Please help me help my cherry trees bear fruit
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Hi,
We have a six year old Meteor cherry that, except for last winter’s kill, has been quite healthy and has put on hundreds of flowers every spring. But the “fruit” gets to size of small ball bearings and then falls off. It is supposed to be self-fertile.
Its tenure in our yard has overlapped with that of a Northstar cherry. The Northstar would have been eleven years old this year, but it gave up the ghost last year (moose damage). It was supposed to be self-fertile, too. The Northstar also put on lots of blooms but never produced more than a few cherries. I would have pulled it up earlier if my wife had let me!
This year we planted a Lapins cherry and have our fingers crossed, but would appreciate any thoughts on how to convince these plants that they really ought to start pumping out at least a few quarts of plump cherries. Threats of uprooting aren’t working.
Thanks!
DavePS: oops – maybe I should have posted this in “Ask a question…”
Have you ever taken a soil sample and had it analyzed? you might have a Boron deficiency. Boron is a trace element responsible for setting fruit. Cherries are also hit or miss. While some are successful d/t their micro climates others are not. Meteor, Montmorency and North Star are typically grafted on mahaleb rootstock that isn’t really hardy here. Another possibility is when in bloom for you there is no insect activity to actually pollinate.
Will be interesting if your Lapins survives or thrives being a sweet cherry that are not reliably hardy here.
Nope, never had the soil analyzed. Will do!
A guy in South Addition (Anchorage, near 13th and F) has a Lapins cherry. He didn’t have much, if any, winter kill this year, and it is currently loaded with fruit. He said he did have some winter kill a few years ago but on the whole it has done well. He didn’t know his rootstock. Our Lapins is on mahaleb with North Star “in stream.” I think our area (Rogers Park) is probably a few to five degrees colder than his, so we’ll see!
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