Lol, I just went online and bought a refractometer… I’ll report what kind readings I get when the fruit ripens and I have the refractometer.
Sorry Don - haven’t been on in awhile, but yes I use the hand-held refractometer that Fruitnut recommended a couple years ago like this one on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Refractometer-Automatic-Temperature-Compensation-0-32/dp/B0149IQFOI/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1466992141&sr=8-2&keywords=refractometer
Although I assume it’s accurate in the measurements, I guess I don’t have anything to compare it with . It is consistent if nothing else, as it read my CJ’s 3-4 points lower than either Early Richmond or North Star.
I went back and had a look at the high temps we had for a week prior to harvest up until the last day. Beginning 6/8/16 and running through 6/19/16 our temps were: 89, 96, 97, 100, 97, 98, 92, 99, 98, 97, 92, and 95. So the average high for those 12 days was 95.8333.
Again, maybe the unusually hot weather for mid-June played a role. It’ll be interesting to see how things go on years when it’s not a bake oven during ripening time.
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Yikes, that is very hot! While they might get a day or maybe several in a row with temps like that, I think it would be freakish if not unheard of to have a long string of hot days like that in Saskatoon. My 10 day forecast here (300 miles west of Saskatoon) is for highs ranging from 72 to 80F, so whenever my brix tester gets here I’ll see if that makes for a higher brix or not.
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Yeah…i wonder how that extreme heat plays into the ripening process. Maybe it speeds up the coloring, but the sugars haven’t caught up yet? have no idea what i’m talking about.
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Yeah, I just think there’s a lot to learn about how they do in various locales. And we’re learning more each and every year.
I know to some it probably seems like I’m sometimes “throwing cold water” when the discussion of CJ and its attributes are extolled by so many. I mean I think I was the first to whine about their tendency to crack under a lot of rain, and I’m probably the lone ranger who sniveled about the brix not attaining the UofS advertised numbers, and yes I’m also that guy who began harping on the things growing twice as big as they were supposed to. (And the jury is still out in my view on the vaunted disease resistance, as I have what I think is first signs of canker on one of my bushes)
So I get that…, but I also hope people have been able to sift through the commentary and see the really great things I’ve said about them as well. I only want people to have a fairly clear picture of what they are doing for me, and to know that there are other possibilities for how they perform outside of Saskatchewan (which I’ve already previously eluded to in other posts)
But trust me on this…, I’ve nursed these 5 CJ’s along for five & six years now, and there is NOBODY who wants them to excel more than I do.
I wish they had the high brix, but I don’t really think it’s an issue in cooking with them. In fact I’ll take the lower brix CJ’s I got this year, every single year - because absent rain crack and insect issues they were just about as perfect a cherry as you could ask for - no blemishes, no fungal issues, and precious few bird hits. (I have a bird bath between the CJ’s and the ER and every day I add water to it, and more than once there are 4 or 5 ER pits in the bottom of the bird bath and no CJ pits. The birds are attracted to the bright red of the ER and almost ignore the CJ)
So I’ve got these 5 CJ’s and hopefully next year the CP’s will make cherries, and following that the Juilet’s. So I’m all in, and like Clark says, anything that produces fruit in this magnitude ain’t all bad!!!
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I was happy with a brix of 15 for my berries. it is though a super dry year here, Leaves were falling off the bushes from dryness. The berries were small too, I should have watered the plant more.
I got mainly 15 readings off my ER & North Star, in fact one of the NS cherries I tested returned about a 19.5 number.
So the unbearable heat didn’t seem to actually hurt the ER or NS. But your comment about watering has me wondering a bit…
I don’t generally water my established/older trees unless we’re in a full blown drought, but I also haven’t watered my 5 producing CJ’s - pretty much forever… I do it when I’m trying to get them established but that’s it.
Thing is, I don’t really know what kind of root system they put out. I mean, I’ve got wood mulch under each bush, and I think that’s important. The leaves look healthy and not stressed in any way, but now I’m wondering about how water may impact brix.
I’ve read with interest the discussions Opea, Fruitnut, Alan, and others have had in the past regarding withholding or limiting water on peaches. I wonder if there could be a connection here? I mean my ER and NS probably have more of a tap-root kind of thing, and maybe the CJ’s have a whole different deal under there???
I don’t know, maybe if we’re in the throes of a heatwave next year I’ll give 'em a drink and see if there’s any impact…
Jerry, I do have an alternative suggestion for you. That would be to apply Surround to the Carmine Jewel if we have a hot June next year.
Surround is supposed to help with heat stress. Under heat stress conditions photosynthesis slows down, so the amount of CO2 fixed to produce sugars will be reduced. The same company that produces Surround produces a similar product for commercial application out west to help with sunscald and heat stress issues.
I applied Surround last week to my orchyard partly to deter a minor japanese beetle issue, but I really went to the trouble because I have read it helps with heat stress. Then it rained 2.75 inches on me…
We got a inch yesterday late afternoon… in about 5 min! Really seems to have perked up the corn anyway.
That’s interesting intel on the Surround. (I REALLY, REALLY hope we don’t have another June like this one). Nice to have another angle to try out though.
I heard parts of Iowa were in a drought on the news this morning. I wasn’t aware of that… I don’t know if that is the case for you or not.
I think the area between Waterloo and Iowa City has gotten most of the state’s normal allotment of rain for the season. I have 10+ inches for the month of June.
We have 1.43" for the month of June (1" of that late yesterday afternoon) Ordinarily you could tolerate a little lack of moisture if there were anywhere near normal temps, but we got left in the oven…
Since it fits here… these U of SK cherries seem to be a whole different beast than tree cherries.
Does the same wisdom about them needing well-drained soil like cherry trees also hold? Most of the space I have left in my yard is wet.
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Levers,
I’ve grown them in places I would not even consider growing sweet cherries. Sour cherries in general are much hardier. With all that being said I would not recommend any stone fruit in a real wet area. My north star is the exception to the rule and seems to love water. When I planted it where it is it was a wet spot and it’s twice as wet now. I never intended for all the water to wind up there but it has to go somewhere. You could add some dirt and make some small hills and they would grow great there. I’ve done that with cherry trees.
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Thanks Clark. Good to know on North Star too. I have too much water, and wrongly planted an apple tree in too low of a spot. There is a good chance I will lose it before I can move it, and I’m afraid moving it now will kill it outright. So I’m learning my lesson. I will probably move the tree to another spot and do the hill thing.
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1.3 here usually have 3.0.
I had just about 7 inches here for June…but July has started off dry and cool.
I;ve noticed after a bunch of spring growth my CJ has stopped growing the last few weeks.
Think we got an inch. Cracks are still not sealed yet. Very dry overall though it’s wet on top right now. Dig in a bit and it’s very dry down a few inches.
Still dry here, I have never watered so much! I must say things look good though! And the fruit, it is noticeably sweeter, just anecdotal. I measured brix of a few berries, although I have nothing to compare it to? I can say brix is going up as dry spell continues.
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Just picked my CJ, perhaps a half gallon from my 5th leaf bush. Yeah, they could been allowed to ripen a bit more, but between my lack of patience, brown rot, and some rainy days in the forecast, I decided to pull the trigger and clean it up. Now it’s up to my better half to make something tasty! Helpful that this plant is easy to protect from the birds with netting, my other cherry trees got robbed.
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