Grafting nanking cherry tree

Hi there, did anybody grafted naking cherry tree? I think I would try on sour cherry as a rootstock, because I have plenty of them.

Problem is that naking twigs are very thin.

Despite the name, nanking cherry is actually closer related to plums. I am not 100% sure, but it probably wont be compatible with sour or sweet cherries.

It is used as a very dwarfing rootstock for plums. If you try to graft it to a cherry please post your results.

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I bought a bundle of row-run Nanking seedlings 20 yrs ago, for a little experiment, using them as dwarfing understocks for peaches and plums (Nanking is more closrly related to plums than to cherries).
Worked fine, but I have no idea now about longterm survival.
That said, I wonder if the strain I got from (Bugess, I think) was inferior, 'cause the fruits were/are no larger than typical Autumn Olive fruits, with just a tiny rim of pulp around the pit. I’m not sure the birds even bother with them, and they’re certainly not worth me stepping 10 ft out of my way to pick one.
I see so many discussions on them, I have to think that the ones I got were real duds. Otherwise, I can’t imagine why anyone would bother with them.

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Hi Carot, you might be right, actually I have tried to graft in the late autumn onto a sour cherry but didn’t take. I have plenty of wild plums in my yyard so next try would be on a wild plum. Reading both comments shows clearly that compatibility is with plums/peaches trees. Thank you guys!

Actually I, and especially my little daughter, like naking fruits. They ripen earlier than cherry and taste interesting. That is why I wanted to multiply them. Sure the fruit is small, but the tree itself is decorative during the spring and autumn, bonus - the fruits.

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i have a red and white fruiting nankings growing near my dwarf american plums… i may try grafting one to the other once they get bigger. ill try and make a patriot tree! red , white and blue fruit on the same tree. :wink:

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White nankings would be cool to graft i may hit you up on that at some point.

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If I remember correctly mark in Montana had a European plum grafted on nanking in his yard. Some of my nankings make bigger fruit and more of it than others . I seem to have a hard time keeping them alive here at my house, I have lost half of what I planted seven or eight years ago

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Same here @Derby42 they do die regularly. I know some locations mow them off every few years to rejuvinate them. They spread here and i have many seedlings so i never worry about it i always have more. It was @marknmt who has an old one. I had the same problems with western sand cherries being dead after 6-7 years but once i grafted them to japanese plums i quit losing them. No more signs of disease at all. Sometimes i think should i grow 100 of anything? proably not and when i do im increasing the possibility of disease.

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Yah, sure. Here’s links to a couple of pics.

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its barely grown last summer but by next spring it should have enough growth to take some cuttings. heard the taste is similar to the reds.

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Hi, my case is that I want to multiply naking tree, not use it as a rootstock. As I previously said, my little daughter enjoys a lot its fruits and I find myself those small cherry like fruits tasty.

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Last year I finally got to harvest plenty of nankings for the first time. While they are fine to nibble on but they are not worth taking up space in my opinion. As others have mentioned, the pulp to seed ration is terrible. I have two Nanking bushes and I ended up leaving many on the bush last year. The kids ate all that they wanted. For me, the Saskatchewan bush cherries like Juliet and Carmine Jewell are vastly superior.

Just my opinion.

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i guess i was just always under the impression that Nanking was for you Folks Way Up North, who couldn’t grow real good fruit due to cold temps and short growing season. lol

Well, they do seed readily, and come into bearing pretty quickly. So that might be an answer for you too.

I should have read your post more closely. But my guess is that your nanking twigs should graft readily enough if you can manage the thinness. Might be a good time to use a bark graft.

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