Vogelkirsche ∗ The big guide from A to Z

Characteristics

• Scientific name: Prunus avium
• Family: Rose family (Rosaceae)
• Synonyms: savages wild cherry, wild cherry, sweet cherry
• Species: wild form, cultivated forms
• Growth type: deciduous tree
• Growth height: 15 m to 20 m
• leaf: ovate, pointed
• Flowers: umbel-dense inflorescence
• Flowering time: April to May
• Fruits: drupes
• Fruit property: edible
• Taste: bittersweet to sugary sweet

growth type

The bird cherry grows as a medium-high, deciduous tree and only rarely as a shrub. The wild bird cherry is cultivated primarily because of its romantic blossom splendor and the decorative, edible stone fruit. In the wild, the powerful and light-hungry wild form can be admired on the edges of forests. The following features shape the growth:

• growth habit: upright, expansive, often multi-stemmed
• Crown: broadly conical, loose, densely bushy with thick twigs and numerous short shoots
• bark: initially smooth and shiny, later reddish-grey with red-brown lenticels (cork warts)
• bark: dark brown to black, cracking with age

A ring-shaped peeling bark is characteristic of the growth of older wild cherry trees. Scientists suspect that the wild cherry and its cultivated forms are immune to mistletoe infestation because of this ringed bark.

Sheet

The leaves provide important information if you want to accurately identify a wild cherry tree at the edge of the forest:

• Leaf shape: stalked, obovate or oblong-ovate with serrate edge, tapering to a point
• Leaf size: 3 cm to 7 cm long, 1 cm to 5 cm wide
• Arrangement: alternate
• Leaf color: fresh green and glabrous on top, a shade darker underneath with sparsely hairy nerves
• Leaf veins: prominent main vein with 7 to 12 side veins
• Autumn colour: yellow to reddish-orange

One of the peculiarities of the wild cherry is the small honey glands on the leaves. These are clearly visible on the petiole. For this reason, a cherry tree smells seductively of honey even when it is not in its fairytale blossoming season.

blossom

The bird cherry wisely lays its flower buds in the previous year and thus sets the course for a furious blossom magic from April to May. The following overview summarizes the defining characteristics of the cherry tree blossom:

• Inflorescence: umbel with 3 to 4 individual flowers, rarely 2 to 6.
• Single flower: five petals enclose 20 to 25 shorter stamens.
• Size: 2.5cm to 3.5cm in diameter
• Flower color: white
• Position: on short shoots
• Arrangement: in dense clusters
• Flower ecology: hermaphrodite

Wild cherries bloom from the age of 20 to 25 years. Refined cultivated forms already start flowering at the age of 3 to 4 years. A full-grown bird cherry and its cultivars boast up to a million blossoms; a feast for bees bumblebees and butterflies. When bee pasture and edible wood for birds, wild cherries are therefore of inestimable value in a natural garden.

fruit

In summer, the wild cherry bears a bittersweet load of numerous, deep dark red to black drupes that dangle promisingly from the short shoots. The fact sheet states that wild cherries are edible. Other properties are characteristic of the fruits of Prunus avium:

• Diameter: 6mm to 25mm
• Fruit shape: spherical to ovoid
• Color when fully ripe: black-red
• Harvest time: June and July

In order for a wild cherry to bear fruit, a second cherry tree is required as a pollinator. Refined cultivated forms are usually self-fertile.

species

If there is talk of a bird cherry, it is usually a wild cherry. The suffix avium indicates that the stone fruits are eaten by birds. Hawfinches, a species of finch with steel-hard beaks, crack open and devour even the hard core of stone with relish. In gardeners' language, sweet cherries primarily refer to two types of cultivars whose fruits pamper the human palate with their juicy, sweet flesh. The following table provides an overview:

With a growth height of up to 20 meters, the wild cherry and its cultivated forms are too large for many home gardens. Thanks to garden-suitable cultivated forms from the tree nursery, there is a suitable cherry tree for every garden.

The best wild cherry varieties for the garden

Plant wild cherry

Natural gardeners plant a wild cherry and a sweet cherry side by side. The drupes of the wild form are reserved for birds, squirrel, Hedgehog and other hungry garden dwellers. The juicy fruits of the sweet cherry are harvested for a fruity treat. Another advantage of this planting strategy is that the wild bird cherry acts as a pollinator, which also optimizes the yield of a self-fertile sweet cherry. When and how to plant Prunus avium correctly, read the following sections:

planting time

The best time to plant cherry trees is in the fall. The time window for planting bare-root Heister remains open until spring. You can plant young trees in containers or with balls at any time of the year, provided the ground is not frozen.

Location

Important criteria for the choice of location are lighting conditions, soil conditions and space capacity. A wild cherry and its cultivated forms take up to 50 square meters. When planting a slow-growing cultivar, please plan a space requirement of 10 to 12 square meters. A wild cherry unfolds its full splendor in these locations:

• Wild form and cultivated forms: sunny to semi-shady
• Breeding forms: full sun to sunny
• Microclimate: airy, warm, protected from late frosts
• Deep loamy soil, fresh to moist, permeable and calcareous
• Exclusion criteria: wetter, more compacted garden floor with acidic pH below 6

planting tips

A properly planted wild cherry can live to be 100 years old. Therefore, please pay special attention to these planting tips:

• preparation: Place root ball in water.
• tillage: bed area two spade dig deep, weed, 3-5 liters compost soil incorporate.
• planting pit: double the volume of the root ball, enrich the excavation with horn shavings.(€9.00 at Amazon*)
• planting depth: corresponds to the planting depth in the container or in the tree nursery (observe the ground mark).
• support pole: Drive in 1 to 3 posts, fix to the trunk with hose clamps.
• pouring edge: form a small wall from bedding soil as a watering edge for optimal water use.

Dampen a wild cherry tree on the day of planting and regularly over the following weeks. Drought stress is the most common reason cherry trees fail to grow.

digression

Wild cherry donates Barbara branches

Cultivate bird cherry

Wild cherries are very easy to care for. The older a cherry tree, the lower the need for water and nutrients. The focus of care is a pruning at the right time. A nasty pest has its sights set on the delicious stone fruits. How to properly care for a bird cherry:

Pour

A freshly planted bird cherry is watered regularly when the soil has dried. Older, well-rooted cherry trees get by with the normal amount of rain. Only water them in extreme dryness tree disc penetrating early in the morning or in the evenings.

Fertilize

Once a year, growth, willingness to flower and crop yield benefit from organic fertilization. In March spread 3 liters of mature compost with a few handfuls of horn shavings on the root disk. Rake in the fertilizer a little and pour in clear water.

To cut

Wild cherry, its cultivated and cultivated forms are sensitive to pruning. Even the short shoots on the old wood bear the juicy stone fruits. These are two important reasons for planned hair care. You can read the best tips about cutting time and cutting direction here:

• education cut: from 1. until the 6th Build up the crown structure in February with the central drive and 3 leading branches.
• maintenance cut: every 4 years cherry tree after harvest to cut and thin out.
• taper cut: old, senile wild cherry trees regenerate in stages in late winter, spread over 2 to 3 years.

For the correct incision set the pruning shears always just above an outward one bud at. Hanging, more than 5 cm thick branches direct you to an outward-pointing side shoot. Cut unfavorable, bare and dead branches back to short cones.

pests

Evil maggots in sweet cherries are the spawn of the cherry fruit fly. The dreaded pest lays its eggs in the ripening drupes. The beasts can be fought with protective nets over the crown and tree grate, yellow sticky traps, pecking chickens and nematodes of the Steinernema feltiae species.

Popular Varieties

Wild forms and cultivated forms of the wild cherry give hobby gardeners a variety of varieties with individual characteristics:

• Prunus avium 'Plena': delights with full, white flowers in April and overhanging branches, height of growth 10 m to 12 m.
• sweet heart: Self-fruiting, late-ripening premium variety with medium-sized, dark red cherries and sugar-sweet flesh.
• Dönissen's yellow cartilaginous cherry: bears light yellow, bittersweet cherries, is avoided by birds and fruit flies, height of growth up to 5.50 m.
• Prunus avium 'Duo': self-fertile wild cherry bush with two delicious varieties, height and width 350 cm.

FAQ

Is the bird cherry poisonous?

No, the fruits of a bird cherry are not poisonous, but edible. Only the stone core is slightly poisonous and therefore inedible. However, caution should always be exercised when consuming unfamiliar cherries. Edible wild cherries are easily confused with poisonous deadly nightshades. Both plants grow at the edges of forests and bear black-red spherical fruits in summer.

What are important wild cherry characteristics?

A special feature of bird cherries is the pleasant honey scent. Surprisingly, it is not the white clusters of flowers that exude this scent, but the leaves. The reddish nectar glands are located at the upper ends of the leaf stalks, clearly visible to the interested observer. Another special feature is the ringed bark on old cherry trees. Presumably, wild cherries successfully defend themselves against mistletoe infestation with this trick.

What does cherry wood look like?

At its core, cherry wood is a delight with a warm, reddish-brown color that is occasionally streaked with green. The sapwood, on the other hand, is yellowish-white. Cherry wood can darken intensively under the influence of light and takes on a noble, golden yellow or dark red hue. The annual rings are clearly visible.