Planting sweet cherries in your own garden is not difficult, but deciding on a standard or half trunk is difficult for some plant lovers. What makes a sweet cherry a standard tree and what are the advantages and disadvantages?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of a sweet cherry as a standard tree?
A sweet cherry as a standard tree offers advantages such as a picturesque appearance, long lifespan, high yields and a wide range of uses in the garden. Disadvantages include more difficult harvesting, maintenance, high space requirements and limited suitability for small plots of land.
What is different about a standard trunk than a half-trunk?
The trunk height varies. The trunk of a sweet cherry that has been grafted to a standard tree is usually 180cm tall when you plant it. In order to obtain such a tall trunk, the sweet cherry is grafted onto a strong-growing base.
Advantages of the sweet cherry as a standard tree
There are numerous advantages of a sweet cherry that is grafted onto a standard tree. As it gets older, such a cherry tree looks picturesque and shapes the landscape. There is a lot of space under its crown, which can be used for a bed or as a seat and shade in the garden.
Other advantages are that the sweet cherry grafted on a standard trunk usually reaches a higher age than a half-trunk. Standard tribes like to live up to 50 years (and older). They also offer more habitat for animals, higher yields (up to 300 kg), can act as a windbreak and require less maintenance.
What are the disadvantages?
But when all the advantages are put into the background, there are also disadvantages with a standard tree. For example, it is more difficult to cut the sweet cherry on the main trunk or to remove diseased shoots and leaves.
Picking the fruit is also more complicated. Most of the time it is only possible with the help of a large ladder (€90.00 on Amazon). But when you get older and are up to 30 m tall, you can no longer reach the fruits even with a ladder.
Other disadvantages are:
- higher risk of accidents e.g. B. by falling branches, during harvest, etc.
- more time required for harvesting
- different yields every year
- full returns can only be expected after 10 to 15 years
- only suitable for larger properties - high space requirement and minimum planting distance of 8 m
Tips & Tricks
A sweet cherry on a standard tree with its yields of up to 300 kg is quickly too much for one person. For a large family, however, such a rich-bearing tree is a real enrichment.
