The weather has cooled and it's raining frequently in many cherry growing regions. It means autumn is here.
Leaves change colour as their nutrients head to the roots, and then they fall from the tree signalling the beginning of dormancy.
When most leaves have fallen, cherry fruit bud clusters become more evident, giving the grower some hint about the crop for next season.
Tread on those suckers
As you or your staff move through rows of cherry trees, be aware of rootstocks emerging from or near the base of the tree and plan to remove them by pulling until they break away from the stump or the ground.
If you cut them off they are more likely to regrow from a bud, than it is when removed manually by holding the end of the growth and pushing down with your foot at the butt of the tree.
If this is done annually it avoids having the wild stock robbing the mother tree of nutrients and moisture, or becoming a bigger problem if allowed to grow too strongly.
Protect buds and wood
Adapt your spray program at leaf fall to protect cherry buds and wood from pests and disease.
Incorporate any timely advice provided by industry specialists (government or private) on potential risks that they identify; and just as importantly, incorporate local and generational records into your program.
Cherry IPDM guide
Cherry Growers Australia produced a very useful IPDM Calendar for Cherries that is available from the CGA website:
cherrygrowers.org.au/disease.
It sets out the identification of pests and diseases in a calendar form and includes photos to assist with identification. Well worth a look.
There could be some work ahead, get to it.
See this article in Tree Fruit April 2022
