@IL847
Annie,
Ive got plans to keep them busy with 100 mulberry trees!
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A fact sheet mentioned that CJ has 5-6 week picking window, so I put it to the test last year. I picked most of my small crop in the second and third week of July. The test group I left on were fine up to around the third week of August. After hanging for over 5 weeks, they suddenly went from perfect condition to all shriveled up in less than a week. It was even more strange that none of them rotted in the near constant cloudy, wet conditions over the whole time frame. Then again, I don’t have lot of brown rot in the environment. Last year was the first time I ever had unripe plums rot on the tree, which I stopped with Bonide Infuse. Unfortunately, the miserable conditions didn’t allow the cherries to get any sweeter, but the acid did drop off. They were the same brix the whole 5-6 weeks.
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Well, I have bad news… I just looked today and there are a bunch of PC bites.
I have covered my plums with insect barrier, maybe that is why? Or maybe this is just the year the PC decided to wreck my cherries.
Bushes got good pollination and did not drop a single cherry! The pictures cant show how many cherries are actually there but believe me when i say every inch of these bushes are loaded with fruitlets! Many fruits are on the underside of the leaves. The top pictures i took as close as possible from the side to demonstrate how loaded all the bushes actually are!
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nice heavy set for sure! we really need to come up with a efficient way to stone these cherries, Im wondering if someone could scan one of the old time cherry pitters and modify it slightly and then 3d print something using a hard plastic polymer similar to the original metal ones… Anyone familiar with that kind of tech?
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@TheDerek
In large plantings in Canada they are being mechanically pitted and harvested already. Think you would love a couple of articles at this link Unreleased University of Saskatchewan prarie cherries we want & what we know about them contrasted with romance series cherries
" SK Carmine Jewel
Favorite of DNA Gardens! We think of this plant as a little princess - well behaved and beautiful. Combinations of P. cerasus and P. fruiticosa (Sour cherry and Mongolian cherry) Introduction from the Department of Horticulture Science, University of Saskatchewan. Skin and flesh is dark red. Fruit is abut 4 gm with a small round, hard pit. (desirable when using cherry pitting machines or pressing fruit for juice). High flesh to pit ratio. Superior cold hardiness! Self-fruitful in other words cross pollination is not required.
Fruit is exceptional for pies, cooking, juice, wine or flavoring for ice cream or yogurt. Many like to eat the cherries fresh especially towards the end of the season when the tartness mellows! SK is juicier than sweet cherries and has similar sugar levels but additional citric acid makes them tarter. Near the end of the season, fruit can be collected quickly by shaking tree limbs and using a tarp. Season runs from mid-July till the first or second week in August. It has great potential for landscaping in small yards. With glossy leaves and crisp white blooms - train to either a shrub or small tree. Plant a flowering and fruiting hedge. Plant height is 6 to 8 ft (2 m) and has a very low tendency to sucker.
SK Carmine Jewel is one of six new and exciting cherries released from the University. Carmine Jewel will always stand out for its earliness. Its value will remain because its fruit will command top dollar early in the season. As more information is coming in, it appears that Carmine Jewel will be the workhorse of a new cherry industry. It pits mechanically very well and the fruit makes incredible pie and the juice has very good flavour. This is a winner that is not going to disappear!" -Unique Zone 2 Hardy fruit trees like Treasured Red, Black Currant Plants | Elnora, AB"
When the other fruits are not available the pc will go for cherries… now I am having some damage on my cherries which I did not put enough surround on. When it stops raining in a few hours here the cherries will get a spray.
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I will spray mine today if I can get a chance, rain continues here though…
If the bags work on the plums then I will buy some for my cherries next year.
These are the bags I am using (in several sizes) : https://www.amazon.com/Agfabric-Netting-Insect-Barrier-Garden/dp/B01N5KEHHS/
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Some of my Carmine Jewel bushes to date. I planted these as plugs about four years ago. This one has the most flower buds. It’s just over 5’ tall.
This is the smallest one. I just gave it some bone meal and fish fertilizer. I need to rake it in yet.
This a shot of Romeo. I still need to widen the cage and feed it. You can see my third CJ in the back. It’s about six foot tall with a few flower buds. I feed that one and widened the cage too. I have three left to feed and widen the cages. I have nine total, plus I planted three at my sisters’ house for her. I have been busy with other stuff too so it’s hard to keep up.
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This what they looked like when I planted them in May of 16. This will be their forth year now. They are so small you can’t even see them. There’s six of them. Clark I was just looking at your row of carmine Jewels from 2015. Wow, have they grown!
I got my cherry trees last Saturday at 11:00 AM. I had them planted an hour later.
I have three Carmine Jewels on the left. Then on the top right is Juliet, going down in the middle is Romeo, and then Crimsons Passion. In the foreground you can see my Asian pairs and plums flowering. For some reason it doesn’t look like I will get plums again even though I had lots of flowers and tried hand pollinating. I had my holes dug before the trees came from both Rain tree and Honey berry. It goes fast when you just need to berry them! I had remove some nasty Autumn Olive, Honeysuckle, Bittersweet, and wild grape to get these ready.
Here’s the same shot three years latter. I went out in the rain to get it. Raked in the bone meal too.
Hers the other CJ
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The huge number of cherries that set on the bushes this year are nearing ridiculously high amounts! The bushes are so prolific they are taking over the next row of clove currants! Even the suckers have cherries on them!
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I can’t imagine all those making it to harvest, but if they do that’s even more incredible! You are over your head in cherries! I’m starting to think I will have to put a serious fence up around my perimeter with electricity and a neted top. The wildlife around me will probably break my bushes down eating them before they are ripe.Your wide open too. It looks like your getting sun up till sun down which is not seen for around me. My yard only gets seven to eight hours of light.
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@Johnnysapples Yes these bushes actually are inside the fence near a border of my fenced in orchard around my house where the dog patrols regularly. Its about a half acre + he guards closely. There are acres outside the fence where i grow blackberries, aronia, full sized pears & apples etc… My future expansion project will tightly fence in another 2 acres and many more carmine jewell cherries will be planted. If these bushes keep suckering they will soon be outside the fence! Look behind the dog and you will see the cherry bushes!!! The chances of something eating many cherries is not to good. Once the deer etc makes it over the 5 foot fence the dog can run 25 mph , weighs 86 pounds, and is a mix of at least several breeds contributing to his wonderful health. He despises deer in the orchard and other smaller fruit & vegetable thieves. If you really zoom in on the top left of the photo the fence is noticable.
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My truck parked by the row of carmine jewell cherries. Many birds steal cherries in june im told due to thirst so i added a bird bath. Cherry stealing has not been a problem yet with the precautions taken such as an abundant supply of mulberries but once it starts its hard to stop. We have a huge fruit crop on all the trees due to ample moisture. Im concerned the quality of the fruit may go down for the same reason.
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@zendog
Those look tasty! You will be eating cherries soon! Our cold weather and rain are back again! Kansas is hard to read but we will have cherries in June i think.
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I have family with a 3d printer.
That’s a good idea I think!
Clark, would you take look at the picture. My carmine jewel had treeful of flowers but not many fruits set. This happens every year. What might be the problem?
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I have the same problem .
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My CJ and Juliet bloomed concurrently this year. Romeo is a much better bloomer and more vigour grower than CJ for me.
Im’ not sure what Clark feeds his CJ’s but mine look more like Johnnyapples.
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