Have you bought some tasty cherries in a store or at a market and decided to try planting the pits? The experiment can be successful if you follow the rules for planting and caring for a young seedling. But first, you need to study the features of the culture's reproduction.
How does cherry reproduce?
It is important to know that it is not possible to obtain berries with the same characteristics as the mother plant when using seeds.
Cherry trees cannot pollinate themselves, so it is necessary to plant several different varieties on the plot. Therefore, a cherry tree grown from a seed can only decorate the plot, but in order to get fruits, you will need to do grafting.
The berries may grow, but they will be small and tasteless. But the seedlings on such a rootstock are unpretentious and undemanding to care. They are not afraid of frosts, rarely get sick and are damaged by pests.
Preparing for landing
Berries ripened on the tree are used for sowing. Fruits from the store are not suitable, as they are picked unripe so that they can safely reach the consumer. You can take overripe berries that have fallen to the ground.
The seeds must undergo stratification and be ready for planting. To do this, they are washed, placed in a container and filled with a damp substrate: peat, sawdust or sand. The container is put away in a cool place and the humidity is maintained. Make sure that mold and rot do not appear.
Landing
Universal soil purchased in a store is suitable for planting. If you make the mixture yourself, take 1 part sand and 2 parts garden soil. A drainage layer is required. The mixture is disinfected.
In autumn, the seeds are planted in prepared soil at a depth of 1.5 cm. The seeds are allowed to overwinter in a box. Seedlings may appear only in spring.
Care
Whether you can grow a fruit-bearing tree depends on the care. Young seedlings are afraid of soil drying out and excess moisture. It is important to monitor the growth. It is considered correct if the shoots grow to a height of 40 cm in a year.
Graft
The ovary on the seedlings appears after 4-5 years. To get tasty fruits, take a scion from a fruit-bearing tree. To do this, cut off a shoot with an oblique cut 15 cm long.
A 3 cm deep cleft is made in the rootstock trunk using a sharp and pre-disinfected tool. The cutting is inserted into the cleft and fixed with electrical tape. If young leaves grow above the graft, the operation was successful.
Conclusion
It is possible to grow a cherry tree from a stone, but in this case the gardener may face problems. It is impossible to guess what variety will grow. It may turn out to be a wild one.
It will not be possible to do without grafting if the purpose of planting is not just to decorate the garden, but to obtain a harvest of tasty large fruits.
