I think you mean wind chill, not windshield. I don’t know if I have noticed the cold reducing the bugs or mice, though. I hope that is the case.
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Smartphone is always helping me out making me look smart like that! Thanks for the correction! Lol
How tall are those,Clark? Brady
Some of them are 8’ tall.
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Havent had much luck with CP here in central North Dakota. Plants are healthy and large and Ive gotten blossoms a few times, but no fruit. Gonna pull them next spring if there is no fruit set, replace with something more productive.
How good would CJ be as an ornamental bush? Many people in my neighborhood have bush rows of burning bushes and my wife and I discussed doing the same. But I’m kinda wondering how CJ would look spaced about 6-8 feet apart. The bonus would be cherries! One of my favorite fruits
I thought of making a hedge with filberts. At one time Raintree was selling I think 8 plants for a hedge for cheap. I did make a hedge with cornus mas (dogwood cherries) at my cottage. Nothing grows well there as I’m very shaded, but the dogwoods are doing OK. Very slow growing! They refuse to give in, in the fall. One of the last trees to lose it’s leaves. Still green here (on the right).
They still need to fill in some, but are looking better every year. A couple more years and they should be awesome.
I did get a little carried away with the leaf burning! Luckily the neighbors were not up! Looking at the grass, looks like I burned them just in time to rake them again!
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I was equally frustrated with my bush cherries (Carmine Jewel, Cupid, Juliet, Romeo) here in Alberta. Planted them as healthy transplants in 2011. They fruited intermittently and lightly for the next several years, up to 2015, but the production was not impressive. Then this year - 2016 - I got 20-25 pounds or more of fruit from every bush. Be patient, give them at least 2 more years.
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TheDerek,
@Don3a is giving you good advice! Those bushes increase with age! I thought they were a sparse producer and then suddenly the yields come up and they will bury you with cherries! Many people have took the prairie cherries out before they hit their peak but I strongly advice you learn by their mistakes and be patient.
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Speedster,
They are beautiful bushes!
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Drew51,
Love what your doing with the cottage! Better quit smoking out the neighbors lol! I think we’ve all unintentionally done stuff like that but heck why not compost them? Leaves are great for the soil!
I do, most of them are composted, or used as mulch in my woods edge garden.
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The CP were planted as twigs spring of 2013 and were over 6’ tall this fall. They are planted along a N/S facing white PVC fence and get full sun over half the day. I fertilize them organically using rabbit poo. Maybe I should lay off the ferts for a year? Could them growing too fast cause problems with bud hardiness? My CJ bushes which were planted the year before produced A LOT this year, planted in same area with same nutrients given… CJ has produced every year tho and Ive yet to get a cherry off CP!
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CP is known as being finicky, give it more time. I would try laying off the ferts. I have found these bush cherries don’t seem to need much.
Thanks all for the reports. I now want to add Juliet. But I can’t, down the road, maybe? No room whatsoever here.
I have a canal lot on Russell Island that is filled with the invasive phragmites. Hard to remove. I own the lot with 3 others and one wants to keep them but agreed to give me 20 feet I can clear for plants.
He wants them as it isolates our property from view. I was thinking of planting bush cherries and mulberries there. Also pawpaws. We have a few native pawpaws on the island, and I thought of growing some of the seeds out.
Clearing the area may take years though, these plants are terrible! With so much work I have to do, i have already put this off two years. I need to do it next spring!
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What spacing would you recommend? Maybe alternating CJ, CP, R, and C? Since they all grow at different rates maybe that might not be a good idea.
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Has any one tried planting pits from their CJ’s?
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I just added Juliet and Romeo this last spring to my yard and a single Juliet to my parents yard, they have 2 CJ’s already. Hoping for good things from them, I like what I have read. Looking for land to buy outside of town, would like to start a small U pick or something similar, but prices have gone up a lot lately. Keeping my fingers crossed for the CP’s, but we got down to -25f this last week which worries me. Also not sure how the reliance peach I planted at my parents will handle that cold, had a contender die a few years back that was just starting to produce fruit. The reliance had about 10 peaches this past summer. Peaches are a gamble in central ND.
Speedster,
I only grow CJ and highly recommend those. I will let someone else make recommendations on the others that’s more qualified. When I decided on a row to plant I went all CJ because I believe they will always out produce the others. The other prairie cherries have highly desirable qualities but I don’t see how they could produce more cherries. That’s not to say you couldn’t graft over whatever to another type if something better comes a long. Prairie cherries are close relatives so we know they are all excellent cherries and all produce well. I analyzed what was being said in Canada long before the bushes arrived in the U.S. and decided which bush I thought was the best. Gardens Alive! ironically imported carmine jewels first from Canada which I don’t believe was an accident. Gardens Alive sells through names such as gurneys, henry fields, Michigan bulb to name a few https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gardens_Alive!. Many people believe they are dealing with the old Gurneys Gurney Seed and Nursery Company -- SaveSeeds.org. The old Gurneys did not have the money to import prairie cherries. Juliet & Romeo are also said to be highly productive some years but time will tell if they hold a candle to carmine jewel http://www.fruit.usask.ca/dwarfsourcherries.html.
Cupid - moderate producer
Romeo- similar to Carmine Jewel, but much later - One of the most productive in 2003
Crimson passion - Low vigor, smaller yields
Juliet - Most productive cultivar in 2009
Valentine- production?
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Derby,
I’ve thrown out thousands of pits if they were fertile I would know by now. They grow like crazy from suckers but not from pits.
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TheDerek,
Graft CP over if you need to and make it another Carmine Jewell. That’s worse case scenario right? It will always yield less than CJ. I do suspect it will yield enough to be worthy of keeping like I said if given time. It will never be a carmine Jewell or Montmorency for production. It’s not always about quantity sometimes quality is more important. Carmine Jewell is strictly a sour pie cherry. Crimson Passion is rated as excellent quality for fresh eating.