Over run with Black Cherry seedlings

I put in a large shade bed under 2 black cherry trees last year and now have thousands of seedlings popping up. They pull out easily enough but it will take forever to get them all out! Is this typical for black cherry trees and how can I avoid this mess next year?

Joanne

Yes and you can't unless you pick all the cherries.

Yes.

The birds love our cherries and drop the pits all over the property. I've gotten so I can spot and recognize them just as they come up, as they are much harder to pull out once the root goes down a good ways.

Nothing is planted directly under our Bing Cherry Tree, which has become the kids' climbing toy. The nearby garden, though, is a constant source of seedlings.

Ugh, I might have to rethink the shade bed location. Will turning over the earth where they are growing be enough or will I have to pull each one out and remove it? Pulling each one is taking WAY too long to even make a dent. Thanks for the help!

Joanne

The problem for me is that this is a yearly thing. No matter what I do this year, I still have to deal with it again next year, and new ones continue to show up throughout the growing season. They don't survive the rototiller.

They're less trouble than the virginia creeper seedlings, though, so I just add it to my standard weeding routine.

Count your blessings, at least they're not buckthorn seedlings! I'm told that you'll never pull out all the seeds, and that the more your pull the more it exposes. I'm using Preen after I mulch, that helps some. I tried roundup but it didn't touch the buckthorn seedlings (don't know if it would work for cheeries, might, they're not as tough as buckthorn). But lately I'm hearing that you need to burn buckthorn out. I think we're going to get a torch and try it. Water bucket at hand.

Oh my, I had it easy compared to that! We pulled most of the seedlings out by hand then sprayed the areas that we could. More are still popping up but at a manageable rate now.

How will you burn them out? I can't imagine having to go to that extreme, I think I would move first, lol. Good luck and please update us on how it is progressing.

Joanne

Well that seals it.I was ordering a Black cherry tree tomorrow because of the fact that it is a host plant for butterflies.....I do believe I will be passing on that one.....lol I had no idea they were such a nightmare to deal with...

SJ

Well, there's a price to any fruit or nut tree. They're all messy, they require pruning and spraying, and they tend to have seedlings. I guess I'm a believer in growing fruits and nuts in my yard, so I'm willing to do what it takes. I spend far more effort on my vegetable garden. ^_^

Can a Black Cherry be pruned back to be kept smaller?....I was told this from the seller I was talking to, but was unsure as to how reliable the information was......I need to keep it compact, like at 12 feet or a little more

I have a number of fruiting "cherry trees", including sand cherries, chokecherries, and others. It occurs to me that we may have been speaking of different trees this whole time. Around here we are usually referring to sweet cherries when we say "black cherry", such as Black Republican, Black Tartarian, or Bing.

There is another cherry which we normally call a "wild cherry" which is also called a black cherry, but is not common here: Prunus serotina, http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/2519/

For my non-sweet cherry trees, I grow them in containers, which greatly limits their size. My sweet cherries are in the ground, though, and reach enormous size without a great deal of pruning, which keeps them down to 20-30'. There are dwarfing rootstocks available, but I don't know anyone who grows cherries on them.

For the wild cherries, I've been told that the dwarfing rootstocks aren't compatible and have poor results. Container growing might be an option. Pruning will work to a point, but the trees are aggressive and will tend to outgrow your efforts each year.

Perhaps others here can provide better advice.

It is in fact the Prunas Serotina that was going to [purchase....I wonder, could I grow that in a container? to inhibit its growth....sounds like a great idea! thanks....that begs the question as to what size a conatiner etc etc....and is it healthy for it?...whom would I query on this?

My black cherry trees (prunas serotina) are very large. I can't imagine them being kept in a container for more than a few years. They really do attract a HUGE number of caterpillars and are pretty when in flower.

Joanne

How messy are they?....The guy at the nursury said the were " A Dirty tree " and that was why they don't stock them....That of course didn't stop me from finding them on line.

I agree with the nursery, they are very messy trees. The berries get tracked everywhere when they fall and it stains our walkway terribly. The spring flowers are pretty but create quite a mess when they all come down. I would never plant this tree near a driveway, walkway, deck or children's play area.

Joanne