There is a discussion of rooting cuttings here http://growingfruit.org/t/propagating-carmine-jewel-cherries/6901
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Could be worth a try. Let me know if youād like to wait until thereās some softwood growth, too. I donāt have to prune the crossing stuff right away.
Hey Jerry-
I just noticed that Honeyberry USA is using your photo on their web site to promote their Romance Cherries. Just wanted to make sure you knew about it. If you gave them permission, then of course thatās great- although it seems like they could still give you credit (all it says is Iowa). If you didnāt give them permission, then that really bugs me- especially considering its on a for-profit site. Itās really none of my business, but I wanted to be sure you knew about it.
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Yeah, Iād had a few emails back and forth with Bernis, and had included some āproud papaā kinda pictures etc., and in one of her emails she inquired about utilizing some of my pictures on their various sites, which I was fine with.
Then one day she sent me an email with a short slide-show YouTube video thing sheād made of some of the pictures and from info included in some of those emails, and indicated that sheād put it on the site too. So that way people could click on the āStoryā link under the āGrowing Cherriesā sidebar and watch that as well. Iām kinda technically challenged so I thought that was pretty coolā¦ although I guess had I had any input prior to it being posted, Iād have rather it not had full name associated - although honestly itās been there a long time and Iāve had exactly zero issues as a result so, no harm-no foul.
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Very good- glad to hear that. She does seem like nice lady so I was hoping everything was on the up and up, but in so many cases it isnāt so I wanted to be sure you knew. Actually, those plants are something to be proud of so Iām glad you get to let them be seen by more people. Canāt wait until mine get that large.
Well, and by way of full disclosureā¦ precisely zero of the 5 CJās planted here came from HBUSA. All my CJās came from Gurneyās, when back then they were sold in pairs. My two CPās, and two Julietās all came from HBUSA, and while they havenāt been in the ground long enough to be as big as the CJās, I have no doubt theyāll get there - theyāve grown a ton since going in the ground as little pencilsā¦
Bernis had commented in an email that āThe reason I am so nosy is that you have a āposter childā orchard ā and it will be very helpful to othersā.
And that back and forth dialogue was kind of the genesis of some of my stuff winding up on their site.
So Iām hoping it will be helpful in some small way. One way I think it has, is that she told me that she had revised the growth thresholds/limits on their site to at least reflect what they can potentially grow to. Thatās important when folks make decisions to buy a plant and space them etc. Because I think they were initially marketed as 6ā max bushes well before there was a lot of real world experience in growing them in warmer climes than zone 2 Canada.
Anyone growing these in the southeastern US? They seem like a convenient size to put a bag over the whole bush after blooming to protect them from insects and birds, but diseases are another story.
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They have grown well for me in the past and fruited a couple of berries for the first time last year, the third year. This year I donāt think I got the chill they need. My newly planted Juliet is growing nicely while my older CJ still has not broken dormancy. I am in 8b and average about 650 chill hours, got about 350 this year and that is not enough. Summer heat does not bother mine.
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Honeyberry USA was interested in how my Zone 7 Honeyberries were doing. Some died. The survivors look sickly in the fall but some look better than others. They are short season plants and some deal with the extended warm weather (zone 6 and up) better than others. They asked me if they could use some photos I had and I was happy to oblige.
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Iām glad Honeyberry USA is seeking as much knowledge as they can find about their products. They have some great links people should check out so you can make informed purchases about little-known fruits.
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Iām growing in Tennessee but mine are just in their 2ed year (and 1st year for new ones)
@danzeb That is interesting about your honeyberry plants in zone 7. That is my zone too and Iāve had mixed success with getting them to live in the first year (last year) that I planted them. The good news is that those that made it through the hot summer came back this year and look pretty good. I really hope they will make it here.
If they grow during the summer they should be OK. The ones that looked really bad by the end of the season came back OK in the spring. My Berry Blue lost all its leaves one fall and then grew new leaves when the fall weather didnāt get cold enough. It survived and grew some the next summer. Iāve had the Berry Blue since 2012 and itās only 3 ft. Iām in NY so your season my be longer and warmer than mine. We donāt have ideal weather for them but I think the newer releases will be more tolerant of zone 7 weather. My Honey Bee holds up a little better. My Blue Sky and Sugar Mountain died. As for Romance cherries my CJ planted in 2013 is growing nicely and Iām hoping for a small crop this year. It had 2 cherries last year. It only gets about 6 hrs sun.
On another thread we were talking about the honeyberries from Berries Unlimited. They went overseas and grabbed some excellent cultivars from Russia, grew many out and renamed them. Another site rated many as tart, tart/sweet, sweet, and sweet plus.Yesterday I bought three of the sweet plus category, 2 Russian, 1 Japanese, The Japanese is for chills. I picked up Blue Banana, and Honey Gin Russian cultivars, and Giantās Heart Japanese for chills. Iām going to experiment with some air layers to back up my cultivars. I put on 4 air ;layers on my figs the other day. An excellent way to propagate figs! It should work. I need to try on my existing honeyberries. I should get a very small crop this year. Maybe 20-30 berries. They have grown the most of any of my plants, here everything is just starting, they are leading. I should put the air layer on now. I may lose some berries, but not getting that many this year.
Oh they didnāt have the cultivars listed on the site yet, as they are still propagating, but will have some in a month. I read about these cultivars on other sites, and they had them all. I called and they will ship ASAP when ready. They might be small, but they developed them, and are the only source. They will replace any that fail.
I have some older plants, three of them at my cottage, and will have 6 here. The cottage environment is low light so I doubt I will get many there. I canāt get up there for 2 weeks yet either. When the ferry starts running.
I was looking at that giants heart also, will be interesting to see how it does for youā¦ Last spring I got solo and maxine from HBUSA and they were very small, but had some branches. I just buried them a little deeper than they were in the pot and by last fall the individual branches had roots on them. Easy way to get a couple extra plantsā¦
I bought that one for Scott (Chills), We wanted to get different ones.
In between posts, I just put an air layer on Indigo Treat, it took 5 minutes.
Filled with Black Magic coco coir mix. I wet it, and squeezed out all excess moisture as I filled the bottle. Sealed with plastic wrap and tape.
The foil is to keep it cool.
Not a good photo, itās starting to open flowers already!
This is a 2nd leaf plant, so not much there, it will fill out with age.
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I moved a row of established arborvitae in a heavy day long rainā¦it was a wet messy jobā¦but they are all alive today and hugeā¦this was maybe 6 or 7 years ago.
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My CJ was one of those little things///12 inches tall. I actually had another but the rabbit got it. This one is maybe 3 years now in the groundā¦it hasnāt fruit yet. It must be nearing 5 feet tall. They do seem to grow quickly.
This morningā¦
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I wasnt expecting my CJ to grow like they have, my 4 are all over 8ā tall now and crowding my apple trees horribly. I cut about 50% of them out this year but they are still too bigā¦ I might post a pic if I think about it once they start flowering.
Hereās an update on the cherry cider. I started a batch in early January and posted a photo on Jan. 15 of the fermenting brew in a 5 gallon glass carboy. It was bottled at the end of January, and after 6 weeks or so in the bottle it was ready to drink. This brew is about 90% juice from an apple cider kit, and 10% concentrated cherry juice (from Carmine Jewel and Romeo). The color came through very well but the cherry flavor is subtle. I know it has cherry juice in it so I can taste it quite distinctly, but I think a random person on a blind taste test would know that it contains more than just apple juice, but itās probably 50-50 that they would know the other fruit is cherry (assuming they were blindfolded so didnāt see the red color). I was worried the beverage might be too tart (I donāt like tart) so I kept the cherry juice to 10%, but the taste is fine for me. When Iāve finished drinking this batch I will make another batch, raising the cherry juice to 20% of the volume. Hereās a pic of a glass of 10% cherry-apple cider.
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