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What difference does early/mid/late season make?
in Fruit & veg
Hi,
My question is in reference to fruit, specifically cherry trees.
Besides the summer month that the fruit is ripe, does it have any other implications?
For example, a late ripening fruit risks the summer ending early and no fruit? Or perhaps a late ripening fruit being more reliable because it's already had plenty of sun?
Thanks
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Posts
a bit vague, but if you mean , for example , apples. You need to make sure that the different varieties flower at the same time to guarantee pollination ( they're not self fertile ) I've never grown cherries, but I'm sure someone will come along later to help.
Early fruiting usually means earlier flowering, and early flowers can be killed off by frost. So if you live in the south probably OK but oop north, may be later is better. I think the sour cherries are much less prone to this than sweet.
If the tree is not self fertile then it needs to flower at the same time as whatever you have as a pollinator.
Very late fruit can succumb to wasps (I know this is a problem with plums, not sure about cherries).
And as you say, if you live somewhere where summers can be very short, then very late fruiting trees may not ripen before frost gets them. In my experience the birds eat them all long before this happens, whatever sort you have
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
Great, thanks. Very helpful.