Grafting Sweet and Sour Cherries into plums

General Fruit Growing
#61

Most of those scaffolds are still small enough that they can be easily grafted with interstems! I would certainly give it a try if it were my tree!
Your other option would be to top work it over to later blossoming European plums. The wood is compatible and that might solve your late spring freeze issue, assuming your area is conducive to p domestica. My European plums are about 3-4 weeks trailing all my Asian plums. So there are two viable options!
You have a healthy rootstock, whatever you put on it should do well.
Dennis

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#62

Around here my cherries blossom about the same time as the J plums.

#63

So how often do you successfully get cherries and plums? I am 0 for 3 here in Zone 7b the last three years. My Montmorency is on the edge of blooming but is 2+ weeks later than the J plums.

#64

I think I get crops two years out of three. I have found most pluots and some of the yellow plums bloom too early and are almost always lost. My sweet cherrys bloom the same time as my J plums. My Montmorency hasnā€™t bloomed yet, third leaf. My E plums are blooming now. Basically 1 1/2 weeks after the J plums.

#65

I had been reluctant to plant sweet cherries due ti disease worries, but hearing they bloom as early as Japanese Plums, seals the deal for me to not plant them. Growing up in North Carolina, we had a sour cherry that was a pretty consistent producer so i donā€™t believe frost was much of an issue despite our frosts occurring as late as Motherā€™s Day some years. In addition to Euro Plums, I may look at Balaton or North Star as options to avoid being frozen out every year.

It looks like there are a couple of more post-frontal freezes coming for TN and NC in the next week.

#66

Montmorency is about 3 weeks behind J plums for me and it avoided that terrible freeze last year that took out the majority of my stone fruits. Carmine Jewel is also late blooming a set well last year. I am adding grafts of Black tartarian and black gold which are supposed to bloom late like montmorency.

#67

Iā€™m going to modify what I said about my blooming times. I think normally my sweet cherrys bloom a week a half to two weeks after my J plums. Also my E plums normally bloom at least two weeks after J Plums.

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