morello cherry

[aquilegia]

Should it have flowered yet? I know they are late flowering, but is it too late now?

I ask because I bought one about 2 months ago and planted it. It's not done a thing since. Part of me is trying to be patient, but the rest thinks I've been done. :(

[aquilegia]

[daitheplant]

Give the poor thing a chancew, it`s only been in the ground 2 months. Are there any signs of flower buds? I wouldn`t worry anyway, it will flower next year. ;D ;D

[chriscross1966]

Morello's can take several years to flower after they are planted out. I did  see a few flowers on mine (about 3) a week or so ago though....it's still in a big pot...

[Digeroo]

My one is in full flower at the moment, very pretty, but branches keep dying off.

[aquilegia]

well hopefully it'll do something soon! I know I'm impatient!

I did snap one of the branches and it was green inside, so it can't be totally dead, surely!

[brownowl23]

funy you should say about your branches breaking of digeroo, my dads got a morello and he has now lost all but one of the trunks/branches on his morello. Its trunk has split into 5 at ground level and now only one left.

[Digeroo]

At least 1/3 of mine dies back every year. It is 25 years old and still a tiny tree.  It  has now sprouted from quite low down so I am hoping to train it along the fence. 

[peewit]

My Morello is about 15 - came with us from chalk (sulked) to good soil, and shot up.  Now in full flower.  Leaves come after the flowers.  It should be pruned annually - only makes buds on new wood, so you get long, bare, twigs which die back if you don't.   Don't do this to sweet cherries! See a good book.
Give the baby a chance - trees need a few years to settle in.  If they flower in the first year they may be poorly grown or stressed in the nursery, or several years old - 2 year-olds are the best bet, and it's a good technique to remove the blossom the 1st year - but hard to make oneself do it.  The tree will do better in future.
My problem is blackbirds.  Tried hanging up CDs - they like them! I saw a bird, cherry in beak, admiring his reflection in one!  They strip the fruit.   It's too big to net.   Any ideas out there?
(I was a horticultural student - mainly fruit growing - many years ago.)

[Digeroo]

I have got the blackbird situation under some control.  I use clear plastic bags Morrisons are good and so are 99p shop.  They dio need a few holes so they do not sweat too much.   I then take branches and tuck them into the plastic bags and seal up the top end or tie the handles round the branch.  The tree looks rather poor all bagged up but it is only for a couple of weeks.   It is important to keep as many of the leaves as possi fdrom touching the bag a few twigs inside does that job.  They need a drip hole at the bottom to let out any condensation.

As you say they fruit on the ends of the branches so it is not too difficult.  Start saving your bags now!  They ripen up very quickly once they are in the bag so you need to wait as long as possible for the fruit to swell before you put them in the bags though you can get a few small early ones as well. 

Some branches do not lend themselves to putting in the bags so you can also use fleese to cover whole branches and seals them in.  I now at least get 75% of the fruit.