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Growing sweet cherry Prunus Avium ‘Cor de Colom’

NollieNollie Posts: 7,529
in Fruit & veg
Have been strong-armed by my OH into buying this as a standard cherry tree during a recent trip to the GC. Due to heavy, rocky clay soil with not a lot of depth, have built a sturdy 1.2m x 1.2m x 40cm raised bed of sleepers on dug-over ground.
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I have wheelbarrowed in some garden soil from elsewhere but still need a good third of organic material to fill the raised bed completely. Advice on soil preference seems to vary - the label says mix in 50% peat, online says a light sandy, acidic soil (mine is very alkaline), others say any good, deep, well-drained loamy soil. Plenty say use acid feed, which makes me think PH is important, or is it?
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Should I use mix in some of my precious oak leaf mould, which is on the acidic side, plus buy in some ericaceous compost?
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Also, anyone recognise this cultivar and can tell me roughly how large it will get? Needless to say there is no stated height or rootstock info on the label:


Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.

Posts

  • clarke.bruntclarke.brunt Posts: 215
    edited March 2021
    I can't offer much on what to fill the bed up with. I've not come across pH being mentioned much regarding sweet cherries - assumed it was very un-fussy (mine was planted in a circle cut in the lawn - can't really say what's underneath).

    As for size, it's what stock it's grafted onto that matters - you might hope that the label says, or gives a height indication, but you say it doesn't. Which cultivar is far less relevant (I read that most would be very large if on their own roots - but yours will definitely be grafted). I get the impression that 'Cor de Colom' isn't common in the UK (no obvious search hits for people selling it), but I see you're in Spain.

    My own one, cultivar 'Stella' was cheap at a well-known supermarket. Label doesn't give the grafting stock, but says height 4 meters after 10 years. [Later edit: Label says Rootstock: Colt - it's taken me 8 years to notice that!] I can't believe it's already 8 years old, and about 3 meters. I did obsess over formative pruning in its early years, and I think it's a lovely shape now.
  • NollieNollie Posts: 7,529
    Yes I realised after posting my asking about height without knowing the rootstock was a pretty dumb question, @clarke.brunt  😆  

    I also realise I can’t actually change my PH that much either, but I do find that mixing in and topping up with ericaceous compost does work for plants that like it neutral to slightly acidic.  Just be good to know if I need to bother to go to the additional expense of doing so. I was a bit surprised by the acid thing, since we inherited half a dozen ornamental cherry trees growing happily in compacted alkaline clay soil.
    Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
  • floraliesfloralies Posts: 2,718
    @Nollie I looked up Prunus Avium on our French sites, generally it would seem they are very large trees, very hardy and not too fussy about soil. I would try and find out if yours has been grafted onto a small rootstock before you plant it!
  • clarke.bruntclarke.brunt Posts: 215
    Prunus avium is the 'Wild Cherry' in the UK, but it's also the origin of all the Sweet Cherry cultivars. So whilst it might be very large and not grafted if growing in the wild state, a sweet cherry cultivar is essentially always going to be grafted (the only other way of propagation would be rooted cuttings, but I don't think anyone sells those).
  • NollieNollie Posts: 7,529
    Thanks @floralies and @clarke.brunt, unfortunately there is no way of finding out what rootstock it’s grafted on to, Spanish labels/websites never say - in fact I was lucky to get a cultivar name, that’s a rarity indeed.

    Well I can but hope it’s on a semi-dwarfing rootstock  - plenty of space there and if it does take off, will just have to send OH up the ladder to pick the cherries or leave them to the birds. Meanwhile, since I’m not particularly fond of cherries, I shall just enjoy the spring blossom 😊 
    Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
  • floraliesfloralies Posts: 2,718
    Sounds like you have a plan there @Nollie!   B)
  • NollieNollie Posts: 7,529
    Well I’d never get away with not planting it, having been ‘persuaded’ to buy it @floralies, may it rain cherries on OH’s head 😆 
    Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
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