Duke cherries experiences? sources for trees/scionwood?

These were fully ripe, and to me they are more of a sour cherry than a sweet one

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I have a few but I am based in Europe. I can exchange for something interesting. I have wondercherry (Ukraine), belle de kleparov (Ukraine), Hortense (France), belle de guben (Germany) and a few more. I highly recommend wondercherry. It really is the best of the best. I am in zone 6-7and grow many of the sweet cherries from Canada like Vega, Staccator as well as Rainer.

Cheers

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Good luck with your Duke cherry. Hopefully, next year you will get a nice sized crop. I planted a Late Duke this year so I have a couple of years before I see any cherries.

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I have one plant of Duke on Adara that I’m not able to put in ground this year. Can be purchased here https://reallygoodplants.com/

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I have very limited space and am in zone 9. Ideally I want to be able to taste the cherry that I’m going to plant. I have North Star tree currently and it’s basically struggling for survival. Fruit production is out of the question.

I’m originally from Poland and the most popular sour cherry variety there was called Szklanka. It does not taste like a sweet cherry at all. I’m looking for something similar that will fruit in zone 9. Based on my findings, I thought that Duke may be it, however, I have never tasted it, so can’t tell if it’s even close. I will check if I can get any sour cherries at Andy’s orchard store, so I get some ideas about the flavour. Without an ability to taste getting a tree is a shot in the dark.

My understanding from a bit of reading is that Szklanka is not a variety but type. It is what people in Poland call amarelle type tart cherries that are yellow-fleshed with clear juice (in contrast to morello type tart cherries that are red-fleshed with red juice). Montmorency is the most popular and widespread variety of amarelle type.

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Thank you so much for the information and link. I had no idea it was a type! Yes, they say juice of szklanka is clear. They also mention that it’s a dessert cultivar, as opposed to the sour cherries with dark juice, that are not as good tasting and are mostly used for processing. I know Montmorency is quite popular and should be easy to find. I’ll happily give it a try!

I have a Stella cherry that I’ll need to take out, because most of the fruit goes bad while still on the tree (no idea why). From my experience sour cherry grafts are hard to maintain, as they seem very weak and others take over. Thus I’ll replace Stella with Montmorency. :slight_smile: I’m too late this year. I don’t think I can get a Montmorency tree now, but will make room for it for next year planting. This is exciting! Thank you!

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It’s likely the fruit going bad is brown rot. Controlling it is done through a combination of good sanitation, planting varieties that have some resistance and spraying fungicides. Tart cherries in general are more resistance than sweet cherries. You might take a look at this link that has a good explanation of brown rot.

A couple of updates. First fruit taste/type. I talked to Andy Mariani (and ordered some sour cherries for tasting, so I can get an idea). He was of the opinion that Montmorency was too tart to eat fresh. That was a surprise, so I’m really curious to taste the fruit myself and see if they are what I’m looking for.

Regarding Stella cherries going bad on the tree - at first I thought it was not brown rot, because I have never seen any browning twigs on it nor any mold/spores on the fruit. However, I have a nectarine near by and while the fruit is perfectly fine, I do see some twigs browned. I’m still not 100% sure though, because cherries from afar look perfectly fine. Only once I touch them to pick them, I can feel that they are squishy and browned on the inside. There is often a small hole in the fruit, even though there is no worm of any kind that I can see on the inside. I’m not sure if I can post any photos here.

Just wanted to offer my perspective on Belle Magnifique. I had some from Andy’s Orchard. They are both sweet and sharp and enjoyable to eat in larger quantities. The true tart cherries, like Balaton, are rather sharp and one probably would not eat a pound at once.

Belle Magnifique in contrast was both sweet and sharp, and somewhat like eating a raspberry, it was sweet enough to balance the acidity and quite enjoyable to eat them in larger quantities.

For me I would definitely desire to grow tart cherries and Duke cherries if possible in my region. Many nurseries in So Cal sell Kansas Sweet, and report that it is productive here. That being said, I think it may be a sweeter tart cherry rather than a true Duke. I found this online:

Willis Nursery, Ottawa, Kansas introduced Kansas Sweet as The flavor is somewhat sweet for a Prunus Cerasus or Sour Cherry.

The L. E. Cooke Co brought in the cherry in 1960 and put into production in 1965. The tree is a small growing pie cherry which sets heavily even in the mild areas of Southern California.

The selection is not considered a sweet cherry but is sweeter than all other pie cherries, self fertile, and produces in a broad range of climates from the cold Midwest to the mild winter areas. The fruit is large for a pie cherry, has red skin and flesh making it colorful.

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Thanks for the report on Belle Magnifique. Your lucky you’re near an orchard where you can actually taste them.

Just saw this, Andy told me that he does not grow May Duke anymore. They tried it 25 years ago and they think the scions available had a virus and they got rid of it. He does grow Almaden Duke so that could be this variety.

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Adding some insight here:
Late Duke, one year in the ground from Trees of Antiquity, has already set fruit for me in San Diego. Maybe we will soon add this to the list of low chill tart and duke cherries? Kansas sweet is known to produce here, as is English Morello.

I want to try out Belle Magnifique next year, along with Reine Hortense and some others but I don’t seem to see any sources online. I think there is great potential for tart and duke cherries in lower chill areas of California.

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I am glad you are getting fruit in a low chill area. If it does well in low chill areas maybe it will end up planted more frequently. I think there is certainly demand for more cultivars of low chill cherries. The Late Duke probably has not been tested in low chill areas since it is a fairly rare cherry.

This year my Late Duke flowered and will probably set fruit but it’s not reached shuck split yet. I am planning to pick most of the fruit off since it’s pretty small. I planted it last year so it’s age is the same as your tree.

The Arboreum Company carries Belle Magnifique but I am not sure if it’s available from them every year. I would suggest trying to buy it as soon as they put inventory online on the Fall. The inventory sells out quickly and that was before the Pandemic started.

I have never seen Reine Hortense offered as tree only as scionwood unfortunately.

What are the best places to get Duke or tart cherry scionwood? I will try Bob Purvis next year and maybe the ARS-GRIN. Anything else?

I think your best bet is California Rare Fruit Growers. They have annual scion exchanges at the local chapters and I have seen Reine Hortense on one of the scion lists.

https://crfg.org

They have a local chapter in San Diego too so it would be a chance to meet people in the local area that are growing fruit. It might be worth joining. I considered joining at one time but since I am in rural Illinois most of the fruit I can’t grow here at all. Duke cherries are an exception (I hope :smirk:) .

Also if you have success with your Late Duke could you post on one of the low-chill cherry threads on the forum? Or start a thread of your own? I know the guys in low chill areas struggle and any information on your successes and the number of chill hours you have would help them out.

I am a member! The Bay Area chapters have the best selection but when there are Dukes or even any rare cherries, they tend to be gone quick! I will keep an eye out in the future.

I also last year emailed the ARS-GRIN and asked that they import the May Duke from the few remaining sources in the UK. It did not sound like they were willing. But I am going to find an exact source for them and then email them again, maybe they will be willing if I make it easy for them.

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Cherry scionwood

https://fruitwoodnursery.com/fruit-tree-scion-and-cuttings-wood/cherry-scionwood

JamesN-

How does you Late Duke look now. Do the leaves look okay?

I having a strange problem with my Late Duke. The leaves yellow at the margins and stay that way for may be a couple of weeks then the rest of the leaves yellow with the veins being the last to yellow. It happened last year too. I have one tart and two sweet cherries with 20 feet of the Late Duke and they look completely normal. I am kinda at a lost as far as what is wrong.

Mine does not show that behavior. Sorry to hear that. I hope it gets better.