Hello, my name is Charley Masco. I'm new to this forum and can use some advice regarding my fruit bearing (supposedly) cherry trees. I live in Vancouver, Washington (just across the Columbia River from Portland, Oregon). I have two semi-dwarf cherry trees (planted about 4-5 years ago) - a black tarkarian and a bing. Each spring, I get a beautiful array of blossoms (always the sign of a good crop). The cherries mature to about the size of a thumb tack, and then just seem to disappear. At harvest time, I can reap maybe 15-20 cherries and that's all. Any ideas? Thanks, Charley
Charley Welcome to the forum Several things may be happening Lack of a suitable pollen dispersal vector. are there a lot of bees in the area. If not you may want to get some blue mason bees to help with the pollination. these are early season bees and so may overlap enough with the flowering time to get ample crop from the two cherries You may be suffering from a lack of a suitable pollinator for your Bing cherry. the link below gives you an idea of the suitable cultivars http://www.sandybarnursery.com/cherry_pollination_page.htm Black tartarian is supposed to be a pollinator for the Bing and vice versa as indicated on the chart. If the flowering time overlaps enough you may want to cut off a branch of each ( a small flowering sprig will do and then brush them across the reachable flowers of teh other variety. I have had success tying a fresh cut sprig to the trees and letting the natural bee population do their thing. you may also want to get a soil test done for micronutrients such as Boron and Manganese. these are often associated with pollen set and fruit set but it is unlikley these are the factors in WA as most of the soil is volcanic influenced and should not really be limited in trace elements such as boron. Pollination in cherries and most fruits are influenced by temperature. too cold not enough pollination and pollinators and also the same for too hot. Just some thought IMHO Pierrot
Pierrot, Thanks for your fast response. I do have a questions, though. You indicate pollination might be an issue. But if the cherries have already bloomed and matured to a visible size, haven't the trees already been pollinized? Charley
Charley Yes that does measn they have been pollinated. sorry for mis reading but ... Pollination and fertilization are not necessarily the same thing. It may have to do with incompatability factors. some pollen may be reaching the fruit and sending off signals to set fruit then the pollen fails to fertilize the ovule and then due to no embryo forming the fruit will abort. this is similar to the process of miscarriage in human pregnancies. I have looked through my books on pollination of fruit trees and it may be due to this incompatability factor. If you have a friend that has a tree near by that is in flower but not a bing maybe a lapins or a stella then you may get a better fertilization to pollination rate. also the soil test with the boron content may sho that there is not enough in the soil to help keep the fruit on. You most probably will need a fruit fertilser that has about 0.1% or less boron in it. but only if the soil test says you need it. I would try using a branch of a stella or lapins to pollinate a couple of branches and see if the fruit set is better. Hope this helps Have great, safe and happy christmas season Pierrot
