Cherry Plum, Or Spreading Plum

Table of contents:

Cherry Plum, Or Spreading Plum
Cherry Plum, Or Spreading Plum

Video: Cherry Plum, Or Spreading Plum

Video: Cherry Plum, Or Spreading Plum
Video: The underappreciated Cherry Plum (Prunus cerasifera) 2024, March
Anonim

Cherry plum is a highly productive and early-growing crop with exceptional adaptability, and its fresh fruits and processed products have excellent taste. Thanks to the above characteristics, cherry plum is gaining more and more popularity among gardeners every year.

Cherry plum fruits, or spread plum
Cherry plum fruits, or spread plum

In the wild and in culture, cherry plum is common in mountainous areas in the Tien Shan, the Balkans, in Central and Asia Minor, in Iran, in the North Caucasus and Transcaucasia, in Moldova and in the south of Ukraine. Cherry plum is cultivated in Russia (in the Krasnodar Territory, in Rostov, Belgorod, Kursk, Voronezh, Bryansk and other regions), in Ukraine, in the states of Asia and in Western Europe.

Content:

  • Description of cherry plum
  • Plum planting spread out
  • Cherry plum growing
  • Cherry plum varieties
  • Cherry plum grafting
  • Top dressing of spread plum

Description of cherry plum

Cherry plum (Prunus cerasifera), or spreading plum, or cherry plum, one of the original forms of home plum. Fruit plant from the subfamily Plum family Rose.

Trees are single or multi-stemmed, from 3 to 10 m tall, with a well-developed root system and a rounded-spreading, less often pyramidal crown. The life span of a tree is 30-50 years. Cherry plum is characterized by early maturity and high yield (15-40 kg of fruits per tree in the second - third year after planting).

Leaves are broadly ovate, sometimes lanceolate. The flowers are white, pale pink, often solitary, 20-40 mm in diameter, bloom simultaneously with the leaves or earlier. The fruit is a round or elongated drupe, weighing from 6 g in wild forms to 60 g in some cultivars. The color of the skin of the fruit is different - from pale yellow to purple. The pulp is green, yellow or pink, contains 4-14% sugar, 2-4% organic acids, pectins, flavanoids, anthocyanins, vitamins A, C, B1, B2, E, P, PP. The fruits also contain potassium, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, sodium, iron, manganese, cobalt and other minerals.

High quality dried fruits, jams, jellies, juices, aromatic extracts, syrups are prepared from the fruits. The stone is round or elongated, flat or convex, often difficult to separate from the pulp. The kernel contains up to 52% oil, which is not inferior in quality to almond oil. It can be used in perfumery and medicine.

Cherry plum fruits are not only tasty and healthy, but also curative. The main therapeutic effect is provided by the vitamins and pectins contained in them. Cherry plum is used for gastrointestinal diseases, mainly for chronic heartburn (in combination with a diet).

Cherry plum tree
Cherry plum tree

Plum planting spread out

On sale you can find both own-rooted and grafted seedlings. As a stock for cherry plum in the middle lane, seedlings, rooted cuttings or shoots of home plums, plum-cherry hybrid (SVG), resistant forms of cherry plum (13-113, 10-114, etc.) are used.

Open-rooted seedlings are best planted permanently in the spring before bud break. Closed-root plants can be planted during the warm season. If you are going to buy cherry plum seedlings, you need to take only those grown in your region. If you live, say, in the middle lane, varieties from more southern regions may not survive the winter.

Cherry plum is a southern plant, and the more sun it receives, the higher the yield and the sweeter the fruits. So it is better to plant a tree in the southern or southwestern corner of the site. It is good if the wall of a house or a barn covers it from the winter winds.

When choosing plants for your garden, contact your seller who can help you find annual seedlings that have a well-developed root system and no external signs of disease.

For cherry plum, moist, well-drained fertile loams are preferable. Most of the cherry plum root system is at a depth of 20-40 cm, so the plant can put up with close groundwater, standing at a depth of 1.5 m or even 1 m, but not closer. If the groundwater is close to the ground, it is recommended to grow on an artificial elevation.

Pits for planting cherry plums are dug every 2-4 meters, at least 60 cm³ in size and filled with a nutritious earthen mixture. When choosing components for the potting mix, follow the basic rules. Add sand and peat to clay soil, and sod land to sandy soil. The substrate must be breathable and permeable, nutritious. Apply fertilizers - 300 g of superphosphate and 30–40 g of potassium sulfate to the planting pit. Cherry plum loves neutral soil, so if you have acidic soil, add chalk, lime or dolomite flour. If the soil is alkaline, use gypsum.

Cherry plum prefers soils with a neutral reaction of the environment. To determine the acidity of the soil, you can use test indicators, which are sold in every garden center. These indicators are very easy to use and allow you to quickly determine pH values (soil acidity).

At the bottom of the hole, create a mound over which the roots of the seedling are evenly distributed. It is necessary to install the seedling in such a way that after planting and subsidence of the soil, its root collar is at the level of the soil. Then the pit is covered with the remaining mixture, lightly tamping it

When planting cherry plum with a closed root system, carefully shed a clod of earth. Don't forget to water the plant well after planting - even if it's raining. To retain moisture, the trunks are mulched.

Cherry plum
Cherry plum

Cherry plum growing

For growing cherry plum, the southern or southwestern part of the site is suitable. It is desirable to shelter from the prevailing winds in winter in the form of a wall of a house or other building.

For quality care, cherry plum will thank you with a good harvest. In the absence of such, the plant becomes less winter-hardy, gets sick and, as a result, brings a meager harvest of low quality fruits. In the first years after planting, care mostly consists of weeding, watering and pest control.

In the rest of the years, the plants actively respond to the application of fertilizers and respond with excellent growth and increased yields. During the growing season, the plants are fed three times. In early spring - "in the snow", during the growth of ovaries (June) and during the budding period for the next harvest (July). In the case of a strong growth of annual shoots, summer pinching is used. In June - early July, actively growing shoots are pinched.

Alycha young tree
Alycha young tree

Cherry plum varieties

Most varieties of cherry plum are self-fertile. In other words, for normal pollination and harvesting, at least two different varieties are needed. Plums or thorns are not suitable for pollination.

  • "Ruby" - early ripening. Winter hardiness is high. The fruits are dark red. The pulp is orange, juicy, aromatic.
  • "Granite" - medium late ripening. Winter hardiness is above average. Fruits with a waxy coating, yellow pulp, juicy.
  • "Found" - early ripening. Winter hardiness is above average. The fruits are burgundy, the pulp is yellow, the juice is colorless, the taste is sweet and sour.
  • "Tent" - early ripening. Winter hardiness is above average. Fruits are round, yellowish-green with a red blush, when ripe completely burgundy, dense.
  • "Huck" - medium late ripening. Average winter hardiness. The fruits are bright yellow with a blush. The pulp is yellow, firm.

Cherry plum grafting

Cherry plum can also be grown from seeds, but mostly it reproduces by cuttings. Vaccination is also a great way. It is made in the spring by cuttings on which the buds have not yet blossomed.

An excellent result is obtained by grafting a cherry plum cut into the crown of a plum. In this case, you get more than one plus at once. Firstly, several varieties of cherry plum can be grafted onto one tree at once. This is good for both pollination and space saving. There is no need to look for two landing spots on the site. By grafting a branch of cherry plum into the crown of a plum in spring, you can get the first fruits next year. This shows the early maturity of the cherry plum.

Secondly, there is an undoubted decorative effect: on one branch - yellow fruits, on the other - burgundy, on the third - red. Thirdly, growing cherry plum on a plum (plum acts as a skeleton-forming agent) is promising for increasing the plant's winter hardiness.

Cherry plum, or spreading plum, or cherry-bearing plum (lat. Prunus cerasifera)
Cherry plum, or spreading plum, or cherry-bearing plum (lat. Prunus cerasifera)

Top dressing of spread plum

Cherry plum loves fertilizers.

Feed her three times a year (in early spring, June when the ovaries are growing and in July), and she will produce an excellent harvest.

In the spring, apply a complex mineral fertilizer and ammonium sulfate, and if the soil is acidic, apply calcium ammonium nitrate (30 g per 1 m²). Place a layer of rotted manure or compost 2.5–5 cm thick under the young trees, but so that the trunk remains clean.

In the summer, feed the cherry plum with phosphorus-potassium fertilizers.

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