I have been trying to cross the Western Sand Cherry with peach pollen the last several years. Since the sand cherry is supposedly self unfruitful, I simply dab peach pollen on the sand cherry blossoms and look for seedlings that look different. But a few years ago I planted around 8 seeds of a possible cross and this past spring I did notice one seedling was different from the Western Sand Cherry in half a dozen ways (lots of winterkill, slender branches, later ripening, different shape of pit, and the leaves all had brown at the tips.) This must have been some sort of disease the hybrid? couldn’t fend off. Does anyone know what the disease is? Forty or so years ago I crossed the peach with the wild plum (prunus americana). The tree is still alive and a photo of its leaf is included in the book “Fruit Breeding, Volume 1 by James Moore”.
South Dakota and Minnesota have produced the sand cherry hybrid with peach but their hybrids did not fruit. This spring I made a concerted effort to make the cross and I have six seeds planted that are possibly the hybrid.
As you know last year in the Dakotas was nearly perfect growing conditions. There was more moisture than normal. A general fungicide like immunox has always cleared up leaf diseases for me. The issue your describing is typically more weather related at my location.
That does make sense. The last two summers some disease has been ravaging my watermelon and cucumber leaves. I sprayed with a fungicide last year but I still had some problems. Will try Immunox. tks
I should have budwood/trees available in the future. The only root I have successfully budded/grafted onto was this spring I bud grafted onto a peach. I have a trench/greenhouse that I cover over the winter for protection. I have a Sultry Sunset down there that I hope to cross with the sand cherry. (Sultry Sunset is one of those peach/apricot/plum types mostly crossed in California.).