You have E. involucrata. They do not reproduce true to type from seed. For that you will need an airlayer.
Hum, definitely bought it labeled as a Nelita seedling so I guess I will see what I get when/if it holds fruit. Pictures of the fruit it came from sure looked delicious. I bought it over at TFF.
A seedling of Nelita is not Nelita. Sellers offer seedlings with a name attached as if it’s something special. It is not. On the other hand, Cherry Of The Rio Grande is an excellent fruit when allowed to turn dark before harvest. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
2 Likes
You are right. It is a seedling from this tree’s fruit: Eugenia calycina or Eugenia sp. from Miguel.pt - YouTube. It produces very large cherry of the rio grande and he named it after his wife.
Cherry Of The Rio Grande is Eugenia involucrata. It is named after the main river in a region in Brazil where it is found.
Eugenia calycina is sometimes called Savannah Cherry.
3 Likes
This year the majority of fruit was above the roof line so today I pruned the tree back to about 3’. Afterwards I painted over the wounds in a heavy-handed fashion with Morrison’s tree seal to discourage pests while the plant heals.
6 Likes
Any idea on the cold hardiness of COTRG? I live in Texas but we do get freezing weather here. Also if I grew it here I would need a make shift green house over it and might be able to keep the lowest temps it might experience to the upper 20’s F (this would not be a fancy greenhouse so this is probably the best I can manage. Related to that is it possible to keep this to 8 feet with pruning and still get fruit? Last question, are two required for pollination? Seems I am in an area of too much heat for regular cherries but too cold for COTRG to have in ground without such significant protection. I would love to have a fruit that tastes like cherries. The COTRG I got to taste years ago was very close to a bing cherry and was very good.
@Darby64
It gets aggressive with age. It is a 15 meter tree in Rio Grande Do Sul. The fruit is borne on prior year whips. It is self-fertile. I wouldn’t trust it below 27°F for more than a few hours. Keeping it to 8 ft is not feasible in the long run.
1 Like
What variety is your CORG? Fruit looks very tasty.
It’s an ordinary seedling.
I’ve found there is a massive quality difference from one surinam to the next. I tried a red type at a speciality produce store, and it was so bad I spat it out. Then someone in my gardening group was so convincing that he had a good tasting one that I ended up going to try it. It was indeed vastly better, with almost none of that resinous taste.
I want to try a fruit,with that resinous taste,just to see what it’s like.
My little Cherry of the Rio Grande had a fruit this year! It’s a seedling of Garnet that I bought from Kevin Jones on the TFF. It grew a decent amount considering it condition when I got it. Last winter, it took my low of 23f like a champ, only getting partially defoliated on it’s active flush, and then resprouting on it in the spring. This was the extent of the damage:
In contrast, my 3.5 foot Fukushu Kumquat planted next to it suffered severe dieback and has yet to recover.
It’s grown really well this year so far, and gifted me with a little suprise. The fruit weighed 4.5 grams, and had a brix of 21.5. Juice was bright, crimson colored and it tasted amazing… super sweet, and tropical fruity with maybe a little touch apricot or peach too. Two seeds. I’d eat 200 of them given the opportunity.
7 Likes