Juliet Cherry

I’ve done both, but more often in the late afternoon. I’ve gotten a lot of chipmunks with the wheel of death (peanut butter on a bottle suspended above a barrel of water that they jump on and then fall off into the water). It’s like a fatal version of American Ninja Warrior for chipmunks…

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Bob,
With my college daughter at home during this virus pandemic, killing of any animals is not allowed. She is a tree hugger and an animal lover to heart. But I will keep your method in mind.

My Juliet flowers did not showed any sign of brown rot. They looked more like the tree is not mature enough to hold on to those massive amount of flowers.

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You aren’t killing them with the wheel of death. Just setting up a scenario where they are likely to have a fall and kill themselves due to their greed for peanut butter.

It’s like leaving a banana peel on the floor. You didn’t make anyone step on it :slight_smile:

But you do need to empty it out. I had 4 chipmunks waiting for me on the first day. You would think that the 4th one would see the other 3 and say “hmm…may not be safe”, instead of "those clumsy klutzes…this is how you do it…aaaaah "

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Bob,
You are a man with logical thinking :grin:

I also dishearten to see a groundhog showing up recently. It is harder to catch groundhog.

Here are several on a third leaf Juliet. The rest did not develop and fell off, along with many wilted blossoms. My climate might be lacking cold chill hours, sweet cherries do fine here, South Bay Area, CA.

What are you spraying?

I did my first insecticide spray on May 17th and was so focused on getting something on there for PC that I managed to forget the fungicide. I did the 2nd spray just a couple days ago on 5/31 and this time I included Draconil. But from that pic, it is probably too late for the Montmorency. Maybe next year it should get a fungacide during bloom. I’ve always just included it in the post-petal fall sprays and mid-summer for peaches (brown rot) and grapes (black rot).

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Maybe I was closer to the sea in Newport, with a lot of humidity, but brown rot wouldn’t hit until my cherries were almost ripe. After a couple of summers of intensive brown rot, I bought Indar, which was a fruit saver ! Worked well on my plums too? Can you no longer buy Indar?

I think it is just a fungicide, not an insecticide. But there is a relationship, in that if there are feeding bites, the site can rot without a fungicide.

I think it is possible, but the last time I looked it was pretty expensive. I seem to recall it not being all that safe either.

I looked at my Juliet yesterday and despite a hugely prolific bloom the frost from 3 weeks ago toasted everything on it. The only fruit I have in my entire orchard is some blueberries.

My Juliet cherries that sized up (about a petit pea size) have decided to turn yellow and fall off in a large number. Not sure how many will stay to maturity.

While about half turned red early and dropped like several others experienced, I still have a fairly good little crop. The taste is growing on me, but I do think the CJs are still more flavorful, even if more sour than Juliet. I’ll have to do a little side by side baking to test them that way, since that is how we mostly use sour cherries. Juliet seems to grow a little more tree-like for me as well.


By comparison CJ’s branches are bent under the load of fruit.

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I have about a 10% take on one Juliet with a few cherries on the other two. I have a CJ that has about a 50% take, and only a few on the other CJ’s. Romeo flowered heavy too but not one cherry. We had three nights in the 20’s and one was 24 deg! I can’t believe I have apricots but they are the cold hardy Montrose ones. Just a couple plums and peaches, lots of pears and apples.

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Me too, the lowest amount of fruit in the last 4 seasons.
My plums and peaches did fine. Some are low, but I had a lot of thinning to do.It’s done now.

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Did a short video on the Juliet cherry in case anyone here is interested.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQHUt2H_H_M

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@Phill_Boise_7a,
Last year, I picked my two Juliet late. The fruit were dark red. Still, very sour to my taste. I have only a few this year. I netted them so I can try them. I will let them hang for quite some time.

@BobVance, when did you pick your Juliet? You are the closest person to me.

Unless @SMC_zone6 or @HollyGates grow Juliet, too.

I let some hang until they got darker. I didn’t really notice any difference in flavor though. Firmness and sweetness remained relatively unchanged. For this reason I would recommend picking them earlier rather than having birds and squirrels get them.

That’s why my better half was tasked to get this done. Juliet is the one in front and Black Gold is behind.

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your lawn looks like mine.

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First year we decided not to turn on our sprinkler system. What a decision!!!

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