Description of felt cherries, cultivation on a personal plot, methods of reproduction, diseases and pests that arise during cultivation, gardeners on a note, varieties. Felt cherry (Prunus tomentosa) is rarely found in sources under the name Cerasus tomentosa. The plant is a kind of cherry, which is part of the Rosaceae family, and the genus itself is called Prunus. The native area of natural growth falls on the lands of Korea and Mongolia, but most often this representative of the flora grows in China, so you can often hear how the people call it "Chinese cherry". And because of the soft pubescence on the leaves, annual twigs, pedicels and berries, which resembles felt, this cherry is called "felt". There is another name - "chiya", which was given to the bush by local peoples living in the Chatkal mountains, located in the southern regions of Kyrgyzstan, next to the valley of the Kassan-Sai river artery.
| Family name | Pink |
| Life cycle | Perennial |
| Growth features | Bush |
| Reproduction | Seed and vegetative (cuttings or cuttings) |
| Landing period in open ground | Rooted cuttings, planted in fall or spring |
| Disembarkation scheme | 3–3, 5x1–1, 5 m |
| Substrate | Light loamy or sandy loam |
| Illumination | Open area with bright lighting |
| Moisture indicators | Moisture stagnation is harmful, watering is moderate, drainage is recommended |
| Special Requirements | Unpretentious |
| Plant height | 1, 5–2, 5 m, occasionally 3 or more meters |
| Color of flowers | Snow-white, white-pink, sometimes pinkish |
| Type of flowers, inflorescences | Solitary |
| Flowering time | May |
| Decorative time | Spring-summer |
| Place of application | Curbs, hedges, slope reinforcement |
| USDA zone | 4–7 |
Its spread to other territories, as a culture, felt cherry began in the middle of the 20th century, when the beauty of its flowering attracted gardeners of European and North American countries with a temperate climate.
Felt cherry grows as a shrub with multiple trunks. Their height varies in the range of 1, 5–2, 5 m, but some representatives can reach with branches up to an indicator of three or more meters. The crown of the plant is spreading. On the shoots, leaf plates unfold, which have a dark green color, the shape of the leaf is oval, it has a delicate thin pubescence. The leaf is strongly corrugated, with a pointed tip.
When blooming, buds with snow-white or white-pinkish petals open, but occasionally there are specimens with a pink color scheme of flowers. The diameter of the corolla at full opening reaches 2.5 cm. The flowers are crowned with short pedicels and it seems that the buds are just sitting on the branch. Both male and female bushes bloom on each bush, but pollination is possible if several chia plants are planted nearby. The flowers have a pleasant aroma. The flowering process begins in May and lasts up to 14 days.
The fruit of the felt cherry is a drupe with oval outlines. When fully ripe, the fruits acquire a red color, but there are varieties in which the berries are whitish or it can reach black. Fruits with a sweet taste, occasionally there is a slight sourness. The size of such drupes is naturally smaller than that of a regular cherry. Their diameter can vary within 0.8–1.5 cm. The stone is small and practically does not separate from the pulp.
Ripening directly depends on the area in which the shrub grows, therefore this period stretches from the beginning of summer to the end of July. The offering is plentiful, there are so many berries that the branches of Chinese cherries begin to resemble sea buckthorns. On the shoots of the plant, the formation of berries begins at the age of three, and this remains unchanged for almost 10 years. But you can extend the life of a bush to 20 years by regular pruning, which allows it to rejuvenate. There is information that up to 10 kg of harvest is harvested from one chia.
With the help of Chinese cherry bushes on the backyard, hedges or curbs are created, if there are crumbling slopes, then the root system easily helps to strengthen such places.
Growing felt cherries, planting and care
- A place for planting chia bushes, the sun is selected, since even partial shade has a bad effect on their growth (the shoots are stretched out) and fruiting falls, the berries will rot right on the branches, It is also important that moisture or melt water does not stagnate.
- Priming for felt cherries, a drained one is needed, with a predominant content of sand and clay. Do not use peaty or heavy soils prone to waterlogging. If the acidity is high, then liming is carried out.
- Watering. For felt cherries, the soil should be moderately moist, since stagnant water will have a detrimental effect on the roots, the bush will begin to bear fruit poorly and tolerate winters. If the weather is very dry, then it is recommended to carry out more generous watering, but carefully monitor the condition of the soil.
- Planting felt cherries. If there is a 1-2-year-old seedling, in the fall (no later than September) or in the spring (until the buds have blossomed), it is planted. Instill carefully until spring, bushes purchased in mid or late October. A pit or groove is being prepared with a width of up to 0.6 m and a depth of almost half a meter. An earth mixture is introduced into it with such a ratio that, per 1 m2, they combine: organic matter 3 buckets, lime about 400-800 grams, phosphorus and potassium 40-60 grams and 20-30 grams, respectively. Thorough mixing is carried out. The root shoots of the seedling are cut off by 20-25 cm, and processed with a batch of clay or dipped in wood ash. You can use growth stimulants such as Kornevin or Radifarm. Planting bushes is preferable as in the nursery. The root collar is not deepened. After planting near the stems, the substrate is compacted, generously watered and mulched using peat or organic fertilizers. It is recommended to have 2–3 bushes nearby (but preferably 4–5), since in a single growth the plant cannot be pollinated. In this case, you need to land on a sparse pattern - 3–3.5 m by 1–1.5 m.
- Fertilizer for felted cherries, it is applied immediately after the end of the flowering process. On the edge of the cultivated land near the stems, organic preparations are poured, up to 20 grams of potash, and 30 and 70 grams of nitrogen and phosphorus, respectively. Then it is necessary to carefully close the fertilizer to a depth of 0.05 m. Once every five years, it is necessary to liming the soil. When feeding, the soil is loosened only up to 4 cm, since the root system is superficial and can be damaged. In the autumn period, it is better not to introduce nitrogen preparations, so as not to provoke the growth of young branches, which can freeze during the first frost.
- Pruning Chinese cherry is carried out annually, with only 10-12 strong branches left in the center of the crown. Annual shoots, on which most of the fruits will form, are shortened by 1/3 only if they exceed 60 cm in length. In order to carry out anti-aging pruning, which will lead to increased growth, then every 4-5 years several lateral shoots are cut into rings. After some time, annual branches will appear near the cut site. All the old crown that is located above them must be removed. If the bush is frozen, then it needs the same pruning. The main thing is not to prune very intensively, as the plant loses its ability to withstand frost.
- General advice on care. Weed removal, loosening of the soil after irrigation or rains are systematically carried out.
Felt cherry propagation methods
To get a new chia bush, seeds are sown, cuttings or cuttings are rooted.
Seed propagation is only suitable for Chinese cherry species. Fully ripe fruits must be collected, seeds removed, rinsed and dried a little in the shade. At the end of August, the seed is mixed with river sand and kept cool until mid-autumn. Then they prepare a bed 2-3 cm deep and put the seeds there, covering them with soil. With the arrival of spring, you can see the first shoots. If the care is correct, then the seedlings show excellent growth and in just a year they will stretch in height up to half a meter. With the arrival of autumn or next spring, you can plant seedlings.
High-quality felt-cherry bushes are cut. Green branches of the current year with a length of 10-15 cm, taken from the 2nd or 3rd orders of branching, are used for blanks. Sections of cuttings are treated with a rooting stimulator and planted according to the rules: 2 cm of woody and green cuttings - 1 cm. The place with planting must be picked up in partial shade and covered with a film so that the humidity is constant. When the cuttings take root, they are planted in spring or autumn.
When rooting, the cuttings in the spring use the shoot of the previous year, which fits into the dug groove and attaches to the soil. The tip of the branch should be on the surface. Care is carried out in the same way as for the mother plant. When the cuttings take root, then in the fall or already in the spring you need to carefully separate it from the mother bush and plant it in a prepared place.
Young plants begin to bear fruit in the second year.
Diseases and pests arising from the cultivation of felt cherries
Of the pests that can spoil the Chinese cherry bushes, there are:
- Pocket tick sucking juices from foliage. It is determined when warty growths form on the leaves in July. To combat, watering the bush with hot water is used before the buds begin to bloom on it and when the foliage will fly around, and the first frosts have not yet come. If there are a lot of bushes growing nearby, then spraying with insecticidal preparations, such as Danadim or Envidor, can be carried out.
- Mice and various rodents, gnawing bark from the trunks in the lower part of the bush in winter. For protection, it is recommended to strap all Chinese cherry tree trunks with spruce paws, and you can also use juniper branches or reed stalks. It is important that the harness is located below ground level. To do this, you first need to shake off the soil, then strap and then return the soil to its original place. When the snow falls, then it must be trampled (mice cannot run on the trampled crust), and in the spring it must be shaken off from the bushes. When the frosts stop, the harness is removed, but the day is chosen for this cloudy.
Although felt cherry is resistant to such a cherry disease as coccomycosis, it has another attack - moniliosis, arising from a fungus that infects stone fruit crops. At the same time, the wilting of foliage and flowers begins, and then the branches also dry. It looks like a burn, it's called monilial. Hole spotting (clasterosporium) is also a problem, resulting in small spots on foliage. If you do not take action, then the next growing season the buds will not bloom, and often a sticky substance comes out of the branches where the pathogen has already penetrated.
To protect against these diseases, it is recommended to cut off the affected shoots and ovaries on them, and then process the planting of felt cherries with a solution of 30 grams of copper oxychloride dissolved in a 10-liter bucket of water. Either while the buds have not yet blossomed, spraying with a Bordeaux mixture of 3% (300 grams of the drug is taken per 10 liters) or copper sulfate 5% (based on 50 grams of the agent per 10 liters).
Felt cherry notes for gardeners
It is worth noting that the Chinese cherry is very different in genetic data from the common cherry and you cannot achieve success in crossing these two plants. Therefore, it is recommended to carry out such robots with plums, peaches, or use cherry plum with apricot.
The usefulness of felt cherry fruits is determined by the amount of useful substances in them, among them sugars are emitted, of which there are 8-10%, while the main part of them is glucose and fructose. The amount of malic and citric acids in drupes reaches 0, 8–1, 2%, and there are also pectins, tannins and the most useful vitamin C, which in fruits is from 16 to 32 mg.
It is customary to cook compotes and preserves from small berries of Chinese cherries, dry and preserve, make homemade wine and use for liqueurs. And of course, raw fruits are also very useful.
But experienced gardeners recommend harvesting gradually, since being on a bush, its safety lengthens, unless, of course, tasty berries become prey for birds. You can protect these useful fruits by throwing a mesh net on the bushes, the size of the holes in which will reach 5-10 cm. If there is no such device, then you can use old tulle or fishing net.
It is curious that the fruits of the Chinese cherry contain vitamin C, almost twice as much as ordinary cherry berries, and the amount of iron in them is so much that apples cannot even be compared with them.
Description of varieties of felt cherry
All chia bushes can be divided according to the ripening periods of their fruits: early, middle and late. There are also differences in the color of the drupes.
Early varieties:
- Natalie. A shrub with a wide crown, medium branching and vigorous growth. The size of the flowers is large, the color of the petals is pinkish. The color of the drupe is burgundy, the taste is sweet with sourness. Berry weight can vary from 4–4.5 grams. The dense pulp has cartilage. The length of the stalk is 5 mm, the separation from the branch is semi-dry. If you store the crop indoors, then its safety lasts almost three days, but in the refrigerator it rises to six. 7 kg of fruits - such a crop can be obtained from an adult bush.
- Children's. The crown is distinguished by the shape of a wide oval, the density of the trunks is average. The color of the berries is crimson, the taste of the dense and gristly pulp is sour-sweet. Fruit weight can reach 4 grams. The bush has a yield of about 15 kg.
- Yielding. The crown of this variety is branched and has a volume. Dark raspberry drupes are sweet and sour in taste, their weight will be up to 2, 7 grams. The pulp with cartilage differs in density. A stalk with a semi-dry separation of no more than 0.4 cm in length. You can collect up to 12 kg from a plant.
Medium varieties:
- Anniversary. The shape of a vigorous bush is oval, the number of trunks is average. The color of the drupes is crimson, fruits with fibrous pulp, distinguished by their juiciness. Their weight varies from 3, 5 to 4, 3 grams. The weight of the crop per bush will be 8.5 kg.
- White. The height of such a plant with a branched crown is average. The fetus can weigh in the range of 1, 6-1, 9 grams. The color of the surface of the berries is dull-whitish, the flesh is also whitish, it is juicy and sour-sweet taste. The length of the stalk is 0.3 cm. Up to 10 kg of fruit can be harvested from the bush.
- Dark-haired oriental it is distinguished by its short stature and broadly spreading outlines. The color of sweet-sour berries is dark-burgundy with the most delicate pulp. Their weight reaches 2, 7-2, 9 grams. Measurements of the stalk are 0.7 cm. From one plant, you can harvest up to about 7 kg of berries.
Oceanskaya virovskaya belongs to the late varieties. The crown is compact, vigorous and has an average number of trunks. The color of the berries is dark brown-raspberry, the flesh is gristly and dense. Fruit weight 3–3, 6 grams. The detachment of the stalk will be semi-dry, the length is only 4 mm. On average, about 9 kg of fruit can be removed from one bush.
Felt cherry video:
