[ches]

The O/H has bought me a cherry tree and a raspberry cane. I know i wont get much from one cane so i plan to get some more.

The question, what do i have to do to look after a cherry tree? I've put it in a pot, hopfully it will be ok in here, if not i'll have to construct a nice big bed for it.

Any advice on what to do will be greatly appreciated.

[edit] photo attached

[Potterer]

Hi. Do you know what sort of rootstock the cherry tree has? They can grow very big and I think even if grafted onto dwarfing rootstock, it will definitely do better in the ground. At my allotment our trees are only meant to be 8 ft high so I am starting to grow mine as a fan shape on wires. Previously I grew cherry trees on another allotment by ‘festooning’ them and that worked well and the tree was very productive. The RHS site is helpful with ideas

[ches]

I have no idea what rootstock is I’m afraid. It’s from pound stretcher if that helps. It’s was £6.50! What a bargain!

[Hampshire Hog]

Based on my experience I would make sure you have good protection from birds!!
The trees can grow quite large which can be problematic for protection. Otherwise you will just feed pigeons etc. Growing as a fan sounds good but mine is at home and definitely over 8 foot high.
Cheers HH

[ches]

Would it be worth building some kind of protection structure around it with netting?

[Yorkie]

I think that pot will be too small for it - the roots will want to grow bigger than that and you'll lose water / nutrients quickly.

Also, it looks like a plastic pot - the leaves will act like a sail and the plant pot is likely to fall over.

If you can't find out whether it's a dwarfing rootstock, you may be best restricting its eventual growth by keeping it in a bigger pot than that, but one that isn't made of plastic, and using John Innes compost number 3 rather than multi purpose (which only has enough nutrients for about 6 weeks once the plant is in active growth).

[ches]

I think that pot will be too small for it - the roots will want to grow bigger than that and you'll lose water / nutrients quickly.

Also, it looks like a plastic pot - the leaves will act like a sail and the plant pot is likely to fall over.

If you can't find out whether it's a dwarfing rootstock, you may be best restricting its eventual growth by keeping it in a bigger pot than that, but one that isn't made of plastic, and using John Innes compost number 3 rather than multi purpose (which only has enough nutrients for about 6 weeks once the plant is in active growth).

Thanks Yorkie,

The pot size seems to be the main issue. I think, I'll build a new pot for it using timber. The should have enough weight to it, once full and I can make it what ever size it needs to be. What size would you recommend? Thanks

[Yorkie]

Hmm, not sure what size pot.  Usually people go up in sizes rather than just put it into a big planter to start with.

What height is it at the moment?

[ches]

Hmm, not sure what size pot.  Usually people go up in sizes rather than just put it into a big planter to start with.

What height is it at the moment?

1m maybe 1.5? I'll be up the plot tomorrow, I'll measure It.