I hate spraying
I bought a bunch of stuff (pricey) and get confused about timing of application not to mention safety precautions etc. so thankfully this plant has done ok this year without any. But all of my others struggled so Iāll see how it goes. Thanks so much. I wasnāt sure if the leaves had identifying characteristics. Maybe Iāll get blossoms next spring. I planted it Spring of 2017.
you may. these cherries are generally disease resistant. i just spray them as a precaution but some donāt and havenāt had issues.
I just ordered 60 Juliet bushes from Honeyberry. I noticed @IowaJer spaced them on 12ā centers. Based on Jerryās photo. Iām thinking of spacing them on 15ā centers. Any thoughts on how long they will take to fill in?
When they start to sucker. how far away do the suckers come up?
Jerry, did you notice that Honeyberry has your photo on their Website?
I planted a 80ā row of Carmine jewels and juliets in spring 19. I put mine 6ā within row spacing. They are not even close to filling the gap yet. Juliets have definitely sent up more suckers than Carmine jewel. I would say a foot from the base of the plant is the farthest they have sent up a sucker. Mine are in really good soil, mulched well, and on drip irrigation. I planted another 80ā row this spring too with some romeos too, went down to 5ā spacing on them to hopefully get them filled in faster.
Hi Mark,
Havenāt been on much lately, but noticed I had an email on this this morning so thought Iād weigh in.
Iād guess 6-7 years to fill in but thatās a guess. I had trimmed mine a bit just so I could get through there in between.
The suckers will be right under the bush to maybe 15-20ā away. Mine began suckering in about the 4th year if I recall.
Yes I did know that HBUSA uses a picture of my bushes, and Iām okay with that.
Iāve corresponded with Bernis several times and I believe she might check the forum here from time to time. Only reason I say that is that one time I was in an email deal with her and she responded with a paragraph that was word-for-word what Dr. Bors had written to me in an email.
I responded that it looked familiar ![]()
She replied that she found it on the forum and actually put it on their website.
So I think it probably came from the one time that I had posted most of what Dr Bors had told me in that email that I thought would be helpful to the thread.
Anyway, Iām golden with all of it as long as fruit growers might get some benefit somewhere along the way. And theyāre good folks too.
This may bore you, but Iāll just post some pictures of my bushes from the early years to current.
I know every location is different, but for what I wanted these things got way bigger than advertised. People thought I was off a little bit when I went 12ā on center as all mine came in as little twigs. If I had it to do over I would also go 15ā on center as you are planning on doing. I think more air flow in this high humidity just makes sense for me.
And of course, I didnāt want a hedge whereas a lot of folks are looking for that.
I mow in between mine or those suckers would have filled in a long time ago I think.
My first three CJās were planted in 2011, then in 2012 I added two more.
After that in 2014 I added two Crimson Passion which I eventually removed, and then I added a couple Julietās in 2016.
This is just showing all five CJās in 2012. So three in front from '11 and the two on the far right were in ground pbly 3 months at the time of the picture.
Then most of the following should just be each year later and have a date stamp.
So the thing is, I had cut up to four feet off these in March the past couple years and they just keep wanting to grow to the sky.
Anyway, kinda got carried away but you get the idea.
Thanks so much Jerry. Those are some great pics.
I think I will plant them at 15ā and if I need to dig some suckers to fill in, so be it.
Your cherries really look great. We have really good soil here too. Hope mine do as well as yours.
yeah yours got a lot bigger than mine by the 5th year. mine are only half as big. i planted them in mounds of bag soil and fed with chic manure for 4 yrs. from now on Iām just going to keep mulch around them and let them do their thing⦠how soon did you get fruit? i got a few the 4th year and a couple dozen this year. romeo ,is in its 3rd year and hasnāt produced any yet even though it had flowers. also put in a lutowka rose cherry last summer. this summer it put on 2ft. of growth.
I had some CJās set fruit in '14 but not enough to amount to much, then in 2015 I took 16 gallons, and after that it was off to the races.
On five CJ bushes we got 33g in 2016, 32g in 2017, 61g in 2018, 42g in 2019 and 46 gallons in 2020. And honestly we leave a lot on the bushes. (and many on the ground if storms come in)
Someone who began picking sooner and had more pickers could have harvested more for sure. But at some point the JBās arrive and other pest pressure when itās just not practical to spray and wait, so itās hard to really quantify just how well these CJās have done - but for sure good enough for me. I donāt want more by the time itās over.
So I donāt know how to look at it really, I mean in '11 I planted twigs and if I count that as growing year one, and had some small amounts in 2014 then for me it was year 4 before even small amounts appeared with CJās.
Julietās were in ground in 2016 and my records show I had 40-50 cherries to taste test in 2018, and I took 3.5 gal in 2019, and in 2020 we got 14 gallons. (thatās from two bushes of course)
So for me the Julietās made tasting and measurable fruit a year sooner than my CJās.
The Julietās are 5 years in ground now and are in the 9-10ā range. I will give them a haircut in the spring when I once again get after the CJās 
my cj, and juliets are both 5yrs and the juliet produced sooner with more cherries than the 1 cj did and both bushes are the same size. though i planted the romeo 2 yrs later its only a little smaller than the others because it was already a 30in. plant when i got it. i canāt wait until they are in full production. so far the birds have ignored them and my honey berries. hopefully it stays that way . the field next door is full of chokecherries and high bush cranberry. they are late ripening berries so maybe why the birds havenāt been looking for some thing red in mid summer.
Itās funny, but the birds donāt exactly love my CJās. Not saying they donāt get in them every so often, but itās almost unnoticeable. I truly believe they are just more attracted to the bright red of the Early Richmond cherries, and the deep purple on the CJās just doesnāt do it for them. (That or theyāre like me and just donāt care for the out of hand taste that much
)
But I think Iāve mentioned somewhere before on the forum that I have a birdbath that sits between the ER tree and the CJ bushes and throughout the harvest season there are always several pits in the bottom of the birdbath and they are almost 100% of the time ER pits.
I made the mistake of not netting very securely one of my Honeyberry bushes and they just cleaned it out. I have to net Blueberries and Honeyberries or I wouldnāt have any.
Sounds like youāre in a good place if the surrounding ground works to steer them away from your stuff. I remember Clark saying he had Mulberry trees just for that same reason.
Iāve got a cluster of flower buds! I think this may be a Romeo but not certain. Iām surprised that the Nankings and other cherries nearby bloomed a few weeks ago but these are just buds coming close to open. I guess our kwanzan(?) ornamental is just blooming, so kind of timed with those, or a tad after.
Iāve got a pruning question on my new Juliet cherry. They sent a good size bush, but I see a lot of blind wood. My understanding is that donāt bud out much from old wood when you make a heading cut. I think I want to cut the long branches out (probably next spring) and let the cluster of lower branches take over. My proposed cuts are marked in red. Does that make sense, or am I overthinking things, as usual?
Jesus, that thing is massive. Whereād you buy it, its bigger than my 3 year old bush.
I got it from Gurneyās as I had a gift certificate. The price didnāt seem so outlandish when it showed up, but it seems a lot larger than other pics Iāve seen of what they send. I guess I just got lucky! The rhubarb plant I got from them was wimpy. They sent a tissue culture plant that clearly needed another month in the greenhouse.
itās hard to kill these cherries, you could cut it to the ground and it would come backā¦
I got three Juliets from Gurneyās and they were similarly large, easily the biggest I have received of the several I have ordered from various places.
Hi folks. I finally got my last 3 cherries delivered yesterday, all 3 are Carmine Jewel. They look more like small trees that bushes, but supposely on their own roots. Just planted them as soon as got them delivered. I am wondering if this time kind of too late to plant them?
These bush cherries can grow up to 10-12 ft tall and wide. Wonder if you planted them too close to your driveway.
I didnāt have any other option, my frontyard portion on that side of the driveway is only close to 8 feet. I had to make sure the neighbor is not upset that the trees are too close to his precious lawn. I guess I will have to get good pruning tools
You may be okay. Iāve found the Carmine Jewel stayed smaller than the Crimson Passion (now removed) and Juliet Iāve grown. You may just need to prune a bit to make it so you arenāt too cramped getting in and out of the car.















