We have a wild (unplanted by us, and I can’t tell that it was ever planted by a person!) cherry in the way back of our property. It must be quite old as it’s very big. Our neighbors down the road have a tasty fruiting cherry which I’d put in the same “wild” category. I bought “black cherry” trees from our state forestry a few years ago and they fruited last year. They’re a totally different kind (didn’t know this when I bought them!); they flower and fruit much later and in a different cluster type and the fruits are basically worthless to me. But I planted them in a convenient spot so now I wonder if I could graft anything onto them, particularly wood from these fruiting trees that we like. I’ll try to paste a pic I posted elsewhere on the “fruit I ate today” thread - these are the trees with the nice fruit; I don’t have a pic of the trees I planted. http://growingfruit-images.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/original/3X/f/e/fe6f32a6581e8cc32149f9787f0d0788a4ac873e.jpeg
You can’t graft on what state nurseries sell as “black cherry,” sorry. About 100% of the time what you bought is Prunus serotina.
Dax
Rats. Thank you, though!! I have to figure out what to do with three prunus serotinas that are nicely placed near our house lol!!
You crack me up!
Dax
Pray you like 20 ft trees prone to dropping branches as they age. I use mine to smoke chicken which comes out great. In around 30 year you can collect lots of pea sized berries mostly pit.
Ha! I guess most folks would just cut them right down. I only last year realized that they weren’t the same kind of tree as I linked/ pictured in my original post. We actually enjoy eating those cherries. But I got to taste these last fall. Blah- not even sure the birds like them! Yes, the wood is fragrant. I got to practice pruning on them a few years! I bet they make a nice smoke… But I suppose I will cut them down. All that effort:weary:
! I’m a slow one to learn!
Prunus serotina is the “cherry lumber” tree common in woodworking, cabinetry, furniture, et.al. The tree will grow to be 60-80’ tall. They’re a valuable lumber source where I live, our property is covered with them. If you don’t have the space for them, you may be able to offer them as a transplant to someone. Very little monetary value at this early point in their life.
We all want the same thing @ClothAnnie and though I’ve looked for many years I’ve never found anything to graft to them Grafting Prunus Serotina
I’ve grafted on them I’ll bet just like a lot of other people did too.
FAILURE to communicate.
Dax
@Barkslip ,
Back in 2012 -2013 I grafted about 50+ trees in an experiment and found like you nothing compatible. This thread is worth reading from gardenweb Cherry tree grafting - Prunus Serotina Virginiana. I’m not sure I’ve given up 100% ust lost energy to pursue it any more at this time.
That’s information I’d not seen.
Dax
We had a 5" tree come down due to snow and ice. I cut the stump and did 7 bark grafts with prunings from my sour cherry. They took and looked great, then died out about 2 months later.
Thanks, everyone. When I bought them, I just thought a wile black cherry meant one thing. I’m guessing the ones we enjoy from the south corner of our property are maybe prunus avium (Mazzard?) because they’re pretty tasty. I doubt I’d ever locate that one variety mentioned as a possibility- Capulin; from quick reading it appears to be a tropically grown fruit. Ok… My 3 “landscaping” prunus serotinas will probably have to go this year. If I could transplant them I would but at this point they’ve been in the ground maybe coming on four years so they’re not easy to move and still not sure where I’d put them! Thanks again!!!
Found a pic of the sour cherry on Prunus serotina. They looked great, then after 2 months they looked dead…
Hi Annie - Another idea if your wild black cherries are in a spot you’d like a nice flowering shrub type plant is to cut the tree off at ground level, and it will grow back with multiple shoots with enthusiasm if it’s anything like ours. You can keep cutting out the largest stems or prune them back to whatever height you want. They’ll keep coming back. I’ve yet to kill a cut down WBC by continually cutting off the shoots every year (though I keep trying!). We have a lot of WBC and as folks have said, it’s a forest tree. We like it for many reasons but it wouldn’t be suitable for a yard. The fruit isn’t much for eating but it makes good jam and wine, and it’s popular with wildlife. Sue