another patio cherry tree question...

[Sarico]

ok i take the spade and dig some soil... i thought garden soil is not good for potting... thanks for the advice....

[FB.]

ok i take the spade and dig some soil... i thought garden soil is not good for potting... thanks for the advice....

Garden soil isn't good for potting most things, most of the time.

The reason garden soil isn't usually much use for potting is because it doesn't usually contain many nutrients (or not as many nutrients as compost).

But the idea with your cherry is that an equal mix of compost and garden soil will be much less fertile than pure compost. Less fertile will mean slower growth, which will mean a better chance to keep your cherry to a manageable size. It should also help to get it cropping at an earlier age.

If at a later time you find that it doesn't grow enough, you can start increasing the amount of compost in the pot. All plants in pots need repotting every few years anyway because the soil/compost in the pot gets depleted of nutrients.

[FB.]

Are you able to take a picture of the graft?

[FB.]

OK, having chatted with another fruit grower and done a bit of research of field trial data, I have found evidence that Kordia is a very-strong-growing variety and tends to produce lots of long shoots (grows up to five times faster than certain cherry varieties).

So although the rootstock on your tree might be a dwarf, you've got a variety on top which is very strong and is significantly overriding the dwarfing effect of the rootstock.

In other words: the nusery made a bad choice to graft such a strong-growing variety for use as a patio tree.

[Sarico]

I Made a Research as well and this variety does grow floppy branches as umbrella shape. I will keep it but I hate that they use a different picture on the catalogue. Thanks again FB. I appreciate that you made a research for me. You really love help. Thanks again

[FB.]

I Made a Research as well and this variety does grow floppy branches as umbrella shape. I will keep it but I hate that they use a different picture on the catalogue. Thanks again FB. I appreciate that you made a research for me. You really love help. Thanks again

I would say that constitutes "item not as described" and "item not fit for purpose".

I would be demanding a less vigorous variety as a replacement.

[orangepippin]

Although many suppliers offer patio cherry trees, the Gisela 5 rootstock is not as dwarfing as the most dwarfing apple rootstocks, so these trees are likely to get to 10ft or so - particularly if planted in a large container with lots of nutrient-rich potting compost.

So even if the supplier accepts your case and supplies a less vigorous variety, you are still going to need a big patio.

Your tree also looks in excellent health (whereas it looked a bit weedy in the first photos). It might be a bit bigger than you wanted, but I'd be inclined to keep it because it has grown into a nice specimen and you might get some fruit next year - and a tree which is fruiting can't put as much energy into growth.