My "Romance series" cherries

Wow. Where did you buy yours from? Gurneys/Henry Fields? Did they send a twig and how old is this specimen of yours? Thx

It will be interesting to find out I guess. I know it got down near -30 on a few occasions this winter, but they should be relatively insulated from that under the snowā€¦ I also threw a bag of seeds into my freezer which I took out and put in my fridge about a month ago, not sure if that would have killed them. My freezer is set at about 0 degrees and they were in there for 5 months probably.

Your hard work helps us a lot, very good references. Thanks again so much Don.

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Mine came today from HF. They are tanks! Romeo on left and CJ on right.

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HF and Gurneyā€™s may make up names and use extreme marketing techniques, but they clearly produce excellent plants! Two thumbs WAY up!

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Very Impressive!

Like to see all those little feeder roots.

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I see you have yourself some feeder roots too. Very nice looking bushes! I hope you get many cherries.

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Made the plunge last night and bought 2 Romeo and Juliets for my own house (and planting more at my friendā€™s Adirondack house). Thanks everyone for all their info on this thread!

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This is a tough one. I didnā€™t amend the soil for my cherry trees at first and they drowned in our wet clay soil. Dead trees donā€™t grow out and adapt.

You donā€™t want a pot of perfect soil while the rest of your yard is crappy soil. Like Drew said, theyā€™ll girdle or refuse to go out.

What I do is to make the soil half way between the best soil for that plant and what Iā€™ve got around it. Mostly itā€™s about drainage, not increased nutrition. I donā€™t make it too rich with fertilizer like he said. Mostly Iā€™ll add gravel to help drainage, some old wood for improved drainage and fungal soil. I"ll make sure I plant it high. Then over time, yes, adding mulch or some other organic material so the worms, microbiology and other life can get that soil active and create nutrition.

Good discussion.
John S
PDX OR

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Hi John,

My Juliet is doing well. The buds are turning green and are ready to leaf out. chill hours were about 890 around here. Soil drainage is not a problem. The soil is easy to work and loamy, not a sticky clay type soil. There is some earthworm activity in the top 5 to 6 inches of soil. I live in an area that used to be farm land 50 plus years ago before being taken over by housing and Silicon Valley type companies. Facebook is a couple miles north and Google a few miles south. The Juliet cherry is in a 2" basin 36" in diameter, this will provide a nice area for mulch when I add it. Thanks for your advice.

Rich

Correct for sure, you did the right thing, at times you have to amend soil. And I also concur with how you did it, and will be doing it with mulch from now on, exactly right.

When the planting mix is too rich and the plant refuses to leave it, you will not know for 2-3 years. It will look great! But then just dies from girdling.

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Thanks for all the great info in this thread! I just ordered a Romeo and a CJ from Henry Fields and two (of the smaller size) each of Carmine Passion and Juliet from honeyberry! I will have to be patient for fruit, but am excited to try growing them. This is our first year not participating in a CSA and we have thoroughly enjoyed the fruit component of the CSA weā€™ve used for the past seven years. One of my favorites to pick was the sour cherries and Iā€™m pretty sure they were Montmorency. So hopefully in 5-6 years Iā€™ll get a taste of our homegrown delicious tart cherries :slight_smile:

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I talked to one of my buddies here in PNW. This is especially pertinent for Vincent and BradyB. He said that Carmine Jewel will fruit regularly here, but only with a roof for Spring. I just got one from a cutting. I am going to try to prepare some good draining soil like I said but with no extra nutrition, just drainage. If I get a good set up Iā€™ll try to get a picture out to you.
John S
PDX OR

Just wondered if any of your crimson passion or mulberry wood pieces ended up rooting?

Thanks John,but what does that mean? Brady

Put a glass or plastic roof over the plant, so that not as much rain falls on the flowers. Nice thing is that bush isnā€™t too tall. There is a real history of cherries losing their fruits due to a disease if thereā€™s too much rain in the spring. The late Lon Rombough told me about this and I have confirmed it experientially.
John S
PDX OR

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Crimson Passion did not, but some of the mulberry did. At least it is still leafing out. Silk Hope, Shangri La, and Wellington still have leaves and appear rooted. Dwarf everbearing is growing new branches, it rooted almost immediately. Some others are hanging in there. I put the Crimson Passion outside in root pouches now, as I have heard even though leaves can die, they can still root, so we will see. It lost all leaves so i saw no advantage to being inside. I also put some scion of all of them outside.

Thanks. Iā€™d heard mulberries were a little easier than some trees to root. I was especially interested in CP. I have an area where Iā€™d like to put a LOT - i mean like 15 or so CPā€™s as a hedge row but Iā€™m not about to pay $22 x 15 for it! Guess I could try a misting setup or wait for seeds and try to grow them and graft them but that is all a lot of work and time. Sure would have been nice to just stick some wood of my other romance cherries in a pot and get trees, but if it were that easy they probably wouldnā€™t cost $22! ha. Thanks

CP are a nice bush, but I have yet to get any fruit off my 5 year old bushesā€¦ Hoping this year!

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Sour cherries make awesome wine

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