Sour Cherry Crop - 2021

This will be my second year for 4 Dwarf North Star Cherry Trees (read about the first year here).  I got these as bare root trees and they started out pretty thin and spindly.  This was my first time attempting to grow a fruit tree but I thought the plants established themselves pretty well and was very happy to see that all 4 survived the winter.

This year will, like last year, be focused on keeping the trees growing and happy so that they can start producing a lot of fruit for me a couple years from now.  They are still pretty small and thin at this point so I've been reluctant to do any significant pruning.  I ended up cutting off some of the lower branches, those that were crossing others, and a few that were growing inwards.  I did this after they'd leafed out rather than in the winter due to uncertainty about the health of the plant.  Next year I'll opt for a more assertive pruning during the dormant winter months.

It's looking like I may get a bit of fruit this year.  There are maybe a dozen flowers between the plants.  This isn't necessarily a desirable thing, as the energy spent fruiting would be better spent growing at this stage, but it will be nice to get another sample of the fruit.  The two cherries that formed last year split before they were ripe unfortunately.

Anyway, it will be fun to watch the growth of these.  I will plan to capture monthly status on these through the season. 

9/12/21

7/3/21

6/7///21

5/23/21

4/29/21

4/7/21

Growing Log:

• 4/29/21 - I've given the trees blood meal and bone meal here since it's warmed up in the last couple weeks.  We've gotten a good rainy day in the last week so I haven't watered the plants yet.  Leaves are really coming out now.  I'm keeping them sprayed with deer and rabbit repellant to hopefully keep the leaves safe
• 5/23/21 - I've added more compost to the base of the plants and I dosed them with a gallon of nitrate rich fish tank water each.  They are growing vigorously so far this year.  I had to water them a couple days ago as there hasn't been much rain.  Gave them about a gal of water each
• 6/7/21 - Picked one of the ripe cherries (the plants grew half a dozen this year).  It is sour but also slightly sweet and has red flesh

• 2/5/22 - Did a little bit of pruning here in my second dormant season per this guide.
• 4/30/22 - Read about the 2022 growing season here