stella cherry drops fruit while green

Discussion in 'Fruit and Nut Trees' started by pwhusband@shaw.ca, Jun 12, 2005.

  1. pwhusband@shaw.ca

    pwhusband@shaw.ca Member

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    Location:
    gabriola since 1996
    a stella cherry in sunny location, vanc. island, 4-6 yrs old, using dormant oil with fungicide x1or2 each winter, produces nice looking cherries which become lighter green colour over approx 2 wks.,--and all drop before ripening!!?? Tree is fertilized with 686 each yr. does anyone know what i can do to solve this problem? thanksvm pjrh
     
  2. Ron B

    Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

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    Location:
    WA USA (Z8)
    I bet searching "cherry fruit drop" or a similar phrase might produce some instructive results.
     
  3. mr.shep

    mr.shep Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    Location:
    San Joaquin Valley, California
    Even though Stella’s are self-fruitful I still would
    like to have another sweet Cherry close by.

    Unless an insect is causing the premature fruit
    drop there are some other reasons why this may
    be happening. Some people will feel that our
    underwatering and overwatering can cause the
    tree to slough off its fruit but we generally do
    not see the whole crop fall off the tree all at
    once. Stella’s here will slough off some of
    their fruit to expend more energy to the rest
    of the fruit on the tree. It is the trees mechanism
    for determining which and how much fruit it
    wants to have. Some trees will sense that they
    have too much fruit set on the tree and will
    selectively thin themselves.

    One thing to keep in mind is that Cherries love
    Calcium. For many years here the main fertilizer
    for production sweet Cherries was Calcium nitrate.
    If we give the trees ample Calcium it does not seem
    to matter as much whether we overwater or under
    water the tree, as much more of the fruit will stay
    on the tree with ground based applied Calcium.
    We found the same was true with certain Apples
    grown here as well, especially on the old, standard,
    pre-Emla rootstock, Red and Golden Delicious and
    Pippins.

    Give the tree ample water during the growing
    season, apply some Calcium, anywhere from a
    10-30%, every other year for the 30% where
    you are, to the tree in late Winter, have the rains
    water it in for you and then wait a few years for
    the tree to get up to 8-10 years old and then you
    should have some nice crops. Even better crops
    if you have another sweet Cherry nearby.

    Jim
     
  4. raw

    raw Member

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    Location:
    Ottawa
    a stella cherry in sunny location, vanc. island, 4-6 yrs old, using dormant oil with fungicide x1or2 each winter, produces nice looking cherries which become lighter green colour over approx 2 wks.,--and all drop before ripening!!?? Tree is fertilized with 686 each yr. does anyone know what i can do to solve this problem? thanksvm pjrh[/QUOTE]

    Response: This may be due to the grub from the Plum Circulio beatle. Look for a small crescent shape mark on the fruit. This grub will cause stone fruits to drop prematurely.
     

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