Black Nanking Cherry

I already bit the bullet prior to saying anything. Had to secure my own stash in case someone put in a large order. :sweat_smile::man_facepalming: I fully agree a 69% charge on shipping was highway robbery, but I need the plants.

IF it has not shipped yet give them a call tomarrow and im sure they will up the order for more money. Ask if you can a 4" inch ian and jules. Ill send you the diffrence asap.

Did you happen to contact these nurseries? They claim to have a variety called Nigra.

https://falknurseries.com/catalog/Shrubs%20-%20Small%20Fruit/3

Just called, guy said something about “quarantines” and didn’t feel like checking his stock. Shocking…another person that just doesn’t care. Funniest thing is I’m less than 15 minutes or so from the place, would have been easy money for him. You’re more than welcome to try calling and seeing if he’s more energetic, but I don’t waste time with people like that…

I’m in on this hunt, too. But no luck stateside either. It’s funny because I literally emailed these exact same two nurseries yesterday with inquiries. They were prompt and professional with telling me they couldn’t ship to the US. Didn’t exactly get nibbles on my fishing for partners who could.
Tonight’s search found hits all over western Canada, but most were either out of stock or clear that they didn’t ship out of country. Some didn’t ship at all.

The interesting tidbit I spotted, and it may be erroneous, but I’ll drop it incase it helps someone, is that one of the nurseries listed a Brookgold plum and specifically cited Black Nanking as a pollinator. I think it was one of these two nurseries, but I didn’t go back to confirm after I landed here.

I’m imagining one smallish shrub with black, gold, red, & white fruit on it.
This is not truly one of my must haves, but I’d gladly accept scionwood to help it spread and would likely go in with others on a group order if one of the wholesellers proved to be our avenue to getting it this side of the border.
Interesting that there might be three varietals- I only see hits for ‘nigra’ and nothing specified.

(Edits were cosmetic. I’m a writer, but I have …tripping fingers disease. I don’t worry so much about perfect grammer online, but when I reread and see my letters out of order or that grammatocites* have stolen letters or nibbled capitals into lower case, I get a little twitchy and have to fix them.)

  • Is there an organic spray we can use to keep them from infecting our posts?
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I’ve been on the hunt for three years now for the elusive “nigra” same story, no shipping to the us and anyone in the us that lists it, is either out of stock or no response. I did talk to someone on Facebook about getting the variety in canada and then reproducing and importing for me in a couple years if it holds up.

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Just bought a Black Nanking at Harlequins Gardens in Boulder, CO. They are getting them from a lady in Northern Colorado and there was only one left and they don’t ship. Sorry. They also usually sell ‘Orient’ Nanking, which I’ve had for a few years and is a nice bush.

Julious, you will help propogate to the rest of us of course?

Sure once it gets established. It is a nice looking plant.

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Is the black Nanking a cultivar or a variety?

Nanking cherries are a variety, which means that any given plant you come across is going to be all over the place in regards of characteristics and fruit quality. I have seen them in tree form, bush form, bramble form, tall, short, and their fruits equally all over the place. One I tried a while back was from good size bushes with very round and fairly large fruits. Another I forage every year from a park is on much larger bushes with smaller and oblong fruits.

@Mtncj yes here in Canada we can buy nanking cherry in 3 colours. It’s more about ornamental appeal than quality of fruit. The fact they ripen early is the only reason to grow them. You can graze 15 or 20 berries and then the sour catches up to you. A decade or more ago most Canadian nurseries recommended nanking cherry and western sand cherry as plum pollinators. Today most recommend a native plum(Canadian or American). They tell you to let a branch grow near to the ground so it will flower at the same time as the earliest plums. That doesn’t work that well so my nanking cherry is safe. In your zone you should be able to grow many early blooming Japanese plums, so no real need for a nanking cherry. You mention Brookgold plum. It is difficult to buy a Brookgold that has golden plums. Many including myself get red plums on our Brookgold. I question whether Brookgold is not a stable variety or whether some bigger players have just messed up their scion source.

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