I had a bad year in a lot of ways. I had very little chill last winter and had no flowers on the cherries and pears. A late hard freeze then hurt the plants and seemed like all the growth from then on came in the form of suckers. My jujubes did the same thing, massive amounts of suckering.
Hey Zack! Hopefully youāll get to see mine for yourself this summer. My bush cherries were all planted in spring of 2016 and 2017, and the ones I planted this spring are a little bigger than the ones I planted a year ago, because the ones from last year (Honey Berry USA plants) were so much smaller than this yearās (Henry Fieldās plants). But all are fairly small. These seem to grow fairly slow. I havenāt got a cherry yet, but I got about 20 blooms this year. So weāll see what spring brings.
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A day of heat and theyāre popping open here in 7A. Last year we got a good sized bowl full. Hopefully 2018 will be a pie year. I have 2 of these and also have a couple Juliet planted later that have a few blooms. My crimson passion, planted the same time as the CJs are still barrenā¦ Iāve got Juliet scion in the fridge, so maybe itās time to graft the CPs over.
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Nice, congrats. My CP bit the dust this winter, I 'd like to replace with a CJ, but I think any more fruit plant purchases are done for the year.
Those look like looking strawberries underneath, looking good. What variety are they?
Very pretty!
I have a Crimson Passion as well, along with 4 Carmine Jewels. Mine has grown slowly and I donāt expect any cherries from it this year but I am going to give it at least a couple more years. Crimson Passion is known to be the least vigorous of the U of Saskatchewan cherries but it should eventually produce the largest and sweetest cherries. That is tempting enough for me to be patient.
Edit: I would also worry that grafting CJ over CP would result in a plant with CP vigor and CJ cherriesā¦ you might get the worst of both worlds.
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We could use some heat tooā¦
This is a shot from a year ago on 4/17/17
And this is one from today 4/15/18
What a difference a year makes. I pruned off 3-4ā and some entire interior branches a few weeks ago. I assume that will take a toll on this years harvest but Iām okay with that.
Your CJās look awesome, but I would not hold my breath on the CPās.
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Wow, that is a pretty massive difference. I really need to start keeping track of bloom times and harvests so I know what my variations are.
Hey c5tiger, Iām fairly new here, but have been reading a lot. I was wondering if you are still willing to give up some carmine jewel suckers? I am in mid Georgia zone 8b, and would like to plant a hedge of them, but at the prices Iām finding, thereās no way on my fixed income. I donāt expect freebies, just reasonable prices. If you could help me I would appreciate it. I am looking for around twenty plants. They donāt all have to be CJ, but do need to be fairly small when grown. If anyone else you know may be able to help, please advise.
TFN
These are easy to grow from seed, might be easier than trying to get enough suckers to grow a hedge.
Hey, TheDerek. That sounds good too. Any idea how it takes to fruit from seed.
TFN
Oops, forgot to ask where to get seed?
TFN
I have some seed saved, It depends how much you need probably. Im sure most people arent saving seed but I throw away thousands each year.
TFN, I donāt have any suckers right now. My plant developed black knot this year and is struggling. I cut half the bush down but it has not grown much the last two years. Two years ago we had a bad late freeze that hurt the bush and it has not grown much since, just tries to put out suckers. I keep them cut down or sprayed with paraquat to encourage growth on the bush but itās not working. I may just cut the whole bush down and start over with a sucker. I did get about 15 cherries this year
My may want to try a plant or two before going whole hog on a 20 plant hedge. My CJ gets shade from about 3pm on and I think that helps with the heat. I bought a Juliet last year and it gets full sun and has not done near as well as the CJ.
I donāt know if that freeze two years ago permanently hurt my CJ or if several years in the deep South finally caught up with it.
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I was hoping for about 20 trees to make hedge. I have no idea what the germination rate is. Maybe thirty seeds? If they all come upā¦greatā¦if not , Iāll plant what makes it and hope for fruit or sucker. Thanks.
TFN
Makes sense to go slow. The area I plan on putting them will also get shade in afternoon and is on bottom of slope. Iām going to try a few and see how it goes. Thanks.
TFN
You may consider feijoa they make a nice hedge and should work well in your area. It is one of if not the most carefree plant I have and produce lots of nice fruit.
You could also try 10 feijoa plants and 10 CJs. Feijoa are evergreen, CJ is not.
I have a hedge of 12 feijoa started on the north side of my little citrus orchard. I hope to have some decent citrus fruit next fall if we have normal winter and it doesnāt get too brutal. I will have a few each of 14 different citrus varieties this year. I want to try the CJ because it is probably the closest thing to cherries I may be able to grow. I do have young Stella, Lapins, and Royal Rainier also. I also fruited bananas here last year, but not so lucky this year, I did not push them enough.
TFN
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of course, Iāll take whatever I can get. Just let me know the price.
TFN
My carmine jewel that I got four years ago as a tiny sucker from a generous member here has grown steadily and looks like it will flower this year. I got Romeo two years ago to cross pollinate, but it really struggled last summer with the heat and some sort of leaf issue, and died over the winter.