indigogirl17
Pro Member
Blazing here again...90's and dry after aq period of 3 weeks of solid rain a few weeks back. .
Posts: 191
Zone:: 5b
Favorite Vegetable:: sweet corn, collards, turnip greens, yellow wax beans, Cherokee purple tomatoes
Joined: March 2011
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Post by indigogirl17 on Jun 6, 2014 14:35:02 GMT -5
I have a Montmorency dwarf cherry tree that I started from a little twig bought from the Arbor Day Foundation about 7 years ago. It is now about 4 feet high and has only flowered once (last year) and never fruited. Its mate was mowed down by my ex (you can see why the "ex"). Aren't these supposed to be self-pollinating? It's a beautiful little tree, but it is not doing its job
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Jun 7, 2014 10:19:34 GMT -5
If the "little twig" was on its own roots (not grafted), it would take 5-8 years to begin producing.
Montmorency is supposed to be a self-fruitful variety. However, when it flowered, did it have lots of blooms or just a few? A small tree with a few blooms may not have gotten enough bee attention to pollinate the flowers.
But I would have expected even a dwarf tree to be more than 4' high after 7 years. If it is stressed or struggling to survive, it may not have the energy to put into blooms and fruit. Do you give it a good fruit tree fertilizer every year? Do you water it during extended dry spells during the growing season? Is it protected from weed/grass competition? Or it could be struggling with soil conditions or root disease.
Or you could just have a weak specimen. It happens. You might be better off getting a grafted tree on a good rootstock for your area. In three or four years it will be producing, and will probably be a lot more vigorous and healthy than the tree you currently have.
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indigogirl17
Pro Member
Blazing here again...90's and dry after aq period of 3 weeks of solid rain a few weeks back. .
Posts: 191
Zone:: 5b
Favorite Vegetable:: sweet corn, collards, turnip greens, yellow wax beans, Cherokee purple tomatoes
Joined: March 2011
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Post by indigogirl17 on Jun 9, 2014 13:30:37 GMT -5
Laura,
Thank you for this reply. yes to the watering faithfully, no to the fertilizer, which i will now start. The year it has flowers there were probably 8 flowers.
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Jun 10, 2014 9:24:53 GMT -5
Good luck! Hopefully it's just "hungry."
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Post by coppice on Aug 9, 2014 9:32:33 GMT -5
I would at least start mulching a foot or so away from the trunk and out to just past the drip-edge of the tree. i would replace mulch spring and fall for the next few years, and yearly there after.
Oh I suppose you could poke in a couple tree spikes. but a low Nitrogen layer of bark mulch will rot into the breakfast of cherry champions.
Montmorency IS suppose to be self fruitful, but I got better pollination when there was more than one tree...
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