2 of mine multi-grafted cherries dodged the late frost a week ago and bloomed. Varieties are Bing, Rainer, Sandra Rose, Van, Vandalay, White Gold, and Black Gold. Now I just need to protect them from the birds.
Tony
13 Likes
Tony, what rootstock and how big and old are your trees?
Is this the first year for fruit on those?
Vinod,
The Colt rootstocks were from One Green World. The two trees are 5 years old and I kept them in check at 8 feet tall with Summer pruning.
Rob,
The multi-grafted branches fruited at third leaf.
Tony
1 Like
Very nice Tony!
My multi graft Cherry on Colt has Black Tartarian, Bing, Van and Lapins. It is 3 years old and I’ve kept it at 6 feet so far. I added Coral Champagne and Brooks last year. This is second year of fruit but just about 30 cherries or so this year. Hopefully, the fruiting buds develop well this year.
5 Likes
Do any of your varieties really stick out when it comes to flavor?
Mine are a “tad” behind yours!
1 Like
I multi-grafted my varieties based on Fruinut trial. I liked them in this order of sweetness: Van, Sandra Rose, Rainer, and Bing. White & Black Gold, and Vandalay flowers for the first time.
Tony
1 Like
I really really beg to differ. Bing is by far the best tasting, Van is not even close.
1 Like
Lapins is a cross of Vanxstella… I had Stella in the past…didn’t care for it. I have also had Kristin and Black Gold. I’ve always thought they were all pretty similar… I prefer the very dark cherries.
Rob,
I water restricted the sweet cherries three weeks before harvest by shutting down the sprinkler zone. That really improved the sweetness.
Tony
2 Likes
The few Bings I had last yr were sensational, 32 brix and high acid. Other yrs they’ve been 25 brix. There have been yrs I thought Van was better than Bing. So for me it can vary depending on growing conditions and stage of ripeness that I’ve picked them.
Sweet cherries are also known to be location dependent. Some varieties have off tastes in certain locations. Cherries that taste great in CA may have sulfurous taste in WA. I’ve grown about 6-8 varieties that are supposed to taste great and were poor to outright awful for me.
2 Likes
Tony is not very far from here (2 hrs) so I will be paying close attention to his sweet cherry results based on that they are location specific. @fruitnut I prefer the firm fleshed sweet cherries what do you recommend?
My fav is Selah. Big, beautiful, and very firm. It doesn’t have enough winter in my greenhouse but would where you are. I’m not sure it’s better than Bing. It’s been a couple yrs since I had fruit.
2 Likes
I too prefer the firm dark sweet cherries. I planted black gold a few years ago as I was under the impression that it was a dark firm cherry with more disease resistance but I’ve read several time here that it’s not as firm as Bing. So I’m quite disappointed. Last year I only got a few cherries. This year it set about 3 -4 dozen cherries. If I can keep the birds away I’ll have a little better sample size.
1 Like
@scottfsmith is the only person here who has two Black Gold with one soft and one firm fruit. My is soft and not that sweet.
1 Like
Mine came from Raintree. Yours?
Yes, Gisela 5 from Raintree. I have eaten several pounds of my BG for the past 4 years. I can confidently tell you that mine is not a crunchy type… It is very cood hardy and productive.
My biggest issue with it is brown rot. I finally was able to stop it cold with Indar last year.
2 Likes
Brown rot/birds here…and spring frost some years…
I’ve noticed my Lapins is really overtaking the Gisela 5 rootstock its on. I’ll be interested in seeing what this looks like in another 10 years…will it continue to outgrow it?
I keeps my around 6 ft tall and somewhat weeping so it is easy to net. Only the rot that has been an issue.
1 Like
I butchered mine last season after heavy rot issues…i hope this year it works a lot better. I net mine or the robins get all of them.
1 Like