How to propagate cherry plum with seeds, cuttings and layering at home
Cherry plum, which came to Europe from Asia, where it is hot and dry, quickly adapted to new conditions. The varieties and hybrids created by breeders delight with high yields of fragrant fruits in a climate with cool and rainy summers and frosty winters. When fruits appear during the propagation of cherry plum by seeds, many summer residents are interested. Up to 15 buckets of fruits, rich in organic acids, vitamins, and sugars, ripen on one adult tree.
Cherry plum breeding methods
In order for a guest from Asia to please with high yields, at least 2 plants are planted on the site, but they should not be of the same variety, otherwise the trees will not become pollinated, fruits will not be able to set. For reproduction use:
- bones;
- cuttings;
- young growth.
A culture is bred by grafting onto another tree by budding. It happens that one plant blooms profusely and forms an ovary, but self-fruitless varieties are more common, for their pollination only cherry plum is needed, neither plum, nor peach, nor apricot are not suitable at all.
Seeds or seeds
Not every summer resident is able to propagate trees using cuttings; experience and knowledge are needed to carry out budding. In addition, when choosing a method for breeding cherry plum, you must consider:
- climate conditions;
- soil type;
- plot size;
- the state of the mother tree.
It does not require the investment of additional funds, special efforts to grow a culture from a seed You need to choose it from the largest ripe and even overripe fruits. The seed must be carefully pulled out of the pulp, washed and dried. The seeds can be planted in the fall in a container, and in the spring it is better to place them directly in the ground, and in order for the sprouts to appear faster, the cherry plum seeds need to be germinated.
When planting in boxes, the interval between the seeds should not be less than 50 mm, 20 cm should be left between the rows. The seed must be watered, sprinkled with sawdust or peat on top with a layer of 20 mm.
If a tree made of cherry plum seeds is grown immediately on the site, it is worth protecting the planting from pests, and for the winter to warm it with mulch, cover it with snow.
In the spring, when the seeds sprout, the soil must be carefully loosened. You can move the seedlings to another place next year, when they have time to take root, but the tree will not bear fruit soon.
Undergrowth
For breeding cherry plum, a method that does not cause questions even for novice gardeners is suitable. In the spring, when the buds have not yet opened, a shoot 15 cm long is cut from an adult plant and placed in the ground in a permanent place. The wound on the tree is covered with garden pitch.
For cultivation of cherry plum, you can chop off the root on the mother culture on one side by 15 or 20 cm in the fall and fill in the earth.A year later, the resulting layers are planted in a new place and the root is again shortened on the tree, but the stump is done on the other side, and after a while the growth appears.
Cuttings
Cherry plum is planted when the plant is at rest. In the northern latitudes, it takes root better in the spring, in the southern regions, the tree is placed in open ground in the fall along with the leaves. To propagate cherry plum:
- Before the start of sap flow, you must choose strong branches with a diameter of at least a centimeter.
- Prepare cuttings 15-20 cm long from them.
- The cut shoots should be placed in the sand poured into the box.
- The container must be placed in the basement.
When the air temperature rises, the cuttings are planted in a greenhouse, in a greenhouse or in an open area and covered with polyethylene for a month or a month and a half. The shoot is watered every other day, after 4 weeks it is fed with fertilizers. If the cherry plum grows indoors, the tree is hardened before being placed in the garden.
When grafting crops, in contrast to growing from seeds, varietal properties are preserved. To accelerate the formation of roots, stimulants are used in the form of "Heteroauxin" or indole-butyric acid.
Vaccinations
Experienced gardeners use the budding method to breed fruit trees. The breeding process begins during sap flow. Plants are grafted by the bark, in the cut, in the split, in the butt. When using the simplest option:
- The strongest and healthiest branch is cut from a young tree. The rest of the shoots that extend from the trunk are removed.
- The stalk, harvested in the fall, is cut off at an angle of 30 °, shortened to 4 cm and split on it.
- On a tree, the bark is removed in one place, connected to the shoot so that the layer of the stock and the cuttings coincide.
The cuts are covered with garden pitch, wrapped with electrical tape or polyethylene. In order for the branches to take root in the cherry plum, they are clinging to the plant with splits.
Which way to choose
When a tree is multiplied by seeds, which is within the power of a novice summer resident, the culture loses its varietal characteristics. Any method of budding requires skill and knowledge.
Almost all seedlings take root if the cherry plum is planted with cuttings that have time to woody. The branches are cut when the leaves begin to fall. The cut shoots are treated with a stimulant and planted in the ground. Annual growths up to 8 mm in diameter take root without problems. Lateral branches are divided into cuttings no more than 25 cm long. The upper part of the shoots, treated with a stimulating substance, is dipped in paraffin, having melted it in advance.
Most often, summer residents give preference to the propagation of cherry plum with green cuttings. Which method of planting trees to choose depends on the climate, and on the condition of the plant, and on the experience of the gardener, and even on the fertility of the land on the site.
Cherry plum breeding rules
Choosing a method of reproduction of an unpretentious tree, novice summer residents often look for the simplest and most affordable option, but forget about the features of this or that cherry plum hybrid. Most fruit crop varieties require at least 2 pollinators. One home tree will not please with fruit if it is self-fertile.
Some varieties do not grow from a seed, others do not reproduce by shoots, but there is also such a cherry plum, which is bred in any of the ways, and it gives a higher yield. When choosing a hybrid for breeding, you need to ask about the varietal characteristics, so that later you do not ask questions why the fruits on the mother tree are larger than the cherry plum grown from its seeds.
