The best soil cherry trees can grow in is loamy ground that drains fast with a pH between 6.0 and 7.0. Sandy loam gives cherry roots the perfect mix of air and moisture. Get the soil right and your tree starts life with a huge head start.
I killed my first cherry tree by planting it in heavy clay without fixing the soil first. The tree looked fine for one season then turned yellow and died the next spring. When I dug up the root ball, it smelled rotten and the roots had turned black. Cherry tree soil requirements cannot be ignored if you want your tree to last.
Cherry roots need oxygen to stay healthy. When soil stays wet for days after rain, water pushes all the air out of tiny spaces between soil particles. Roots suffocate and start to rot within weeks of constant soggy conditions. The damaged roots then fail to take up water or nutrients even when the soil dries out later.
Root rot also opens the door to fungal diseases that spread fast through wet soil. Armillaria and Phytophthora love the same wet conditions that stress cherry roots. A tree with healthy roots in well-drained soil can fight off these pathogens. The same tree in soggy clay becomes an easy target.
Test your soil pH before you plant. The soil pH cherry trees prefer falls between 6.0 and 7.0 for best results. Below 6.0 and iron or manganese can build up to toxic levels. Above 7.0 and iron, zinc, and other key nutrients lock up and your tree cannot absorb them. A simple test kit from any garden center tells you where you stand.
Adding sulfur drops pH if your soil tests too alkaline. Lime raises pH when soil tests too acidic. Make these changes six months before planting so the soil has time to adjust. Rushing this step means your tree sits in unbalanced ground while you wait for the amendments to work.
Clay soil needs work before it can support a cherry tree. Mix in 4-6 inches (10-15 centimeters) of compost across the planting area to break up dense clay and improve drainage. Raised beds work even better for heavy clay since you control exactly what goes into the root zone.
Sandy soil drains fast but holds few nutrients. Add compost to sandy ground too since it helps the soil hold water and fertilizer near the roots. Without organic matter, sandy soil lets everything wash away before roots can grab it. A few inches of compost transforms sandy soil into good growing ground.
I now test every planting spot before I put a cherry tree in the ground. My current trees grow in raised beds filled with a mix of topsoil, compost, and sharp sand. Well-draining soil cherries grow in makes all the other care easier since healthy roots handle stress much better than roots fighting bad ground.
Take time to fix your soil before planting day arrives. A few hours of prep work creates conditions that help your tree thrive for 20 years or more. The trees cannot fix bad soil on their own so the effort falls on you. Get it right once and you won't face this job again.
Read the full article: Growing Cherry Trees From Seed or Sapling
