Tree auction? Might be best to not tell @clarkinks about tree auctions
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Tell me more I have no self control regarding fruit!
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I planted these 10 sour cherries in spring 2024 (5 varieties). They gave me a couple cherries in 2025, and I am hoping for more than a couple in 2026.
I planted 1 more variety in 2025 in a different location and 3 more varieties this spring. The Evans in 2025 gave me some cherries year one.
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Harvest from today going into the freezer. 4 cups pitted cherries per bag. We have 4 bags of carmine Jewel and 1 bag of Juliet, so 20 cups total or 5 pies which is the way I like to think of it.
This is probably a third of the total fruit on the bushes.
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With dog rabbit’s stay out of the orchard, don’t see them often there’s so many predators here. Wolf, coyote, bald eagles and other raptors.
Tree auction was kind of a one-of. Suspect it was a greenhouse or similar getting rid of what didn’t sell.
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Just an update regarding cutie pie and suckering… it does profusely, I think I have 3-4 suckers already. They do stay under the drip line at least so far. But this is it’s 2nd year.
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My romeo is really starting to irritate me. Had tons of fruit last year and all but a couple cherries dropped. This year loaded with flowers and again im down to about 5 cherries. Bush seems healthy anyone have any ideas? I have danube and gold sweet cherry grafted on it so it should have pollinators
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my romeo is like that. some years lots of fruit, other years barely any. and its surrounded with 5 other sour cherries.
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My cutie pie was absolutely loaded with fruitlets, then frost zapped all but 5-6 (then neighbor 4 year old picked all but 1 that was hidden) so I’m just gonna get 1 again off my cutie pie lol. Damn frost !
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I was going to guess mulberries!
Smart Cherry farmers actually plant mulberry trees as a sacrifice for the birds!
@ECSask have you tried Illinois Everbearing mulberry or another even more cold hardy mulberry, like Trader mulberry, which should be hardy to zone 3, but should be on its own roots, I guess.
Mulberries are the best at keeping birds off of your fruit!
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ive heard that but ive never seen a bird eating my cherries and theyre right out side my living room window. my i.e is fruiting for the 1st . time. hopefully they leave them alone this year. they like my grapes and sometimes the honeyberries but dont strip them but i have 12 bushes.
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I am surprised the birds don’t strip your honeyberries. The cedar waxwings will let me approach to barely beyond arm’s length before they fly just a few feet and continue feasting. They manage to find any little hole or opening in the nets, too.
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ive never netted them and ive seen mostly sparrows and some blackbirds in them but they mostly take all the ones nearest the ground. we have waxwings but ive never seen one in them. they do target my grapes heavily. i didnt cover my vine last summer and they stripped that in a few days . i have 3 cherries full of fruit within 20ft. of the grape and they dont touch those either which i always found strange as they do feed hard on the wild chokecherry come mid july. knock on wood. they do hit the serviceberries pretty hard also so i have to keep an eye on them once they start to color. i have so much of all i dont think they could wipe them all out.
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I have pruning questions regarding bush cherry. I have a Juliet, Sweet Thing and Carmine Jewel and I’m curious to know everyone is shaping theirs, open center similar to other tart cherries (eg. Montmorency)? At which height do you generally make a heading cut? Right now they’re in their second year and are still a bit small so they are very “bush”-like. Any other extra care you’d recommend? Thanks all.
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Have Trader mulberries, they’re surviving ok here but not thriving. Last year planted a row of nanking cherries and highbush cranberries as bird draws E of the juliet’s.
Opposite side of orchard planted a row of saskatoons.
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i planted 2 12in. traders last spring. they barely put on any growth. they are leafing out right now.
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Well it’s still good to hear that they can survive -50!!! That’s a shock from a tree that can grow in tropical climates!
That must have great breeding potential for cold hardy mulberries at least.
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If you can zoom in, they’re just starting to leaf out. Another in the backround. Our grapes are slow to wake up this year as well. This trader is maybe 5? yrs old. I’m just letting them bush for now as they like to.
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