Today, cherry trees can be found on almost every garden plot. When growing a fruit tree, gardeners are faced with the problem of the formation of numerous shoots, which causes inconvenience for gardening and takes away strength and nutrients from the fruit-bearing plant. To solve the problem, it is enough to know about the peculiarities of their formation and how you can get rid of cherry growths.
Description of the growth
A shoot is a young shoot that forms on the adventitious or lateral roots of a cherry tree.The problem of increasing territories with overgrown shoots is not only aesthetic in nature, but also causes practical harm. If the appearance of shoots is not dealt with, then it can displace not only the parent tree, but also other types of fruit crops.
The peculiarity of the growth of young shoots is that the young shoot provides itself with nutrition at the expense of the parent tree, thereby making it weaker. A significant amount of shoots negatively affects the growth and fruiting of cherries and, in the absence of timely measures, can cause the death of the tree.
Most cherry varieties tend to produce young shoots. On a grafted tree, such shoots have no value, since it is impossible to grow a full-fledged tree from them, and wild ones will grow from them.
You should not expect the growth of a full-fledged fruit-bearing plant from Malinovka, Molodezhnaya and Rastorguevskaya cherries.
Own-root varieties are capable of forming cherry shoots, with the help of which plantings can be propagated. These varieties include:
- Vladimirskaya;
- Shubinka;
- Krasnopakhapskaya.
There are a limited number of fruit tree species that do not have the ability to produce new shoots. A significant part of them are grafted onto the seed rootstock of Vladimir cherry or Shubinka. The varieties that do not produce cherry shoots include bush plants:
- Lyubskaya;
- Chocolate girl;
- Crimson.
Due to such features, when purchasing a tree, you should check with sellers about the features of a particular variety and purchase seedlings only in specialized nurseries.
Causes of escapes
Excessive shoot formation is often the first sign of cherry health problems.Through the large formation of new shoots, the tree strives to continue its lifespan as quickly as possible. There may be many reasons for this situation, but they are all associated with violation of the rules of planting or caring for the plant.
The main ones include:
- the tree is not deep enough and the root system is excessively exposed, in this case it is enough to add soil;
- in the spring or during regrafting, too many branches were cut off, in this case the balance between the root and above-ground parts is disrupted, and the roots release excess nutrition to form young branches;
- the trunk or branches of the cherry tree have suffered mechanical damage, resulting in wounds or cracks;
- physiological incompatibility of the rootstock and scion;
- damage to wood caused by exposure to cold or heat.
By eliminating the main reasons for the appearance of shoots, you can reduce the tree’s ability to form them. At the same time, young shoots must be removed correctly, otherwise the situation can be aggravated, and they will begin to form at an even faster rate.
Low temperatures can cause root damage. In extreme heat, the soil cracks and the roots may also suffer. Overgrowth often appears on the affected area. To eliminate such a situation in winter, a tree shelter is formed. In hot weather, the roots of the cherry tree are protected with hay, which allows moisture to be retained in the ground for a longer period.
In some cases, young shoots do not grow on the ground, but are formed below the grafting area. An alien branch may even begin to bear fruit, but its characteristics and appearance will differ from its parent. Such shoots are removed, and if they grow significantly, they are pruned in the spring and re-grafted with another variety.
Positive features of the shoots
After a cherry tree is infected with coccomycosis, gardeners are often forced to buy new seedlings for replacement. New varietal plants are not always purchased from specialized nurseries, so purchasing from random unverified sellers leads to the planting of low-winter-hardy, low-yielding, self-sterile cherry species with low quality fruit characteristics.
Unique varieties of cherries can be quite expensive, so not everyone can afford to purchase a unique species. The formation of shoots in varietal cherry species allows the plant to be propagated without requiring financial expenses from the gardener. There are no restrictions on the area for increasing plantings, and planting and caring for young seedlings from such specimens will be standard.
Ways to fight
Today there are two main methods of combating cherry growth. The first involves mechanical action and is often used by Russian gardeners. The second is associated with the use of chemicals from the group of herbicides. Both options for removing growth have both supporters and opponents.
Mechanical method
Many gardeners, when trying to get rid of cherry trees, make the mistake of digging up young shoots. With such actions, a replacement program is launched, which is characteristic of all coppice trees. In place of the dug out shoot, 3 or 4 new ones grow, as a result, after a couple of years the shoots literally fill the area.
As a result, despite numerous efforts and time spent, gardeners end up with a garden plot overgrown with cherry shoots, while numerous new cherry shoots negatively affect the growth and fruiting of not only the parent tree, but also other fruit crops.
If it is necessary to remove the shoots, you need to use a pruner to cut out part of the shoot, cutting off its main part and leaving an area measuring 20 cm from the ground level. The formation of roots and new shoots will stop. In this case, the cherry will redirect its full strength to fruiting, and the tree will stop reproducing by shoots.
Herbicide use
You can get rid of shoots using drugs from the group of herbicides, but a significant part of gardeners advise against this option. At first glance, removing shoots using chemicals can be simple and quick; just spray and the young shoots of the cherry tree die. In this case, one should take into account the fact that the shoots and the parent tree have an inextricable connection, therefore, through common sap there is a risk of entry and infection.
To combat cherry shoots, general herbicides are used. Such preparations are capable of destroying all plants, so their use requires special preparation and strict adherence to the rules of use.
The following types of herbicides are often used:
- “Tornado” is a highly concentrated product that can destroy woody growth;
- “Roundup” - intended for the destruction of grassy weeds, capable of eliminating non-lignified shoots;
- "Hurricane" is a strong herbicide, the effectiveness of which increases when used in dry weather.
You can remove growth from stumps using drugs. The product is diluted according to the instructions, for most of them the recommended dilution ratio with water is 1 to 3. Before use, several small holes are drilled into the stump with your own hands, into which the mixture is poured.Polyethylene is placed on top, which will avoid the problem of splashing the drug during rain. Depending on the size, the stump is left in this state for 2 or 3 weeks. After this, the sequence of herbicide treatment actions is repeated. As a result of such actions, the stump will decompose more quickly, so it will be easier to uproot it.
Some gardeners, when purchasing an old plot with perennial plantings, resort to completely digging up the area to form new plantings in the future. This method is radical, but quite expensive and often impossible due to the peculiarities of organizing personal plots and nearby structures.
Prevention
You should think about measures to prevent overgrowth before planting cherries, which will make gardening work easier in the future. The fruit tree forms shoots only on shoots of the bark system located no deeper than 40 cm. In this regard, it is enough to dig a growth limiter into the ground so that the problem of shoot formation does not bother you in the future. The following are often used as barriers:
- slate;
- sheets of plastic;
- a mixture of mown grass, branches, straw;
- sawdust.
To form a barrier, the material is dug in a circle to a depth of 50 cm at a distance of 1-1.5 m from the cherry tree. The formation of shoots will be observed for some time only at the trunk; they must be cut off with pruning shears. Even if individual shoots manage to grow through the barrier, the scale of the disaster will be significantly smaller as a result. Mulch from plant materials, which is placed around the tree in a layer of 20 cm, will help reduce the formation of cherry shoots. Shoots can also sprout from the seeds of fallen cherry fruits.To prevent this possibility, the harvest should be harvested in a timely manner, and if the berries fall, they should be collected in a timely manner.
