Sweet cherry inoculation: rules of conduct, timing and advice from gardeners

Sweet cherry is one of the first berries that can be enjoyed at the beginning of summer. If the taste and the number of fruits you no longer happy, then we must take action.Grafting a sweet cherry is a transplant of a small element of one tree with vegetative buds onto another. This procedure is needed to make a heat-loving tree fertile, resistant to adverse weather conditions and to limit its growth. In itself, grafting does not constitute anything difficult, you just need to carefully examine all the nuances and adhere to the basic rules.

Sweet cherries are not resistant to harsh winter conditions, and there are no covering varieties for this tree. But cherry is available to gardeners, which perfectly withstands even severe frosts, together these two trees can create a magnificent union. This combination will prevent the death of the tree and increase the number of fruits, as well as make them tasty.

Cherry cherry plantation is better to plan on the last days of March for 10-14 days. When this period ends, the juice actively moves in the fibers, and the kidneys grow. The gardener must choose a young cherry and graft it with a sweet cherry. Do vaccination at a height of about 20 cm from the soil. Cherry survives quite difficult, so experts advise to resort to copulation, performing a notch in length of about 35 mm. In order for the cuttings to take root well, it is recommended to inoculate short cuttings with two buds. After this procedure, the branches on the sides of the tree should be cut.

The area of ​​the tree where the vaccination was carried out, be sure to close with polyethylene. As a rule, at 15-20 of July, the cutting will already take root, and the winding of polyethylene can be made weaker. By the middle of the month, there are gains from the two kidneys. One increment must be cut, as a rule, it is the top one, because it grows slowly. Cut the top of the cutting above the lower growth with a pruner. The bush should not be lowered to the soil, under the weight of the leaves, the branches themselves will fall.

The result of vaccinations you will be surprised. The tree will flourish before all the cherries, and even night frosts will not destroy the tree. Frost can badly affect the flowers, but the fruit will be resistant to the adverse effects of weather conditions. Of course, we are talking about weak frosts, frosts below 5 degrees have a destructive effect on the tree.

The graft for vaccination can be grown from a seed, seed or seedling, it can also be purchased from gardeners or created from an adult tree. Plot combining cuttings and bases are selected according to the method of grafting.

Cuttings must be prepared either in November before the onset of the first frost and subsequently stored in a dry place, or in the first months of spring or in the summer before the procedure itself.

For cuttings, young shoots should be chosen; they are cut at an angle; they should be divided into blanks with a height of 25-30 cm. 3-4 buds should be left on a separate cutting. To keep the branches for a long time, they must be wrapped in wet gauze and hidden in the basement or cellar. For grafting cherries must have special attributes.

• Garden knife or pruner. It is necessary to carefully cut the cuttings. Take care that they are sharp, otherwise you may damage the plant.
• Scotch tape or strapping for a fresh cut.
• Garden var or oil based paint.
• Plastic bag.

A stock is a tree that is located below and grows on its own roots. As a rule, these are young plants, because they grow together faster and better. The stock must be adapted to the regional climate, because another tree (graft) will be grafted onto it.

Choose a stock for sweet cherry is a snap. This tree belongs to the genus of plum and the family of pink. Fruits from the tree are harvested in the last week of May - in early June. Cherries are considered the oldest varieties of cherries.Due to the fact that in Russia in winter there are often severe frosts, it is difficult to grow a fruitful tree on one’s own roots. This is due to the fact that the buds bloom early, when there are still frosts at night. Therefore, experts recommend choosing a stock that provides frost resistance to the tree. Cherry can be grafted onto cherries, sometimes it is recommended to graft onto plums.

Choosing a stock for cherries, it is better to opt for several types of cherries.

• Cherry Antipka or Magalebka - an indisputable advantage of these varieties is frost resistance and a simple procedure for growing from a stone. The downside of this variety is that it does not fit well with the types of sweet cherry of foreign selection.
• "VSL-2" - is the best dwarf rootstock for sweet cherries. It combines perfectly with different types of sweet cherries, the culture begins to bear fruit on the 2-3rd year. It is quite possible to gather a rich harvest for 15–20 years; the tree is resistant to bacterial cancer and the larvae of the whale.
• Varieties such as Vladimirsky, Griot.

As well as gardeners are offered crossed types of cherry hybrid rootstocks for varietal sweet cherries - "Pika", "Colt", "Gizella". In order for the trees to take root, it is important not only to choose the right stock, but also to prepare all the necessary material, as well as to perform an inoculation.

Experts advise tree grafting in the spring - from the beginning of March to the end of April. In the last days of April, when there are still frosts at night, but not below -5 degrees, you can begin the procedure. It is not necessary to prepare the inoculum in advance; the necessary branch can be cut off before the procedure. Experts recommend choosing short shoots with one or more buds.

To make sure that you do not harm the plant, you can check how much it is afraid of frost. A couple of days before the procedure, it is necessary to cut the branch from the cherry and carefully examine the section of the cut. If the wound has acquired a dark color and has become brown, then this tree will not stand frost. If the place of the procedure is not dark, then this plant can be safely used for vaccination.

Sweet cherry grafting can be performed in the summer, in the first weeks of June. Moisten the soil under the mother tree before grafting. It should be watered for 3 days. Cuttings should also be left for a few hours in water with a stimulant. Summer vaccination can be performed in the cleft and the cortex.

Agronomists use 4 grafting methods.

• Copulation - the stalk is combined with the trunk, their diameters must correspond to each other, as a result they form a single whole. To do this, make oblique cuts on two trees, combine the two parts and wrap well with tape.

• Budding - This method is very popular among novice agronomists. In the role of a graft, not the whole cutting is used, but a separate bud. An area for grafting is allocated on the tree, there should be no wagons above it. The kidney must be cut before the operation. While you are preparing the trunk for the procedure, the kidney should be put on a wet gauze or branch. T-shaped cuts are made on the main branch, the bark of the branch is slightly delayed. The kidney is set tightly into the incision so that there is no free space.

• In split - option is used when the diameter of the trunk is larger than the cutting. First of all, cut the stock and create a split of 4-5 cm in depth, into which the cutting is inserted. The vaccination area close the tape. Brush the fresh cuts with garden pitch.

• Behind the bark - it is used in situations when juice is actively moving in the tree. The stalk and bark of the tree must be carefully incised, after which the stalk is inserted into the incised bark of the stock.A single branch of the plant is grafted with several cuttings from different sides, this contributes to the rapid healing of the incision, which prevents the development of infections on the plant.

A grafted tree must be treated with an antiseptic, pinch and cut. Quality care after vaccination - a pledge of rapid growth and fertility of the tree. You must adhere to certain rules.

• On young leaves that appear after vaccination, pests often multiply. To prevent this, the leaves should be sprayed once every 3 weeks with “Tanrek” or “Biotlin”.
• A couple of months after vaccination, a tire is applied to the notch site so that a strong wind or birds do not damage it. The diameter of the tire must match the size of the grafting site.
• In the first days of August, the upper parts of the shoots should be pinched in order to slightly stop their growth and they matured better. If the shoots already visible apical buds, you can not pinch them. After all the leaves have fallen, the tires are removed from the vaccinations.
• A year later in the spring shoots should be cut. Height is selected depending on the shape of the crown. For example, to make a crown in the shape of a bowl or a bush, 50-70 cm should be removed from the ground.
• If horizontal branches appear on the graft, they should be pinched at a distance of 50 cm from the ground.
• In the third year, all shoots that are 1 year old should be cut to 50 cm. If their length is less than 50 cm, then pruning is not worth it. It is necessary to remove the branches growing inside the crown and having sharp corners.

If the area on which the tree is planted is snowy, then, most likely, in winter the plant will be completely covered with snow. If there is little snow in winter, it is recommended to pile up with snow. Thanks to this procedure, the tree will easily withstand the conditions of a harsh winter, and as a result will delight with good fruits.

You can find out whether a new plant has taken root in a week. It becomes clear from the growing buds of the graft, if the tree will bear fruit. The remaining tape or tape for vaccination is recommended to leave until next year, but you can remove after a few months.

If the tree is grafted in the summer, then it is necessary to thoroughly water the trunk. Such an operation will accelerate the movement of the internal juice. In no case should not forget that the cuts and equipment used must be clean. To protect the plant from reproduction of harmful insects or the development of infection, it is necessary to use antibacterial solutions for the treatment of fresh cuts.

Thanks to such an operation as grafting a sweet cherry, the inhabitants of Russia can successfully grow dwarf sweet cherry in their own hands, without worrying about the fact that it will die due to frost. The tree will produce large and tasty fruits that will not be exotic at all.

About the best ways of grafting fruit trees, see the following video.