertilizer is applied to the tree trunk circle around the tree, retreating about 50 cm from the trunk. The older the cherry, the wider the trunk circle is made. For trees over 20 years old, it can reach up to 3.5 m!

Fertilizing using the root method is carried out as follows: thoroughly loosen the soil and abundantly water the tree trunk circle. For an adult fruiting tree - up to six buckets of water, for a young tree - up to three. After moisture is absorbed, fertilizers are used. Liquid preparations are simply poured into the soil in tree trunk circles, while dry preparations are evenly scattered over the surface of the soil and shallowly embedded into it with a rake or pitchfork. It is not recommended to use a shovel for these purposes.

Spraying (foliar feeding) can be carried out 2 years after planting. At the same time, the trunk, shoots, and root circle are carefully and thoroughly processed. This procedure is carried out in cloudy weather or in the evening. To process the garden faster and easier, special sprayers, as well as respirators, safety glasses and rubber gloves, will be useful.

Fertilizers for cherries in spring, summer and autumn can be prepared independently or purchased at a specialized store. The main thing is to follow the instructions for use. It is better to apply less fertilizing so as not to harm the trees. An overabundance of nutrients often leads to problems such as:

falling of leaves and ovaries from a lack of calcium (due to excessive addition of potassium);
interveinal chlorosis from a lack of zinc (if the soil is oversaturated with nitrogen), etc.

An excess of nutrients in trees also often leads to gum disease (hommosis)

Green manures have also proven themselves to be excellent. So, in the circles of cherry trees you can sow peas, oats, and vetch. And when they grow green mass, simply embed them in the soil. Another option for using green manure is to sow a bed with it, and before planting seedlings on it, add part of the mowed green mass separately to each tree.

Rules for watering seedlings

Regardless of the time of planting, the rules for watering seedlings are general:

The first procedure is carried out to compact the soil around the root system. Use a sprinkler for this. Set the average pressure for uniform irrigation of the tree. The duration of the procedure is from 30 minutes to 1 hour.
If there is no running water, the plants are watered from a watering can for the first time. 2 buckets are enough.
In dry summers, the seedlings are irrigated once a week using 2-3 buckets of water.
In rainy summers, water procedures are carried out as the soil dries.

Such activities are carried out for 1 year. During this time, the young cherry will form a high-quality root system. Then watering is carried out from a hose.

Trees from year

In the second year, activities are performed if:

drought lasts a long time;
the soil constantly dries out in a sunny area;
too hot summer.

The amount of water and frequency of procedures coincide with the rules for watering seedlings up to 1 year old.

It happens that cherry leaves begin to dry out even if watering recommendations are followed. This is a signal of damage to the root system. It is enough to loosen the soil in the tree trunk circle so that oxygen can better reach the roots.

Trees from 2 to 5 years

Such cherries do not require frequent watering. Experienced gardeners add water only during flowering, fruiting and dry weather.

Pour up to 10 buckets under the bush once during the period of fruit formation, 5 buckets - during the flowering period, 30 liters 3-4 times - during drought.

From 5 to 15 years

Cherries at this age practically do not require watering. It is sufficiently saturated with moisture from heavy rains.

It is permissible to feed the tree during the fruiting period with a volume of up to 50 liters at a time.

Reference. In autumn, irrigation is carried out regularly and abundantly until mid-October. Place 3 buckets under the bush once a week. The activities will help the crop prepare for winter by strengthening the root system.

old trees

If the cherry grows in a dark place, it is not watered. In a sunny area with prolonged heat, add 60 liters of water 2 times a month.

It is believed that after 15 years the culture is fully formed and is able to survive at the expense of its own strength and environmental conditions.

Timing for pruning

The start of corrective work often coincides with the planting of the tree. This event is carried out in several stages, since removing a large number of branches in one season reduces the vital activity of the plant and reduces its yield. Let's consider the specific pruning time depending on the period of work.

Winter pruning period

Since during the cold season the wood becomes brittle and vulnerable to temperature changes, large-scale removal of branches is undesirable. The only acceptable measure is anti-aging pruning - a procedure carried out on large old trees whose yield is falling and the quality of the fruit is decreasing.

Spring pruning time

Spring landscaping of the garden should be carried out before the buds swell and the sap begins to flow, from mid-March to the first week of April. During this period, plant branches are thinned out, which improves air supply to the crown and promotes uniform distribution of sunlight. The trees are carefully inspected, removing damaged branches and branches that were damaged by frost.

Summer pruning time

Summer pruning is carried out in two stages, between the end of flowering and the beginning of fruit appearance. They are carried out in early July, accompanied by shortening of young shoots and the formation of the basis of the future structure. The second time the cherries are pruned after harvesting.

Autumn pruning time

The signal for autumn pruning is the fall of leaves. The procedure is carried out until the end of September or the beginning of October so that the cuttings are better overgrown and the tree does not waste a lot of nutrients. Broken and unfruitful branches are also removed, the absence of which allows the cherry tree to better withstand the winter.

Advice from experienced gardeners

Experienced gardeners do not adhere to strict rules for watering cherries, but take into account the amount of precipitation and soil condition. Mulch the tree trunk circle to prevent rapid evaporation of moisture.

Some tips:

every spring and autumn, mulch the root circle with a layer of pine needles, sawdust, peat up to 7 cm high;
additionally water the cherries after fertilizing;
adult trees over 5 years old do not require watering; it is permissible to give 5 buckets 2-3 times per season in dry summers;
for young seedlings, additionally create a circular depression with a diameter of 40 cm and a depth of 15–20 cm - this way the water will remain in the ditch for a long time, and the number of waterings will be reduced to 2 times a month;
Water the newly planted tree from a watering can or using a special sprinkler.

Special care for cherries and sweet cherries - feeding for all ages!

Feeding cherries depends on the age of the tree. Newly planted seedlings do not need abundant fertilizer. They have enough substances that were introduced during planting. But if you notice that the shoots have begun to grow more slowly, and the leaves are covered with red spots, it’s time to fertilize.

Young trees that have not yet begun to bear fruit regularly require organic matter: manure, compost, organic mixtures. Fruiting cherries are fertilized 3-4 times throughout the year. Mature trees older than 7 years – every other year. Also, when choosing the amount of fertilizer and time of fertilizing, it is worth taking into account the climate, the health of the tree, and the composition of the soil. These factors are decisive.

If the annual growth of shoots is less than 50 cm, then the young tree requires annual feeding.