How to Make Your Montmorency Cherry Tree Produce More

Cherry trees fruit best in cooler areas of the country.

Cherry trees are bright, full trees in home gardens and produce some of the earliest blooms and fruit of the year. Montmorency cherry trees belong to the sour cherry family and hail from wild cherries. These trees pollinate themselves but require the right care and conditions to do so. Keep the cherry tree in the right site and soil and prune it regularly for the best harvest.

Things You'll Need

• Garden fork
• Organic compost
• Fertilizer
• Garden sheets/blankets
• Insects
• Pruning shears

Instructions

1. Keep the Montmorency cherry tree in a site with full sunshine, quick drainage and proper air circulation. The trees can't bloom or bear fruit in shade and will rot in standing water or slow-draining soil. Still air limits pollination during blooming. Give each Montmorency cherry tree at least 20 feet of lateral space for growth.

2. Give Montmorency cherry trees adequate nutrition for growth, blooming and fruit production. The trees cannot produce fruit with poor soil or lack of nutritional resources. Plant them in a mixture of natural soil and organic compost, and give them balanced 10-10-10 fertilizer every spring.

3. Water cherry trees with 3 to 4 inches of water every week. Cherry trees don't require high levels of moisture but cannot produce fruit without adequate water.

4. Monitor the cherry tree bloom in spring. If the tree blooms before the last frost, the frost will damage the blossoms and therefore the fruit harvest. Cover a blooming cherry tree with a sheet or blanket every night to protect it from frost bite. Remove the sheet during the day for air, sun and pollination.

5. Release beneficial insects such as bees, wasps, moths and ladybugs. The insects will help pollinate the tree during its blooming season for better fruit production.

6. Prune Montmorency cherry trees in late winter every year for shape and fruit production. Pruning increases sun and air exposure to blooms and fruit for better fruit development and ripening. Leave 4 to 6 tier or man branches off the trunk and cut all other branches off. Cut out branches that rub against each other or cross through the middle of the tree, and cut branches that grow straight up from the central trunk. Remove any weak or diseased wood.

Tips & Warnings

• Montmorency cherry trees grow down to U.S. Department of Agriculture growing zone 4 and reach only 8 to 15 feet in height, with 10- to 20-foot spreads. The trees begin producing fruit at two to three years of age.

References

• University of Minnesota Extension; Stone Fruits for Minnesota Home Gardens; Doug Foulk, et al.
• National Gardening Association: Cherry
• Binghamtom University: Urban Forestry - Edible Horticulture, Fruit Trees