Here is Burbank on gisela 6, ripening nicely. The peaks are present on some fruit but not all. The one I picked earlier lacked the peak, and was picked on the same graft. A slice is shown, displaying the large stone. The brix was 20 on this one. It had a hint of pleasant bitterness, not the same as Black Republican, but in the same manner Black Republican can show that. I am going to see how much higher the brix climbs in a few days. I am curious if Burbank would help pollinate Minnie Royal. I plan on grafting that next year to test.
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One of these Royal Crimson cherries was 23.5 brix, despite a gopher decimating the small tree. Another was 19 brix. They are better this year than last year, maybe because the crop was so sparse. Royal Crimson is less acidic than Royal Lee and Minnie Royal.
Edit: then next day Royal Crimson hit 26 brix. Great flavor!
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Burbank cherries on the right. Royal Lee on the left is larger than normal so the comparison is a bit unfair.
Royal Lee - 24 brix, very good flavor, would be higher after 3 more days.
Burbank 22 and 27.5 brix. 27.5 is the highest of any cultivar so far this season. It was sweet and had some sharpness/complexity. Despite the higher brix, I think most people would prefer Royal Lee, which tastes more reminiscent of its “father” by pollen source in breeding, Bing. That being said, assuming I can take care of my grafts, I would not be without Burbank for how interesting it’s flavor is, and how early it is.
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Governor Wood is the first heirloom cherry I ever tasted, at Andy’s Orchard around 7 years ago. It was like going in a time machine to what cherries tasted like in your backyard in 1840s Ohio. Soft, small, with a flavor and texture and color totally different from anything I had ever had, and yet for some reason felt familiar. I never liked yellow cherries, until I learned that most yellow cherries are not really supposed to be yellow. Leave them on the tree until they are red. The cracked one was 22 brix but tasted much sweeter than the number. It had a sharpness to it that was pleasant. Everything else I am leaving a bit longer. Not sure if I just got lucky this year with it fruiting.
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I think Governor Wood might actually be low (ish) chill because it seems to fruit abundantly in the Bay Area. Not sure if others have had that experience in low to moderate chill areas. Admittedly, it never fruited for me before in 5 or 6 years, but the rootstock is Colt and the tree is pretty shaded and not that big. So who knows what it would have done in a better spot on Gisela.
The mother bleeping birds stole all my meager harvest overnight. I was a few days from picking. SO sad.
Argh! I am so sorry to hear that. If you have a small harvest, always wrap it in organza bags. That was an idea I got from one of the people on this forum and it has been a tremendous help. I use the multiple colored bags on Amazon and it totally confuses the birds.
Final harvest appearance of Governor Wood. The bags make it easy to assess the light dusting of fruit. I suspect this is the best you can do in southern California highway 15 area with heirloom cultivars. Not a full crop, but enough to make you happy if you pick the right cultivar, put it in the right part of your yard, get lucky with the right timing of rain and the pollinators come out and it isn’t too hot. The ground seemed really dry and there was little fresh growth so I watered. Oops! Brix dropped to 16. Flavor still okay but not like it was.
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Last Burbank on one of the grafts. Brix 21. I think I might be past peak in flavor. It takes a lot of tasting to really get to know a cultivar.
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“It’s ripe Dad, look how red it is.”
“No son, that is Coral. It needs to turn dark red, and even then needs a few more days”
“Oh come on Dad, let’s just try it.”
…
Brix 15. Had an aftertaste like eating grass (the way unripe cherries taste at the grocery store). When they turn dark red they still have that aftertaste. I have had them taste amazingly good elsewhere so I am waiting… and waiting. I am still undecided on Coral. But I will say this. It was my most productive cultivar this year (Minnie Royal produces more when it is pollinated but has less perfect overlap of bloom with its pollinators). That being said, Coral’s S alleles are S1S3, the exact same as Royal Lee. And Royal Lee tastes amazing. It is as good as Brooks in my yard. And Royal Lee is good if you pick it early, on time, or late. So I am not yet sure what the role of Coral is in the southern California backyard, except that maybe it will extend the season a bit.
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Black tartarian, measuring 23 brix. Delicious. Only 5 fruit on the 5 year old tree so I am not sure Black Tartarian works here. My kids loved that it was actually black. If you ever go to a farmer’s market and they sell you a purple cherry as Bing that is soft and not very good, it means it is probably Bing’s polllinator, Black Tartarian, picked too early when it looked purple like Bing.
The real Black Tartarian needs to be actually black. And it can be left a bit longer and only gets better.
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I have found it near impossible to propagate gisela (off patent now). I cut a nursery tree off at the rootstock and it actually is growing.
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which gisela? I’m trying g5 softwood cuttings on a mist bench right now, will know in a couple months if they take. last year I got a g5 root cutting to grow, you may have seen that thread, and now it’s a little bush that I’m trying to figure out a cutting protocol for
Mine was gisela 5. I have a trunk sprout on gisela 12 also that is barely a twig. Would love to see it grow out more. Good work on the root cuttings! Any advice for the rest of us?
Brix update:
Governor Wood 15. Past peak flavor. I like Gov Wood but have to admit the modern cultivars do taste sweeter.
Royal Crimson 19. Was not as good as its peers. It was not at peak color though. Will try more.
Brooks 24. The highest currently. A bit past peak, they taste like cherry syrup, in a good way, but very very sweet. I like them most when they first turn dark and have more sharpness. Then they are perfect.
Royal Lee 22. Flavor intense and balanced by acid. My favorite cherry right now. Too early or too late are also amazing in flavor.
Minnie Royal - all of them are 22. A couple days past peak. I have been giving these to friends who are amazed by the flavor.
Coral - 19 and not as good as the others.
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I followed the recipe in the paper I linked here
“root cuttings (15 cm in length and 15-18 mm in diameter) of two-years-old cherry rootstock Gisela 5 were taken in the last ten days of February for two consecutive years. After surface washing and drying, they were placed vertically (leaving about 10 cm above sand level) in bottom heat bench with a cutting base temperature of 17-20°C. They were irrigated twice per week until budding.”
except I used promix HP and didn’t bud them. the same procedure worked for citation. I didn’t use BAP and I did use bottom heat. I think without budding them the take rate will be lower than the 80-90% in the article because you aren’t providing a bud, but still a chance