Cherry Shokoladnitsa: Description And Characteristics Of The Variety, Advantages And Disadvantages, Planting And Care Features + Photos And Reviews

2024 Author: Bailey Albertson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-17 22:26

Cherry Shokoladnitsa: how to care for a dark burgundy berry

Cherry Shokoladnitsa was bred 20 years ago specifically for cultivation in the central regions of Russia. It is resistant to both frost and heat. Early ripening and wonderful taste make this variety one of the most popular and favorite varieties.

Content

• 1 Characteristics of cherry varieties Shokoladnitsa

  1.1 Table: the advantages and disadvantages of the Shokoladnitsa variety

• 2 Landing features

  • 2.1 How to plant cherries: process steps
  • 2.2 Video: the old rustic way of planting cherries

• 3 Plant care

  • 3.1 Description of the cutting process
  • 3.2 Watering

  • 3.3 Top dressing

    3.3.1 Table: Fertilization

  • 3.4 Preparing for winter

• 4 Diseases and pests

  • 4.1 Table: how to deal with pests and diseases of cherries Shokoladnitsa
  • 4.2 Diseases and pests of cherries in the photo

• 5 Harvesting

  5.1 Video: chocolate covered cherries

• 6 Reviews of gardeners

Characteristics of Cherry varieties Shokoladnitsa

The variety was bred in 1996 at VNIISPK (Oryol region) as a result of crossing the varieties Lyubskaya and Shirpotreb black.

The average mass of cherry fruits Shokoladnitsa - 3-4 g

Chocolate Girl is a bushy tree that can grow up to 2.5 m in height. Lives for about 20 years. The crown is back pyramidal with a pointed tip. Leaves are oval, dark green in color, pointed, along the edges of the notch. The bark of the trunk is brown, on the shoots there is a gray bloom.

Blooms in mid-May. In the inflorescence there are 3 white flowers. Ripe fruits of maroon color. Average weight - 3-4 g. Sweet taste, with some sourness. The bone is easily separated from the juicy dense pulp.

Table: advantages and disadvantages of the Shokoladnitsa variety

Advantages	disadvantages
No additional pollinators required	Susceptibility to fungal diseases
Drought tolerance
Frost resistance
High yield

Landing features

For Shokoladnitsa, you need to choose a light sandy loam soil, the level of soil acidity - slightly acidic or neutral. The plot is on the south side of the garden, well lit. In lowlands with a close occurrence of groundwater, cherries will rot and die (water should not be closer than 2 m to the surface of the earth).

It is recommended to plant in early April or late September. A seedling is best purchased in a fruit nursery. It should be 70 cm tall, 1–1.5 year old, with healthy roots and a smooth stem.

How to plant cherries: process steps

1. With an autumn planting, a hole must be dug in 2 weeks, with a spring planting - in the fall. Its size is 60 cm in depth, 70 cm in diameter.
2. Mix the top layer of soil with 1 kg of ash, 2 buckets of humus and mineral fertilizers (40 g of superphosphate and 30 g of calcium chloride). Put this mixture on the bottom of the pit and form a mound.
3. Place the seedling in the planting hole, spread the roots of the plant over a mound. The root collar is 3–4 cm above the ground.

4. Put a stake next to it, which will serve as a support.

   

   The support is placed in the pit together with the seedling even before backfilling with soil

5. Cover with soil, lightly tamping.
6. Pour 20 liters of water.

7. Form a bump near the trunk, mulch the near-trunk circle with sawdust and humus.

   

   For mulching the trunk circle, you can use humus and sawdust

Although Shokoladnitsa belongs to self-fertile varieties, it would be appropriate to plant other varieties of cherries in the same area with her to get the greatest yield:

• Vladimirskaya;
• Bottle;
• Griot.

Trees should be planted 2-3 m apart.

Video: old rustic way of planting cherries

Plant care

Description of the pruning process

Cherry grows quickly and will form a thickened crown without leaving, so pruning should be started from the first year of life and carried out annually.

Pruning is carried out in the spring, before the onset of sap flow and bud swelling. A new seedling is left with 10 equidistant branches, the rest are cut off. Places of cuts must be treated with garden varnish. Later, old and damaged branches are removed, as well as those that grow deeper into the crown.

Cherry pruning scheme to prevent crown thickening and growth

When pruning, it should be borne in mind that cherries form fruits on last year's branches.

When pruning, branches are removed completely, without "hemp"

Watering

Cherries need abundant moisture supply during flowering, during fruit ripening and after the end of fruiting. In the grooves dug in the trunk circle, you need to pour 50 liters of water at a time. So moisture penetrates about 0.5 m deep into the ground, which is enough for cherries.

The trunk circle needs to be weeded and loosened periodically, especially after watering.

Watering the tree is carried out in the grooves dug in the trunk circle

Top dressing

Cherries are fed from 3-4 years of age. Organic matter is applied once every 3-4 years, trees older than 5 years are fed annually with mineral fertilizers.

Fertilization table

Time for procedure	Fertilizer
Before the start of the season (once every 3 years)	5 kg of compost or humus (when digging)
Before flowering in May	10 g of urea per 10 l of water (spraying); 250 g of superphosphate and 150 g of potassium chloride for 35-40 liters of water (the norm for watering 1 adult tree or 2 young).
After flowering, again - after 2 weeks	10 liters of cow dung and 1 kg of ash per 50 liters of water (5 liters of solution per tree)
September	80 g potassium, 200 g phosphorus (when digging)
In the fall, once every 5 years	500 g of lime (when digging)

Preparing for winter

1. Remove and burn fallen leaves.
2. Dig up the trunk circle.
3. Carry out water charging (60–80 liters of water for one tree).
4. Mulch the circle with humus.
5. Whitewash the barrel (solution: 1.5 kg of slaked lime per 10 liters of water).

6. Wrap up with non-woven fabric or spruce branches.

   

   Young cherry trees for the winter can be completely covered

Diseases and pests

Lack of cherries Shokoladnitsa - susceptibility to fungal diseases.

Table: how to deal with pests and diseases of cherries Shokoladnitsa

Diseases / pests	Feature Description	Prevention	Fight
Coccomycosis	The appearance of red-brown spots on the leaves. After a few weeks, the affected areas fall out, forming holes.	Treatment with 3% Bordeaux liquid before bud break. Treatment with Skor (2 ml per 10 l of water) before flowering, again after 2 weeks. After flowering - treatment with a solution of copper oxychloride (35 g per 10 liters of water).	Remove all affected parts of the tree. Treat with copper sulfate (100 g per 10 l of water) or Nitrafen (300 g per 10 l of water) before flowering. Treat with 0.1% solution of Topsin-M.
Moniliosis	Flowers, leaves, fruit twigs wither and dry up, and annual shoots look like burnt ones.	Getting rid of dry branches. Timely pruning. Digging and loosening the trunk circle.	Treat with Fitosporin-M (20 ml per 10 liters of water) during the coloring of the buds, at the beginning and after flowering, the formation of ovaries.
Aphid	Small insects suck sap from leaves.	Removal of root growth and old bark. Loosening of the trunk circle. Whitewashing of boles.	Treat with Nitrafen (300 g per 10 L of water). In case of abundant aphid infestation, treat with Inta-Vir (1 tablet per 10 liters of water).
Weevil	Beetles and larvae damage buds, flowers and fruits.		In wet weather, the activity of insects is reduced and they can be shaken off the tree onto dense material. Treat with herbal infusions (for example, insist 400 g of wormwood leaves for a day, boil for 30 minutes, add 40 g of laundry soap, strain, spray the plants). Treat with Fitoverm, Aktellik, Karbofos and others (according to the instructions).

Diseases and pests of cherries in the photo

With moniliosis, the tree looks like burnt

Coccomycosis is characterized by leaky leaves

Both beetles and weevil larvae are harmful

Aphids suck juice from leaves

Harvesting

Cherry Shokoladnitsa begins to bear fruit at 3-4 years of age. Ripens in the second decade of July. The yield grows with age and reaches more than 10 kg per tree. Cherries are stored in the refrigerator for about a week. It is consumed fresh, frozen or dried, and also used for making preserves, compote, jam.

Video: chocolate covered cherries

Gardeners reviews

Cherry Shokoladnitsa does not require special conditions. She gives high yields, unpretentious care. It belongs to bushy varieties, so it's easy to take care of it. However, Shokoladnitsa is prone to fungal diseases, so special attention will have to be paid to combating them.