Carmine Jewell is living up to its famous reputation

I know a guy that grows CJ commercially in canada and last year he harvested over 18000lbs. He said once they test 16brix, they go into full harvest mode. My CP look much like yours Iowajer, mine have NO fruit this year, but they are keeping up with my CJ in height, but they are only about half as wide, over 7ft tall and only 3 years since I got twigs from HBUSA.

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The Derek; If you get an opportunity to visit with your friend will you inquire as to what kinds of rain events give him heartburn? I’d be interested to know if they even have the same concerns as I do. Maybe I’m stressing over nothing and a short-term rain may not be a big deal at all.

Yeah, my two CP’s are getting the height and are still filling out. No blossoms for me this year either, which didn’t surprise me. Next year I’m hoping to get a taste!

But I just am amazed by how they start out like this in April of '14, and yet grow to 7+ feet as of 6/13/16.

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Hes in the facebook group Carmine Jewel Cherry, if you have any questions feel free to join and ask him. Hes a nice enough guy, group is new so its small, but everyone is welcome to join, its a public group.

Anyone growing pie cherries should have a chop rite cherry stoner or equivalent. They are cheap on ebay (just make sure all the parts are there), and last forever. they do their job well.

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I don’t Facebook but my wife does, maybe I’ll see if she can find it. Thanks for the info.

That is good to hear. I had a Lapins cherry that suffered in our hot humid climate so I cut it down, it never produced. I had given up on cherries but decided to give these a try and went with the more vigorous of the two thinking it may do better in our location. It has done great and if CP is even close to CJ in growth and heat tolerance I may have to add that one as well.

With all the rave reviews on this series I get a feeling demand will be high this winter so better order early, I know I will. I will probably add all varieties that are available in the US to my existing CJ.

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The sooner you start getting the cherries off the bush the better in my mind. They are not only susceptible to cracking but rot and molding as well like most berries. I have not checked brix but I would guess they were in that ballpark. Kansas hot sun makes things sweet typically but the rain and lack of sun this year leaves them more sour than normal. Can’t spray them this late so that leaves only one choice I know of which is to pick them.

I’m guessing a dozen or 14 or so bushes is what I have. Looks like @IowaJer nailed the id.

I’ve been looking for one of those forever! Didn’t know they still sold them

Have ordered straight away!

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There are rumors that Evans cherries are the offspring of montmorency and production would substantiate those claims http://www.dakotagardener.com/stories/evansbali.pdf . I’m not sure anyone will ever know the true origin of Evans. In the near future I think it’s likely we will see much more bush cherry breeding in the USA and Canada. The Carmine Jewell / romance series cherries crossed with Evans or montmorency could develop a cherry that potentially would yield more than both parents.

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Cherries are growing quickly in 2019 and becoming more popular! Its likely these cherries will ripen in June this year. These bushes are taking over in the USA by storm! Looks like i saw wowza coming clear back in 2016!

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In regards to your 3 years ago comment of maybe never knowing Evan’s true parenthood, Clark, you know all plants have DNA. With recent ability of human’s learning their origins, and finding lost siblings and parents through gene testing, I am positive when somebody finally wants to know the true origins of hybrids and sports, we will.

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Hey Clark, I gave my CJ’s another haircut this spring and they’re still bigger than I’d like! I’m beginning to wonder if anything will discourage them…

My Juliet’s are loaded this year so that ought to be a better taste-test than last year’s smallish overall amount.

Wowza! looks impressive but I’m letting others be the guinea pig on this one (learned my lesson on Crimson Passion :wink:)

I was thinking on a couple things: I wish they’d develop a pitter for the small pit cherries along with pushing the bush itself hard. And I don’t know what a Wowza! cherry will be like in comparison to a Juliet, but if it gets too plump what kinda pitters will work on them? Juliet are plumb good sized cherries, and Wowza! (from the ads) looks to be even bigger yet.

I have a couple open spots…, hmmmmm (Nope, I will not jump in - wait…, wait…, wait. That’s the watchword! :slightly_smiling_face:

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Now if you could get a tinypitter patent, you would make a nifty fortune

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Speaking of pitters, anyone know if the Chop Rite Cherry Stoner #16 will pit any of the Romance series cherries?

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It WILL NOT work with carmine jewel, I havent had a chance to try it with romeo or juliet yet, hopefully this year. I purchased one new to use with carmine jewel and was very disappointed in the results. I called them and it is not designed for cherries with small pits in its current form.

I do think it COULD work with some minor modifications and I have been in contact with Jenna who works there trying to get them to fabricate a new spinner for the middle part that is slightly thicker to allow it to separate CJ pits from the flesh. I think it would be relatively easy to fabricate. She said she would talk to some of their machine guys and get back to me, but hasnt yet, its been a few months. I think if they knew there was a market for a pitter for CJ, they might invest some time in creating one but we NEED TO LET THEM KNOW! I strongly encourage anyone who would like a pitter for carmine jewel to email her and let her know what we need/want…

Jenna Saeger : Jenna@chop-rite.com

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This is a line from an email from Bernis at HoneyberryUSA.

I sent the small scale commercial prototype cherry pitter back to the developer - it just wasn’t working smooth enough. Rats. But now you’re motivating me to get after them again!

So I know they’re working on that end as well to come up with a solution.

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Was that a choprite? Ill try calling jenna again today sometime, I sent off a new email to her this morning also.

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No, the one HBUSA was trialing is the TMS brand they show on their site.

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Thanks for the info, and saving me from buying the wrong thing.

I have mostly Juliets now, so I’ll wait and see how yours does with them. Report back if you think of it! Thank you!

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