Pollination of the cherry tree

Cherry breeders seek to achieve varieties of self fertile cherry trees due to their higher productivity. They also take into account other fundamental aspects for obtaining new varieties of cherry (precocity, flavor, size, firmness, chill hours, resistance to diseases…). Therefore, some cherry varieties are still sterile and need to bloom alongside other compatible varieties.

When do cherry blossoms bloom?

Depending on the area and the existing climatic conditions, the cherry blossom can be advanced or delayed. As a general rule, the reference dates go from March 24 to April 14.

Not all cherry blossoms bloom at once, flowering is subdivided into 5 phases:

Flowering varieties extra-early (before March 24)

Early flowering cherry trees (last week of March)

Flowering average (first week of April)

Late flowering (second week of April).

Very late (as of April 14)

Tips for proper pollination of cherry trees

The self-fertile cherry trees have the advantage that do not need cross-pollination to produce. However, in adverse weather conditions. For example, the excess temperature during flowering, its curdling capacity is reduced. So, even if we use self-compatible cherry varieties. It’s a good practice to plan our cherry plantation with lines of different pollinator groups >and such a flowering season.

Pollination table auto-fertile and sterile cherry trees

The following table shows the varieties according to flowering date and pollination group.

The self-fertile cherry trees will show first.

The flowering season is indicative, it can vary according to the conditions of our growing area.

The time of flowering of a cherry tree can be extended for several weeks, therefore, it would be possible to pollinate a sterile medium flowering variety if we put next to it auto-fertile varieties of early flowering and belated

Very early flowering varieties

Early flowering cherry trees

Classes of medium flowering cherry

Late flowering

Very late flowering season

Example of selection of pollinator varieties

We want to pollinate a sterile cherry tree of Group I and medium flowering (Starking).

We can choose any medium flowering variety that belongs to a different group. In this case, we decided to use Black Star (self-fertile), Bing (Group III) and Frisco (self-fertile)…

Some self-fertile varieties, such as Lapins, are popularly recognized as a universal cherry pollinator.

Another aspect that influences the flowering date, is in the chill hours requirements. As a general rule, early flowering varieties are those that least accumulate cold required to produce.

What are the risks of cherry growing?

Warning

We have translated the information on our website from Spanish to English. Note that some words may have seen their meaning altered during their translation.