What do you mean it doesn’t exist? And ya of course I’m new here. I’ll post my other trees soon
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I think he meant it’s Rainier and not Rainer. But I found other people make the same mistake too, no big deal.
I might visit that area to buy some cherry trees, maybe it’s better than to buy online. I have friends who still live there, I might as well visit them.
Just trying to have a little fun. SoCal has it right. A search for Rainier on this forum will yield more results than Rainer. It is a common mistake. Others on your thread followed suit.
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Please do. I’ll be interested.
I checked their DWN list and the nursery here has Royal Rainier cherry too, only 500 chill hours.
Oh I didn’t notice the spelling lol. Ya they have a great selection of Dave Wilson trees. I bought 2 15 gallon low chill cherries this past January. I already have ripe MR cherries today.
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I would highly recommend Royal Rainier. In San Jose, it has reliably ripened cherries in both low chill and high chill winters. I was told Rainier doesn’t reliably set fruit in low chill years but I don’t have personal experience. I have compared Royal Rainier from my tree with Rainier from Andy’s orchard and other U-picks in Brentwood and I can’t tell the difference. If anything, Royal Rainier is more crisp
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I actually spent my school years east of there in the Coachella Valley. School field trips to harvest cherries in Yucaipa was an annual pilgrimage.
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This is great news, I plan to buy a lot more cherry trees this year.
What do you think about Skeena variety, it’s available at ToA.
I don’t know about this variety. @JamesN has documented his experience growing low chill cherries in inland Southern California
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3 zones in So Cal:
- Coastal (Minnie Royal and Royal Lee will fruit here, so I have heard. Royal Crimson is a bridge pollinator that is not always very productive)
- Inland (Brooks, Coral, and most early lower to moderate chill cultivars will fruit here)
- Higher elevation/mountains (most standard cultivars will fruit, though at too-high elevations the April freezes prevent consistent crops)
Yucaipa is a great area. Your elevation is why you get cherries. 2500 feet, right? You are near some U pick cherry orchards. I have never been, but others can comment. Guldseth is the closest to you I believe. Plant away. Try Bing? If you like rich, soft cherries, try Black Tartarian, it will be a great pollinator. If I lived in your location I would get trees on more productive rootstock (Krysmsk is fine, or Maxma 14, Gisela if you want more productivity at the expense of less resiliency to heat) and I would graft in Black Eagle and Black Republican. They are rich in flavor. Best wishes with your cherry growing!
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I’m definitely higher elevation. I looked up that cherry farm and it’s only 9 miles from my house. I’ll have to check them out. I really don’t have room for another cherry tree. Grafting other varieties might be the way I’ll go. First I gotta Learn how to graft lol. Thanks I’ll update a photo of my tree when they start to blush.
In the windy pass. We had a place in Sky Valley and the wind came whipping through there like a hurricane most of the spring and intermittently throughout the rest of the year. I don’t so fondly recall many 115 degree afternoons with a vicious easterly wind, after crossing one thousand miles of desert, blasting me in the face with a pulsing wall of heat. Takes a hardy plant to endure those conditions for months on end.
I had to look up Sky Valley. I see it’s not far from Palm Springs and just north of Coachella one of the hottest places in the USA. Date Palms love it but I’m not sure much else does. Not cherries for sure. Grapes would probably hold up and I know they are commercially grown in that area.
I just planted a Medjool date palm in my greenhouse. If it doesn’t seem at home I’ll turn on a 1500 watt heater and give it a blast of heat. Something I might actually do in the fall especially if the fruit isn’t ripening fast enough.
Have you considered Coachella Valley when you decide to move away from Bakersfield? I think Coachella is more suited for fruit growing than where you are, it is close to pretty scenery and outdoor adventure in Joshua and San Jacinto and probably less secluded than Alpine? Not sure about air quality though.
Oh boy, it’s so hot there I’d be losing my mind by August. They probably have 100 days over 100F. There are things you could grow. It sure would be a struggle with most of what I like.
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The southeast end of the Coachella valley near La Quinta, before the entire region became condos and golf courses, there were nectarine and peach orchards. The farmers let us glean what remained after the harvest. My uncle farmed dates and grapes. Of course lots of citrus and pomegranates. At home we had a peach cultivar called desert gold growing in our backyard. It produced lots of amazing peaches. The person who bought the property let it die the first summer. And not to build anything or put in a different tree. Just let it and all the other fruit trees die. And besides the peach I’m talking mature orange, lemon, grapefruit, apple, and tangerine. Who does that? some people are beyond comprehension. And it’s not like the water cost anything because that property was on a well.
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I think growing fruit takes time, energy, and knowledge. I’ve heard plenty of stories from people in my senior center where people buy homes and cut down fruit trees. It’s a shame really.