Why aren't my cherries ripening?...

Discussion in 'Outdoor Gardening in the Pacific Northwest' started by Fine ocean parker, May 28, 2014.

  1. Fine ocean parker

    Fine ocean parker Active Member

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    Location:
    South Surrey,B.C.
    The best as I can discribe it is: my bing cherry tree had lots of flowers. At which time I fertilized around the drop line with a fruit tree fertilizer that had micro nutriants. Cherries started to form and all looked good. Now it seam about a half of the cherries never developed past the size of a pea and started turning red. While the other half stayed green and have gotten bigger as I would have suspected. So what gives? Lack of pollination or maybe water or....
     
  2. vitog

    vitog Contributor 10 Years

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    Location:
    Burnaby, Canada
    If you get half the flowers to form fruit, you are doing very well for the coast, especially for a Bing cherry, which needs a compatible pollinator. Is there one nearby? I have had several Stella trees, and they have been reasonably productive without a pollinator, since this variety is self-fertile. However, I would be lucky to get ripe fruit from 1/4 of the blossoms. By the way, don't be surprised if you even lose some of the larger developing fruits; the June drop hasn't happened yet. The small cherries that fall off early are ones that did not get pollinated properly, probably due to cool and wet weather during the pollination season.
     
  3. Michael F

    Michael F Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator 10 Years

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    Location:
    Britain zone 8/9
    Around here, cherries usually ripen in the second week of July; unlikely yours will be significantly earlier. So no need to be worried yet ;-)
     

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