Thanks.Yes,only the Cornelian Cherry has fruited and the others are about two year old grafts.I’m looking forward to getting some Apricots this time.
They don’t call the Pacific NW,Pluot country,but most of the ones I’ve grown have been very good.Hopefully your area will be a favorable place to cultivate them. Brady
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Thanks. Yeah, I’m not too sure that pluots will work well here, but they are supposed to be good to zone 6b, so I thought I’d give them a shot.
I considered apricots last year, but thankfully didn’t get any trees then. I believe I’d be lucky to get any fruit from them once every four or five years. Shoot, even peaches may be tough, but that didn’t stop me from planting four of them.
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@subdood_ky_z6b Sounds like you have your hands full! Me too.
But, as my veggie garden gets smaller and smaller - my fruit ‘farm’ gets larger! I used to grow all sorts of vegetables . . . but now it’s down to cukes, tomatoes, peppers, radishes, and some potatoes. My huge tilled plot has become several raised beds, with nice mulched paths between them. And many things have gone into pots. I gave up on the idea of trying pluots, here in VA, after a lot of advice against it. Too many late frosts and cold weather. I’m surprised that it isn’t the same for you in KY. Good luck, tho. I’ll be anxious to see how yours do.
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Snow’s been coming down off and on all morning. The deck is covered with a thin layer, but it’s not sticking to the ground very well. It is sticking to some brush and weeds, which makes a curious contrast with the now deep green grass. It’s 34 and warming a bit, so it won’t stick around. I’m sure glad I got those blackberries planted yesterday, it’s about 25° colder today.
@PomGranny, yeah, I may be pushing my luck with pluots, but we’ll see. I figured if @Drew51 can grow them up in Michigan, then I might get lucky here. I do know he has a microclimate that is conducive to such stone fruit, so it may be a poor assertion. The trees are still in SoCal, last I checked on UPS, due Monday.
What does a Cornelian Cherry taste like? Isn’t it related to a dogwood? We have those around here, but haven’t tasted the fruit off them, don’t think our version is edible.
It’s worth trying the pluots I think. If they don’t work out you can graft other plums to them, even peaches. And I have all kinds of scion to try.
I’m excited about my weeping Santa Rosa. I kept it staked to 7 feet and it has made it there. Now to let it weep at that point, and I have to wait for growth to see it it worked. If not I can head it down and try again. I’m worried that some branches reverted back to regular Santa Rosa and will go straight up. Guess I will know by the end of spring.
Have you ever fruited any Santa Rosa? We were at Rural King yesterday, and they had a semi-dwarf SR, but it was $40, so I had to pass. If a plum is on semi-dwarf rootstock, is it safe to assume it’s Citation? I guess if I really wanted a SR, I could have got one from Bay Laurel with my other pluots for $25.
Are there any other folks in this part of the country that’s had success fruiting Santa Rosa?
I guess with my wild plum, I could try grafting some SR on it, correct? I might try that next year.
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No, my tree is 3rd leaf this year but it died back after being planted and barely made it. So it lost a year. Now that it is bigger. it is doing better. Still for how tall and being staked, the trunk is very skinny. I untied it yesterday and it is strong enough. I put some safety ties on it (it can move about a foot before tie stops it)
Yes, a good way to practice. Weeping is supposed to be a better fruit, but to have the weeping form it needs to be by itself. so probably not a good one for multi-grafted trees. I plan not to graft anything unto mine. Scion could be used to start a new tree by putting on wild rootstock for sure.
Not sure if the rootstock is citation, but I would avoid it unless it’s not! My weeping is on Myro 29C I have seen them on marianna too.which is considered semi-dwarf.
The fruit needs to left on the tree until withering.There is a little sweetness,but the flavor to me is like a dry red wine.
Some of the best frozen dessert I’ve had was made from them.With mine though,the flesh to pit ratio is low.There are some varieties out there that are bigger.
Yes,Cornelian Cherry(Cornus mas) is in the Dogwood family. Do the ones around your place have round or teardrop shaped fruit?Cornus Kousa has circular,bumpy fruit.I kind of like them as a snack.They are a little sweeter. Brady
http://www.mortonarb.org/trees-plants/tree-plant-descriptions/kousa-dogwood
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I heard some are very good. I want to try these down the road. I have 14 seedling Cornus Mas and 2 cultivars. Fruit is not as big as the cultivated types, and it is very tart, but also very rich. I plan to use it for jam and syrup and maybe for ice cream and juice. Certainly not for fresh eating, except for people like me who love this tart fruit. I’m happy with the flavor of the seedlings, again fruit is small but very tasty fruit, tastes much like a tart cherry. Last year a few fruited. it took 6 years for the seedlings to fruit.
I don’t remember the shape of them, but I do remember getting a pic of them when I didn’t know what they were at the time. Folks on here ID’ed it as dogwood, which made sense, as that was what bloomed there earlier in the year.
Lemme take a look back in the archive.
I tried to upload some pics, but the site said insufficient memory? Don’t know what that means.
At any rate, they are round, or oval looking.
Very pretty. Snow is best watching from inside a warm house.
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Hey . . . not only a micro climate - but a macro green thumb! 
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Do you have Wallmarts there? (stupid question, probably!) I was there today - and they have pretty nice Santa Rosas - lots of branches. Also Semi-Dwarf. (15-20’) I think their tags said. $29
They had Hale Haven, Contender, and a few other peaches, too. Also, Stanley and Beach plums, and one other I had not heard of (and can’t recall the name, now) All were ½" to ¾" trunks, I’d say. In 3 gall buckets.
I had a Santa Rosa many years ago . . . but didn’t take care of it properly - and lost it to disease. We never got decent fruit - but didn’t spray back then, either. I was tempted to get one of those that I saw, today, and try again . . . but controlled myself! 
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Thanks for the head’s up. Yeah, we have a Lowe’s, WM, Tractor Supply and Southern States in the closest sizeable town, which have sold fruit trees/plants in the past. I was at Lowe’s last week and they had just a few fruit trees in containers, and quite a few berry plants-in-a-box. TS had berry plants, and a few bare root trees. SS just had a few trees, and I haven’t been to WM recently. I would imagine all of them will get more trees in soon. Rural King had more than I’ve seen in a while.
The only trees I’ve bought from these places are a Moonglow pear and Winesap apple, both “semi-dwarf” trees from Lowe’s in a 5gal pot two years ago. The Winesap was about 4-5ft tall then and now it’s over 10ft tall, a real beast. The Moonglow was about 4ft tall then, and now about 8ft, it’s done pretty good, but not as well as the WS. I don’t know what rootstock the apple is on, I suspect M7, as it has put up some suckers over the last couple years. No idea what is under the MG.
We ought to get some fruit off the Winesap this year, it’s certainly big enough for them. But, it’s also asymmetrical and will need some significant pruning to balance it out.
So I went to Wal-Mart today to talk to the manager about cutting a Loring peach scion. She sent me to the guy in charge of Garden, and he didn’t have a problem with it.
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It must be nice. I have to wait till May to plant.
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It will be here before you know it John.
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