Chernokorka is a medium-ripening cherry that tastes more like cherries. Sweet, with a slightly noticeable sourness.
Bred by Ukrainian breeders. Plantings of trees of this variety began to spread en masse on private plots of the southern and central regions, first in Ukraine, and then gradually moving along the same latitude in Russia. This variety is especially popular in the Kherson, Nikolaev, Dnepropetrovsk, Kirovograd, and Odessa regions. And also Krasnodar and Stavropol territories.
Black-crust cherry has its own characteristics of planting, growing and care. How to get high yields with less labor will be discussed in this article.
Description and characteristics of the variety
A tree-like shrub plant, reaching a height of about 3 meters, self-sterile. The tree blooms very beautifully, there are a lot of inflorescences, but you won’t be able to collect a lot of fruits from a lonely cherry tree. Therefore, it is not recommended to plant it alone. Need pollinators nearby. Has good shoot recovery ability. Gardeners use this to renew the crown and extend the life of Chernokorka cherries. Below is a brief description of the tree and berries.
Yields from a mature tree are high and annual. It begins to bear fruit 3–4 years after planting.
Tree
The tree is branched, the crown is not thickened. The branches are slightly drooping, strong, covered with dark brown bark. The leaf blade is oval, ellipsoidal in shape. The edges are jagged. The outer surface is dark green, and the bottom of the leaves is slightly lighter. The veins are well defined. Blackbark usually blooms in mid-May. The flowers are white, five-petaled, collected in inflorescences of 5-6 pieces.
The tree is frost-resistant, but can only tolerate short-term drops in temperature. Prolonged frosts can lead to the death of young plants, so Chernokorka cherry trees are more acclimatized in the southern regions of our country. But they don’t take root in the northern regions. Read about varieties for the Urals.
Fruit
The berries are dark burgundy in color, closer to black. Hence the name of the variety - Chernokorka. The weight of one fruit is from 4.2 to 4.5 grams. The skin is thin and shiny. The pulp is very juicy, sweet with notes of sourness, dense consistency. More like super early varieties of cherries. The juice of the berries is a rich burgundy color. The shape of cherries is round. The seed occupies 7% of the total mass of the berry and is easily separated from the pulp. The stalk is medium and long, even when the cherries reach ripeness it holds tightly. And this is one of the indicators of good transportability of the berries of this variety.
Cherries are three times richer in iron than apples.
Planting Chernokorka cherry
Chernokorka seedlings are planted in early spring. This is the optimal period, since autumn planting can lead to the death of the tree due to early frosts.
The planting pit is prepared a month before planting the cherries. The size of the hole depends on the volume of the root system of the seedling. It is better to make it large: up to 1 m wide and up to 0.6 m deep. For more effective rooting, organic matter and superphosphate are added to the hole in equal volumes. The root of the seedling is cut to a third of its length before planting. After placing the root system in the hole, an earthen roller is poured around the planting hole. In the future, it will prevent water from spreading when watering.
The size of the planting pit for cherries depends on the volume of the root system of the seedling
Some rules for planting Chernokorka:
- A bare-rooted specimen is planted only in spring. Autumn is also suitable for trees in containers.
- When planting, the seedling is not deeply buried, and the root collar is placed approximately 5 cm above the soil level.
- In the spring, long or improperly formed shoots are pruned off acquired trees.
- After planting, cherries are watered regularly and a lot.
Compliance with these rules will allow you to grow a healthy tree that produces a good and high-quality harvest.
Peculiarities
Having decided to plant a cherry orchard or even just one tree, the gardener looks for a variety that would meet all the necessary requirements: winter hardiness, resistance to stone fruit diseases, self-pollinating, good yield, transportability. Chernokorka does not meet all these requirements: it is better to grow it in the south of the country. Still, it can withstand a drop in temperature, but only if it was short-term. Resistance to diseases and pests is low. But transportability is good: berries can be transported over long distances. And, of course, what sets Chernokorka apart from other cherries is its taste - it is sweet, delicate with a barely noticeable sourness. Below is a brief overview of the characteristics of Chernokorka cherries:
- Winter hardiness is average. The tree may not be able to cope with severe, prolonged frosts. That is why the variety is zoned in the south of the country, where there are winter temperature drops, but they are short-lived;
- Disease resistance. The variety has very weak immunity against stone fruit diseases and pests. At the beginning of summer, you can notice the first signs of coccomycosis on the leaves - brown spots on the upper part of the leaf. If the disease is not dealt with, young trees may lose all their leaves during the growing season. The variety is moderately resistant to monilial burn, clasterosporia (hole spot);
- Pollinators. Chernokorka is a self-sterile variety. Therefore, it needs pollination. The best pollinators are Donchanka, Shalunya, Anadolskaya, Kharitonovskaya, Griot Podbelsky, Besseya, Lotovka rozlozistaya, Shchedraya;
- Ripening period and yield. Medium ripening variety. The harvest begins from the end of June to the beginning of July. Even under unfavorable weather conditions and poor plant care, you can collect about 30 kilograms of cherries from a tree. But if all agrotechnical measures are carried out on time, the cherries will please the gardener with a harvest twice as large. With age, productivity gradually decreases;
- Transportability. The stalk is firmly attached to the berry and therefore the cherries almost do not fall off at the time of ripeness. In addition, the skin of Chernokorka berries is durable. And these are two indicators that indicate good transportability of cherries.
Read how to treat cherry moniliosis in this article.
Diseases and pests
Chernokorka's weak point is its susceptibility to fungal infections. This primarily concerns trees to which incorrect agricultural techniques have been applied. Weakened cherries are also vulnerable to pests.
Table: possible diseases and pests
| Diseases and pests | Symptoms | Control measures | Prevention |
| Coccomycosis | A fungal infection causes the leaves to yellow and small red-brown spots to appear on them. The overgrown spots dry out, and the affected tissue crumbles, leaving holes on the leaves. Premature leaf fall begins. The fruits become small and lose their juiciness. A sick tree may not survive the winter. |
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| Monilial burn | In damp weather, buds and shoots suddenly begin to dry out. The fruits become smaller and deformed. In an advanced stage, cracks may form on the bark, from which resin begins to release. |
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| Cherry aphid | Aphids can cause great harm to young trees. A colony of small insects usually settles on the underside of a leaf or young shoots. By sucking out cell sap, the pest leads to deformation of the foliage and drying out of the shoots. The cherry weakens, becomes vulnerable to disease, and does not tolerate frost well. | To combat aphids, Actellik, Iskra, and Fitoverm are used. The treatment is carried out before flowering. Alternation of drugs gives good results. |
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| cherry fly | The pest lays eggs inside the fruit. The larva eats the berry from the inside. Affected fruits darken, the flesh softens and rots. The cherry quickly crumbles. |
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Photo gallery: how to recognize diseases and pests
Coccomycosis leads to early leaf fall
A cherry affected by a monilial burn looks charred.
Cherry aphids weaken the tree, its leaves become deformed and its shoots dry out.
The cherry fly and its larva can destroy most of the crop
Growing
Gardens of a non-industrial type, although they occupy small areas, require certain knowledge of planting, growing, and caring for. After all, there is a huge variety of conditions, such as topography, soil, microclimate, which will affect the growth and fruiting of trees. This link will tell you how to get rid of cherry trees on your property.
It is also necessary to choose the right and high-quality seedlings that must meet certain requirements:
- The height of the planting material is preferably about 1 meter. It can be either an annual plant or a biennial plant. A one-year-old cherry may only have a central conductor, while a two-year-old cherry must have lateral shoots;
- The thickness of the seedling should range from 1.5 cm to 2.5 cm. It is better not to buy ones that are too thick or thin;
- The root system should be branched and without damage.
It is better to buy grafted seedlings in a specialized nursery located in the same climatic zone where you plan to plant the garden.
Before purchasing and planting planting material, it is advisable to familiarize yourself with the basic principles of planting Chernokorka cherries.
Climatic conditions
Chernokorka cherry is more productive and begins to bear fruit earlier in the southern regions of the country. In Polesie regions it can also be grown, but trees are planted on elevated areas or southern slopes. In the central black earth region, where more severe climatic conditions, areas on the lower part of non-steep slopes are allocated for cherry orchards. Read about the best varieties of cherries for the Moscow region here.
It is better to grow Blackbark in the southern regions of the country, since the frost resistance of trees of this variety is average.
The soil
Cherry grows even on sandy and rocky soils. Trees show good survival rate and then yield on chernozems, dark chestnut and chestnut soils.
A sign of good soil for stone fruit plants can be the growth of trees in the area such as: oak, ash, hawthorn, hazel.
Landing
Cherries can be planted both in autumn and spring. In the nursery, the choice of quality material is richer in the fall. Therefore, it is at this time of year that you can buy a seedling and bury its lower part, thus preserving it until spring. Find out why cherries don’t bloom or bear fruit here.
Figure: Proper planting of a cherry seedling.
Rules for planting cherries:
- Dig a hole, place a bucket of humus in it, after mixing it with the top layer of removed soil;
- Drive a wooden or bamboo stake into the bottom of the hole;
- Place the tree, straightening the roots. Make sure that the root collar is at ground level after planting;
- Fill the hole almost to the top with soil and compact it well so that the roots come into contact with it as best as possible;
- Tie the seedling to the stake;
- Water, mulch.
It is imperative to take into account the density of tree planting. For cherry it is 5 x 3 m
Selection of seedlings for planting
It is no secret that to plant a fruit tree on your plot, first of all you need to buy a good seedling, which in the future will be able to bring a decent harvest.
It remains to learn to visually distinguish good planting material from unsuitable young plants.
So, when choosing a Chernokorka cherry seedling, you should pay attention to the following features of the presented option:
- it should be a plant about one meter high, with a well-branched rhizome and several branches;
- all its parts must be elastic and free from any signs of disease - neither on the bark nor on the leaf blades;
- if the bark is slightly damaged (just scratching it is enough), you can notice wet greenish cells in a healthy seedling, but if they are dry and gray, then planting such a specimen on your site will definitely not bring the desired result.
Care
Chernokorka cherry is a rather unpretentious plant. Even without proper care, it will delight the gardener with sweet berries. But if you apply even a minimum of agrotechnical measures, the yield will double. First of all, you should remember that the plant's root system will develop faster and better when the soil is under black fallow. Therefore, plowing or digging must be carried out in tree trunk circles. This is usually done in the fall. Near the trunk, the loosening depth should not be more than 12 cm, and further from the trunk - 20 cm. It is necessary to carry out mulching and snow retention in winter. Timely watering, fertilizing, pruning and preparation for winter are also important. We will discuss these agricultural activities below. Also read the description of the Shpanka cherry variety in this material.
Watering
Watering trees in young orchards contributes to the early entry of cherries into fruiting, and in fruit-bearing orchards it leads to an increase in yield. When watering a tree, you need to make sure that the water wets the soil layer near it by 70–80 cm. Therefore, for one watering you need to give up to 5 buckets of water per square meter of area. Irrigation rates may vary depending on the amount of rainfall during the growing season and the climate zone where the cherry orchard is located.
Previously, gardens were irrigated using cut furrows, but now almost every gardener tries to use drip irrigation. It is very convenient to use, effective and low-cost.
Feeding
Very effective organic fertilizers are:
- Compost or manure;
- Peat feces;
- Humus.
As well as complete mineral fertilizer: nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium salts.
Blackbark can be fed with phosphorus-potassium fertilizers in the second half of summer in order to increase the frost resistance of trees of this variety.
Mix different types of mineral fertilizers only before applying them.
There are approximate rates of fertilizer application per 1 square meter of garden:
- Manure or compost – 3 kg;
- Peat feces – 1–2 kg;
- Ammonium nitrate – 20 grams;
- Superphosphate – 40 grams;
- Potassium salt – 11 grams.
Trimmings
When planting an annual seedling, you need to shorten the central conductor. If this is a two-year-old planting material and it has side branches, then it is also advisable to trim them. But so that they are not higher than the central conductor. Pruning the plant in subsequent years of growth consists of thinning the crown. After shortening the branches, the development of young shoots from the buds located below the cuts is stimulated. And this leads to an increase in yield. By pruning trees you can also control the growth of cherries in height and width.
Cherries can form strong branches, so strong shortening is applied to them only in the first year after planting in order to ensure their survival.
Preparing for winter
To increase the frost resistance of cherries in winter, in the second half of summer they are fed with mineral fertilizers, and in the fall they are watered abundantly, and then each tree trunk circle is mulched with manure, peat or sawdust. The trunk of young trees itself is wrapped with protective material. These can be bundles of straw, thick paper, etc. This will also protect the trunk of a young tree from damage by small rodents.
Cherry variety ripening period, yield indicators
In warm regions, cherries begin to bloom around the beginning of May (depending on the weather), and the berries appear in early July. The fruiting period is long and can reach 3 weeks.
The plant can produce its first harvest already in the 4th year, and full fruiting begins after about 7 years.
With proper care, you can collect from 30 to 60 kg of berries from one tree
Pros and cons of the variety
In the south of the country, the Chernokorka variety is widespread. Such cherries grow in almost every second garden plot. And there are reasons for this:
- Low trees, which makes them easier to care for;
- Good and stable yield from year to year;
- Resistance to long periods without rain;
- Beautiful, transportable berries;
- Excellent taste: Chernokorka cherries are sweet with a slight sourness.
But at the same time, it is necessary to name the disadvantages of this variety:
- Self-sterility. Flowers cannot self-pollinate. A pollinator must grow on the site. It can be not only cherries, but also sweet cherries;
- Poor immunity to stone fruit diseases. Especially for coccomycosis.
Harvest and storage
Fruiting lasts for 2-3 weeks. The berries are firmly attached to the stalk, so they can be harvested at once when all the fruits are ripe. In the refrigerator in the vegetable compartment, the fruits will be stored for no more than a week. To extend shelf life, cherries are frozen or dried in an electric dryer.
Video: Chernokorka Cherry
The use of the variety is universal. The berries are used to prepare juices, jelly, compotes, preserves, desserts, and wines. So, sweet juicy Chernokorka cherries are worthy of being grown by summer residents and professional gardeners. The crop needs to be carefully monitored, but with proper care, the plants will delight you with a rich and tasty harvest.
conclusions
Chernokorka cherry has won the sympathy of gardeners in the south of the country with its productivity, beautiful sweet berries that have good transportability. But at the same time, in order to obtain good harvests from year to year, it is necessary to apply the following agrotechnical measures:
- Watering. It is especially important in the southern regions in summer and autumn.
- Feeding. Both mineral and organic fertilizers are used. To increase frost resistance, it is advisable to fertilize trees in the second half of summer.
- Trimmings. Cherry grows very quickly, so annual thinning of the tree is required.
- Since Chernokorka is susceptible to diseases, it is necessary to constantly inspect the tree and carry out preventive treatments.
