Cherry is a beautiful tree that pleases with tasty and healthy fruits in the second half of summer. Gardeners make compotes, jams, jams, wine from cherries. But what if the cherry does not bear fruit or gives a meager harvest?
In order not to lose juicy berries, you need to properly care for the trees. If you are still new to this business, read our article 7 of the most important issues about growing cherries. Perhaps thanks to this useful information you will not face the problem of crop failure on your tree. But if the cherry does not bear fruit well, then you need to figure out why this happened.
Reason 1: cherry disease
The reason for the lack of berries may be moniliosis and coccomycosis. At the first illness, flowers, ovaries, fruits, young leaves and tops of shoots dry up, the branches seem to be burned. The disease develops rapidly during flowering in conditions of high humidity.
Symptoms of coccomycosis: small red-brown spots that appear on cherry leaves in late May - early June. Gradually, diseased leaves turn yellow, curl and fall off.
To prevent the spread of diseases, thin out crowns in a timely manner and rejuvenate old trees. Don't let mechanical damage plants, regularly remove all plant remains and shoots from the site, loosen the aisles. Water and fertilize regularly.
In early spring, cut and destroy dried branches affected by pests and diseases, clean off old dead bark on boles and skeletal branches, remove and burn pest nests.
Reason 2: shade and bad place for cherries
All fruit trees need sunlight. If you plant a cherry in a well-lit area, then it will thank you with a rich harvest. The fact is that the culture needs carbohydrates, which are actively produced during photosynthesis in direct sunlight. Therefore, an ideal place for cherries, where the sun looks from early morning and at least until the middle of the day.
Cause 3: Nutrient Deficiency and Soil Acidity
Cherry does not tolerate acidic soil; in such soil, the tree develops poorly and often gets sick. You can accurately determine the level of soil acidity in the area using a pH meter. But if you don’t have such a device, you can use litmus paper or ordinary alcohol vinegar.
Limestone (dolomite) flour will help deoxidize the soil. Scatter it in the near-stem circle. In acidic soil, 0.5 kg of dolomite flour per 1 sq.m should be applied, in soil with a medium acid reaction - 0.4 kg per 1 sq.m, and with a slightly acid reaction of the substrate - 0.3-0.4 kg per 1 sq.m. .m
Also, do not forget about regular top dressing. For cherries, it is better to use liquid mineral fertilizers and only in small doses.
In the spring, give preference to nitrogen-containing top dressing (15-20 g of urea or ammonium nitrate is diluted in 10 liters of water and applied to 1 sq. M of the near-stem circle in the crown projection zone). In autumn, feed the trees by adding superphosphate (20-30 g per 1 sq.m), potassium chloride (10-15 g per 1 sq.m) or 200 g of wood ash for digging.
If there is compost or humus, you can also use them (for trees from 1 to 7 years old - 1.5-2 kg per 1 sq. M of the trunk circle, for trees over 7 years old - 2.5-3 kg).
Reason 4: Unsuitable neighbors
Cherry is picky in choosing neighbors. If placed next to it conifer tree of any kind, it will not produce the desired harvest. Also, the cherry does not accept the proximity to the apple tree and honeysuckle. Lilies, daffodils, tulips, pansies and irises are also not recommended to be planted nearby.
What can not be said about barberry, grapes or hazel grouse. Cherry will gladly accept such a neighborhood. In addition, onions, corn, beets, cucumbers, pumpkins and lettuce can be planted nearby. She will also be happy to grow next to lilac, jasmine, raspberry, strawberry, rose and primrose.
Grouse, lupins, marigolds, gladioli, turnips or peas can be planted in near-stem circles of cherries.
Reason 5: lack of pollinators
If the cherry blossoms, but does not bear fruit, then it is likely that the reason for this lies in the absence of the pollination process. Most cherry varieties are self-fertile, so at least one tree of a different variety is needed for fruit to set.
Self-infertility means that when a flower is pollinated by its own pollen and pollen from a cherry of the same variety, the tree sets no more than 5% of the fruit.
Sometimes it can be quite difficult to find a pollinator. It happens that in one garden grows several different varieties cherries, but the fruits are still tied badly. In this case, it is better to check with a specialist which varieties perfectly pollinate each other, and purchase essential plant for your trees.
And in the spring it will not be superfluous to attract The Cherry Orchard pollinating insects. It is very simple to do this: during flowering, spray the trees (in particular, their flowers) sweet water. To do this, dissolve 10-20 g of sugar (or 1 tablespoon of honey) in 1 liter of water.
Reason 6: Incorrect Cherry Pruning
Often you can find advice not to cut this culture at all before the age of 20, because it reacts painfully to this procedure. There is a high probability of introducing an infection, since slices of cherries heal for a very long time. But if you do everything according to the rules, then such troubles will not arise. And with proper pruning, the tree will bear fruit better.
Reason 7: freezing fruit buds
Autumn and spring frosts are dangerous for cherry buds. To protect the plant, eliminate nitrogen-rich top dressings in the fall, which can cause fruit buds to freeze during the first autumn frosts. Also in late autumn, watering should be stopped.
If the trees have blossomed, and the air temperature drops below zero at night, water the cherry orchard abundantly and throw covering material (lutrasil, spunbond, etc.) on the trees. In addition, in order to improve plant resistance to adverse weather conditions, even before the start of frost, spray cherries with Epin-Extra or Novosil.
As you can see, for the active growth of cherries, you need a lot of light, non-acidic soil, good neighbors and a pollinator variety. Now you know how to make cherries bear fruit. By following all the recommendations, you can get a rich harvest of juicy berries.
What a beautiful cherry blossom! And now the leaves are withered and as if burned, the tree looks sick, and there are very few berries. In his book The Orchard Bible, Pavel Trannua talks about the mistakes that gardeners make when caring for cherries and compares growing cherries today and a hundred years ago.
What is the most striking feature of cherries? I would resolutely name this one: in our Middle Lane on cherries, the property of all budded (grafted) stone fruit varieties to die even after slight freezing is most pronounced. There are good chances to get own-rooted cherries, but grafted varieties - the chances drop sharply: it is with them that mournful references to "moniliosis and coccomycosis that have swallowed the cherry orchards of Russia" begin - two common cherry diseases.
We have a very widespread native-rooted cherry, which gives not some wild fruits, but a full-fledged cherry (and cultivate it, the fields properly - and it will be large and juicy as it should be), and grafted modern varieties are also offered, which certainly surpass the old one. folk cherry in terms of yield, but inferior to it in resistance to suburban area.
An example of the good old folk cherry variety is Vladimirskaya. This is the standard of the traditional exquisite taste of cherries. In addition, Vladimirskaya cherry is today, as it were, our landmark, a beacon in the fog of the current uncertainty with this culture. Vladimirka proves that cherries can be successfully grown in the Middle lane.
Vladimir cherry, Russian gardens and horse manure
Why the Vladimir region? Hard to say. In general, if we proceed from the main requirement - not acidic, neutral, but even better limestone soil, then there is a suitable place - the limestone Kovrovskoe uplift (part of the Oksko-Tsninsky rampart). On limestone deposits, as is known, sod-calcareous soils are formed from above, very fertile and rich in humus, with a near-neutral pH. A paradise for all fruit trees, especially since these are usually well-defined hills: elevation changes, slopes ...
However, it seems that in the old days, even without limestone, everything was wonderful in Russia in all gardens and cities because of horse manure. Each locality was flooded with horses, there was literally heaps of manure, and the duties of a janitor were somewhat different than today. Every day I had to stand with a broom and a shovel at the sidewalk, otherwise the street would be flooded by lunchtime...
And from this, any city in Russia (Vladimir, Kaluga, Vologda, Tula, etc.), according to numerous testimonies, until the beginning of the twentieth century was one continuous orchard. Fruit trees grew in all yards and along the streets, they were continuous thickets. One can even believe that no other trees grew there: all the vegetation of the city and courtyards was replaced by apple-pear-cherry trees. And everything was fruitful. (It was only later that poplars began to be planted along the streets.)
Judging by the everyday life stories of the 19th century, in particular about the extensive cherry orchards directly in the city of Vladimir itself, agricultural technology in most courtyards was simple; nobody bothered with detailed pruning of cherry trees; the gardens actually grew by gravity, unless, of course, we count the main trump card that outweighs all the shortcomings - horse manure: it was simply layered under the trees, so that it turned into pure humus from below.
The example of the Vladimir cherry orchards shows us that, subject to the key condition, getting a cherry is extremely simple: humus! Humus eliminates soil acidity - this is what is very important for cherries. On acidic soils, it will grow, or rather, will not bear fruit, and do not hope.
Incidentally, it is noteworthy that in the Vladimir region, cherries were bred by root shoots, and not by grafting. And they grew it in the form of a bush. Feathers were considered the only pest. To drive them away, children were placed in the gardens with rattles and other deterrent equipment. But this was not the case every year, since there was a pronounced periodicity of fruiting, and the cherry fruited abundantly about once every 3-4 years.
There is a more unpretentious, and also yielding more stable variety of cherries - the so-called shpanka, it is common in the Middle lane south of Moscow on gray forest soil. Kaluga, Tula regions - these are all places of her widespread(gray forest soils are more favorable in terms of pH than soddy-podzolic soils).
You must have met her: the local population sells it in July in markets in small bags, along with gooseberries and raspberries: small light red cherries resemble cherries in taste. Spanish cherry is a hybrid of sweet cherry with common cherry.
There is another kind of shpanka: large with dark color, common in Ukraine and in the more southern places of our country. Shpanka is also a self-rooted plant that is propagated from shoots.
Cherry - Enough moody tree for conditions Middle lane. It flaunts quickly and to a huge size, but the harvest - single berries - to put it mildly, is disproportionate smaller sizes crowns. For several main reasons.
Need another pollinator variety. Although it is believed that the Vladimir cherry (practically popular) is partially self-fertile, often groves from the same variety of shoots stand without a single berry. In this regard, buying some grafted variety, even if for a limited period, for the sake of pollinating the main "staff" of several large trees is a possible measure.
Fertilizer: the soil must be turned into a kind of black soil in terms of nutrition, not forgetting the proportion of limestone. Proof of this is the fact that in the black earth zone, cherry thickets in the villages regularly bear fruit almost annually and without any care and spraying. Even manure is not needed, because black soil has everything without it. There they stock up cherry jam in three-liter jars, and even dry it for stuffing for pies.
Shelter for the winter. This may serve as another key condition. A green, healthy-looking crown of a cherry tree may still have flower buds frozen (dead) in winter.
To check, one should once conduct an experiment on bending any of the pliable trunks to the ground in winter - cover at least part of the branches with earth and snow. A bent tree is fixed in this position, for example, with a wide board with a load of bricks.
If successful, then you should grow your self-rooted cherry trees in a bush form of 3-5 stems instead of one thick trunk, so that it is easier to bend down for the winter every year. So, by the way, they did it in the old days. In spring, the stems are not completely straightened, but left to grow at an angle of 45 °, making the bush wider and better lit.
Coating numerous branches of cherry with clay is too laborious. But the branches of the tilted cherry sprinkled with earth thus protect against the beetle: they are released from the ground closer to May, when the wave of the beetle is already descending.
In this respect, the system of keeping a cherry bush is similar to a climbing rose bush, in which each shoot is tilted in an arc to the ground for the winter for so many years until it breaks. Then it is cut out, continuing to tilt the rest, as a result, the bush as a whole remains tall and lush for a long time.
Barrel protection before winter is obligatory, if you do not hide your trees from frost in a different way. Coating with clay solution - the best solution instead of different windings.
friendly plants for cherries, I have established only a few, of those who can be planted in near-stem circles instead of unacceptable turfing. This is primarily from perennial and shade-tolerant: hosts, primrose, hazel grouse, Thunberg barberry.
Concerning pruning cherry seedlings, then they most often do not make it here, they even introduced the rule: "The stone fruits are not cut!". And all due to the fact that their wounds heal more slowly than those of an apple tree, and through them it is possible to penetrate the very infections that people are already used to being afraid of like fire.
We can agree with this, although self-rooted cherries are resistant to infection: if you grow cherry trees up to no more than 10 years of age, replacing them with young ones from your own shoots (in the same bush or "creeped" to the side), then they have no pruning and it is not required, during this time they just have time to thicken strongly.
Among the frequent ones is the question of what to do with gum disease - the release of cherry glue on the trunk. Yes, do nothing, rotate your cherry thickets more often, not allowing aged aksakals with bark cracked from frost, from where cherry juice flows.
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admiring abundant flowering cherries, we invariably begin to imagine huge buckets with bright juicy berries in our imagination. However, reality is sometimes far from reality - despite the abundant and eye-pleasing flowering, cherry fruits do not always give fruits or give them in a minimal amount. Why is this happening, and where should one look for the root of evil? This question worries many summer residents, which means it's time to look for answers to it. It turns out that it's not just about pests or diseases that can affect cherries!
The absence of a pollinator variety on the site
This is one of the most common reasons for the lack of full fruiting of cherry trees. The fact is that the vast majority of varieties of this crop are self-fertile, in other words, these varieties are simply not able to be pollinated with the help of pollen from flowers of a similar variety. That is why, in the absence of a pollinator variety, juicy fruits do not form on cherry trees, even if the trees bloom very profusely. In order for the cherry to bear fruit perfectly, it makes sense to plant several flowers in the garden at once. different varieties, and pollinating varieties must be present among them. So, pollinators for cherry trees of the Early Sweet variety are such varieties as Griot Pobeda, Nezyabkaya or Mayak, the Griot Pobeda variety will be happy to be adjacent to the varieties Early Sweet, as well as Zakharovskaya or Polevka, next to the Polzhir variety, you can safely plant Early Sweet, popular variety Vladimirskaya or the Mayak variety, the Zakharovskaya variety gets along well with the pollinators of the Early Sweet, Nizhnekamskaya or Mayak varieties, and it does not hurt to “populate” the Early Sweet, Vladimirskaya or Mayak varieties to the Nezyabkaya variety. But for summer residents who do not know what kind of cherry grows on their site, of course, it will be much more difficult to decide which varieties should be planted next to existing trees. In this case, you will have to be guided by the trial and error method. Ideally, there should be at least one representative of the pollinator variety next to each cherry variety!
Another option is to plant self-fertile cherry varieties that do not need pollinators at all. These include Orlitsa, Persistent, Generous, Ural ruby, Mtsensk, as well as Chocolate, Mayak and Abundant. Feeling great without pollinating neighbors, these varieties themselves can act as pollinators for other varieties of cherries!
spring frosts
This is another negative factor that can adversely affect the fruiting of cherries. It's no secret that with the onset of spring, cherry blossoms quite early, respectively, its flowers can be damaged by sudden spring frosts that do not spare anyone or anything. To keep them away delicate flowers, some summer residents are trying to delay the timing of the awakening of the kidneys and the subsequent flowering of trees. To this end, in the spring, while the snow has not yet melted, the soil under the trees must be covered with a sufficiently thick layer of snow. And so that the snow does not melt longer, it is additionally covered with light mulch like sawdust or straw. With this approach, the ground under fruit trees will remain frozen longer, as a result of which nutrition will begin to flow to the roots much later, and flowering will begin in about four to seven days, that is, after the end of frost.flower bud damage
Unfortunately, vulnerable flower buds can be damaged not only by unexpected spring frosts, but also by quite strong ones. winter frosts. Sometimes summer residents in the spring are surprised to note that the cherry began to bloom only at the bottom, while at the top there is not a single flower. This is direct evidence that only the flowers remained intact in the cherry, located below the snow cover and securely sheltered from frost by a luxurious snow coat. As for the flowers above, they simply froze under the influence of the merciless winter cold. To avoid such troubles in regions that are characterized by very coldy, it is recommended to plant bush cherries, the height of which does not exceed two or two and a half meters. Such bushes can always be safely covered with snow even before the frost hits. Compliance with these simple rules will definitely help protect cherry trees from additional troubles and get juicy and tasty fruits at the height of the season!
And steppe cherries are shrubs.
Our story is dedicated to the common cherry (Prunus cerasus), so wonderfully suitable for fragrant and tasty, juices and pies. In this article, we will Special attention cherry planting, proper formation crowns, subsequent care and receiving a long-awaited harvest as a reward.
After you, following the characteristics of your region, have chosen a variety suitable for your climate, which is described in detail in my other article, we begin to prepare for planting cherries.
cherry planting
plant cherries better in spring. From autumn you buy seedlings and dig in for the winter. Shelter for them can serve. When choosing a seedling, make sure that the trunk is about 60 cm, at least 2-2.5 cm in diameter, with a length of skeletal main branches of about 60 cm (this is the size of a two-year-old tree cherry seedling). Cherry seedlings are planted when the soil warms up and the buds have not yet blossomed. Landing pits, as a rule, are prepared already in the fall.
- The soil should be neutral acidity, sandy, sandy or loamy drained. (The article will help determine its type).
- Cherries should not be planted in lowlands where a damp, windy microclimate prevails. She loves bright places.
- Lime the soil beforehand (to reduce its acidity if it is acidic). To do this, scatter about 400 g of lime or dolomite flour per 1 sq. m, dig the soil to the depth of the shovel bayonet, mix with. It can be manure or compost about 15 kg per 1 sq. m. Mineral fertilizers are also added.
When planting, take a distance between plants of about 3 m. For cross-pollinated varieties, consider the possibility of pollination. To do this, you will have to plant a total of at least 4 varieties of cherries. They are placed in the garden according to the scheme 2.5 x 3 m with tall trees and 2.5 x 2 m with low ones. The exception is self-pollinated varieties.
- Dig a planting hole about 80 cm in diameter, about 50 cm deep, maybe 60. When digging a hole, put the top layer of earth to one side, mix it with organic and mineral fertilizers, as well as wood ash (about). Important: Lime and into the planting hole don't contribute so as not to damage the roots!
- Drive a peg into the center, place the planting mixture in a hole, pouring a cone around the peg to make it more convenient to spread the roots over this pile, then lower the seedling there and spread its roots. It is necessary to ensure that the root neck is at the level of the soil, you can plant centimeters 4 higher, since then the earth will settle. This is done so that there is no decay of the seedling, because the cherry does not like deep planting.
- Plant the tree trunk on the north side of the peg strictly vertically. Sprinkle the roots with earth and slap a little.
- Next, make a hole near the seedling, pour a roller of earth around the edges, pour a bucket of water into the hole, and after watering, mulch the soil of the near-stem circle with humus or peat. Tie the seedling carefully to the stake.
cherry care
A young tree of the first year after planting is watered, the soil is loosened with peat or humusFertilization
Usually, fertilizers begin to be applied when the cherry begins to bear fruit. The rate of fertilizer is selected based on the condition of the plant and its age. organic fertilizers make every few years, it can be rotted manure or compost. In autumn, feed fruit-bearing cherries with phosphorus and potash fertilizers, and in spring, apply nitrogen (with a lack of nitrogen).
During the growing season, as a rule, two top dressings are carried out. One after flowering, the other two weeks after the first. Fertilizers are applied to young cherries in the near-trunk circle, and when the garden is already full-fledged, then throughout the site. If the acidity level is above the norm, then the soil is limed with dolomite flour, lime. I scatter the ashes from the burning of birch, branches of plums.
Watering
Trees after flowering. This helps them nourish the fruits. Water so that the soil is not acidic, but moistened 40-45 cm deep.
pruning
A feature of cherries is the rapid growth of shoots, due to which the crown thickens strongly and forms a large number of small branches. If the crown is sparse, the fruits are larger, the bouquet twigs live longer (it is on them that cherries form) and the foliage is healthier. Therefore, you need to cut the branches if the shoots are more than 50 cm long, by the way, this will help to avoid baring the branches when the bouquet branches die off. Publications will help you master the intricacies of cropping: In addition, you can take training in ours.Crown
The best option for cherries is a sparse-tiered crown. cut the cherry in early spring three weeks before swelling of the kidneys.
Important: a spindle-shaped and flat crown is not suitable for cherries.
They begin to form a crown immediately after planting. 
Removal of root growth
So that the tree does not give its nutrients, delete root growth. It can be used for rootstocks.cherry breeding
The seed method of propagation of cherries is used extremely rarely. It is only good for growing the rootstock you will be grafting onto. More often, they use for reproduction, or reproduction by root shoots.cuttings
- Harvest cuttings in mid-July, cut in the morning, before the heat, from those trees that you want to grow. Green shoots that grow upwards on the south side of a tree or bush work well.
- Wet the cut cuttings with water, remove the upper part with underdeveloped leaves, then cut off a cutting about 12 cm long, having 4 leaves or more, from the remaining shoot.
- Plant the cutting vertically in the planting mix box, deepen its end by 3 cm, slightly pat the soil around the cutting. Planted at a distance of about 7 cm from each other.
- Place seedlings in light warm room excluding direct Sun rays for the best rooting. You can put supports on the box, and a film on them.
- After rooting, the cuttings are hardened by removing the film.
- The cuttings overwinter in the pits.
- In the spring, you can grow them in a permanent place or grow them.
Named causes of poor fruiting of cherries
I also consult with my acquaintances (from work in an agricultural journal) specialists on fruit crops; some of them had their own nurseries. And here are the conclusions I came to.
1) Experts and gardeners do not have a common opinion about the reason for the sharp decrease in the yield of cherries in orchards.
2) Among the main reasons for poor harvest of cherries are the following:
Absence or sharp decrease in the number of bees, bumblebees and other pollinating insects;
Damage to cherry trees by a disease - moniliosis or coccomycosis;
- lack or excess of mineral (usually nitrogen) nutrition;
Deficiency of calcium, magnesium, boron and phosphorus:
Too heavy or acidic soil.
Other, more exotic causes have been cited, such as root-cutting by ants, or trunks by bark beetles.
The main reason for the lack of cherry harvest is thoughtless human activity. The results of my observations of cherry and cherry trees
It was not easy to analyze each reason and find one or two true ones among them. But I, having a large number of cherry and cherry trees of different varieties in the garden, nevertheless tried to do this. And he watched everything that happened to them from the moment of flowering to the ripening of fruits.
Yes, there were few insects, but bees, bumblebees and hornets still flew, sat by 3-4, and sometimes up to 10-15 on some trees and bushes (though mainly on felt cherries and gooseberries) and I saw how then one, then another bee, then a bumblebee for a long timethey crawled over the flowers of cherries and cherries (one bee is able to pollinate from 2 to 10 thousand flowers a day), and as a result, one fruit ripened on them, or even it was not. Pollinators - other varieties of cherries and sweet cherries that bloomed at the same time, grew in my garden. In addition, the self-fertile Chinese plum and cherry plum, on which for some reason bees did not sit at all, tied a large percentage (of the available flowers) of fruit.
So - it's not about insect pollinators. Moreover, the fruits on cherries and sweet cherries were tied in large quantities.
Then what?
For two years in a row, I put rotted horse manure and ashes under all the young trees. Therefore, there is no need to complain about the lack of nutrition. Moreover, there were many fruits on the plums and pears growing in the neighborhood (there were practically no apples this year due to the mass development of the flower beetle).
An unexpected clue was given by a cherry tree in an abandoned community lot, whose branches were bent from the weight of the fruit. And several other cherry trees with a lot of fruits: in the courtyard of a five-story building on the way to work, “embedded” in the asphalt near work and in two or three gardens. At least some of them were definitely not fertilized by anyone. Moreover, every day I passed by them to work, I did not see a single bee or bumblebee on these trees! However, this did not prevent them from giving a generous harvest.
Cherries and sweet cherries have ceased to bear fruit due to acidification and changes in the structure and mineral composition soil
And then I remembered the information I read somewhere earlier that cherries grow well on light neutral soil with a PH of 6.5-7.0. Some articles have stated that they can bear fruit even at lower temperatures. PH (up to 6.0), but when I made inquiries with specialists, they spoke in favor of the first figures.
So, I learned this for sure - cherry trees need light sandy soil with neutral acidity.(PH 6.5-7.0). If we take into account that the majority of cherry trees sold in nurseries have Magolep cherry or antipka rootstock, which prefers sandy, neutral soils, these two conditions are mandatory.
When I understood this, one of the main reasons for the failure of the cherry and cherry trees in my garden immediately became clear. It has heavy loamy soil, which has significantly increased its viscosity and decreased porosity and gas permeability over the past few years (the reason for this - a little later). As a consequence of this, in last years in our garden, big problems began with the germination of seeds of many vegetable crops.
Then I decided to measure the PH of the soil under cherry and cherry trees, fortunately, during the years of perestroika, I bought a wonderful device with a scale and an arrow that measures PH (nowthe factory that produced it, like many others, went into oblivion). PH turned out to be different different trees- from 5.2 to 6.2, and most often had values of 5.7-5.8. That is, the cultivated soil in our area was acidic, as evidenced by the abundant growth of sorrel, horseradish, horse sorrel ... and the excellent fruiting of raspberries and pears, which prefer slightly acidic soils.
Acidic soil led to insufficient intake of calcium, magnesium and other nutrients important for fruit set and growth (for example, calcium is the main building element pits of cherries that contain the seed). That is, acidic, heavy loamy soil was most likely the main reason for the failure of the cherry and sweet cherry trees in my garden.
But that's not all. When I measured PH tap water, it turned out to be equal to 5. And it had a strongly ferruginous composition. And iron, as I knew from my previous cultivation experience indoor plants, blocks the entry of phosphorus and boron into plants. But these two elements, like calcium and magnesium, are vital for plant flowering and fruit formation.
And before everything was different
Thus, the cherry and sweet cherry trees in my garden have ceased to bear fruit due to changes in the composition of the soil and water. Indeed, when I measured the PH of loam mounds removed from the deep layers of the soil by moles, its value turned out to be 7, that is, the lower soil horizons were neutral. We used to have a water pipe that supplied spring water, which was also PH 7. The soil was looser, less viscous, or I would even say sticky. As a result, everything grew well on such soil - including cherry trees. And turnips, which, like cherries, do not tolerate acidic soils.
And now cherries and sweet cherries shed their fruits, and turnips grow tops and no fruits form.