At the end of April, under the first warm rays of sunshine, the buds of the cherry trees open and transform the orchards into blooming and fragrant landscapes. The more numerous the flowers, the greater the prospect of a rich yield.
How can you promote cherry tree blossom and ensure yield?
In order to promote cherry tree blossom and ensure yield, you should ensure sufficient nutrient supply, good crown structure and regular pruning. For sweet cherries, also choose self-fertile varieties or ensure suitable pollinators.
Promotion of flower formation
The cherry blossoms are not there for their own sake, their job is primarily to produce fruits and seeds. Of course, some cherry varieties are cultivated solely for their spectacular blooms in spring. However, in most gardens, sweet and sour cherry trees are planted to harvest fruit from them.
In a young cherry tree, flower formation is less than shoot formation. Ultimately, a strong crown structure should first develop before the tree begins to bear fruit. Flower formation is influenced by many factors: nutrient supply, crown structure, location and weather conditions.
Regular cutting promotes flowering. It is important to distinguish between leaf and flower buds. A flower bud is thicker than a shoot or leaf bud. If the pruned branch ends with a flower bud, the shoot will no longer grow at this point. Therefore, you should always cut to a leaf bud from which a new shoot can develop.
Flowering time
The sweet cherry begins to bloom in mid-April. The delicate flowers can be endangered by late frost. Wet weather at flowering time affects fruit set. The sour cherry is better protected from late frosts due to its relatively late flowering period from the end of April to the beginning of May. At the end of the flowering period, you should protect the cherry trees from birds with nets (€16.00 on Amazon), which would otherwise eat the half-ripened fruit within a few days.
Pollination
In order for the flower to become a fruit, it must be pollinated and the ovules located in the ovary must be fertilized. Most sweet cherry varieties are not self-fertile and require a pollinator variety to bloom at the same time. There are many self-fertile varieties of sour cherries in which pollination of the stigma with pollen from the same tree leads to fertilization.
Tips & Tricks
Nature obviously attaches great importance to avoiding self-fertilization, because in numerous self-fertile varieties, male and female organs in a flower ripen at different times.
