Anybody have any further info about this new self fruitfull 6GM25 low chill cherry from Zaiger? — It’s listed on Bay Laurel’s webpage for 2017 orders. Since Minnie Royal and Royal Lee seem to have bloom synchronicity issue – perhaps this is DWN and Zaiger’s answer.
Here is the description at Bay Laurel:
“At last, a self-fruitful low chill cherry! Bright crimson fruit with superb flavor. Interfruitful with Minnie Royal and Royal Lee. Ripens in early May. Still experimental, so actual chill hours have yet to be determined. Patent pending (Zaiger). Available on Mazz.”
I’ve read through all the old threads. Nearly everyone in a low chill environment (who else would want to grow a low chill cherry?) has observed a staggered bloom. The rumor from DWN is that they sync up at some point (year 4 as I seem to remember) — but I can’t recall anyone reporting back in to say — yes they had synced up. My guess is that 6GM25 is situated right in the middle of the peak bloom periods for MR and RL. I guess we’ll see in 2017-2018 if 6GM25 is a decent cherry, how low chill it is, when it blooms and what naming variant of ‘royal’ Zaiger will christen it with.
Richard did you get 6GM25 this year? I picked mine up from a DWN retail nursery at 8:30 am in the morning today. I had to fight off an old duffer who wanted to buy the entire stock. DWN sure didn’t let these things grow out; I have a 3 ft tall whip on Mazzard, not ideal, but that’s what the rest of the stock looked like.
In zone 9b: I planted in early spring; half crops each tree one year after planting, full crops two years and thereafter after planting.
In zone 10b: I planted in summer from 15 gallon pots; half crops each tree for two years now.
Just picked up 2 of these at my local nursery. I knew nothing about them but saw that they were low chill and did not need a pollenizer, so I grabbed them without any background research.
Does anyone know how low chill? I know these are supposed to be self-fruitful, but would adding a Minnie Royal or Royal Lee help with fruit production?
The whip is 5 or 6 feet tall. I was planning on cutting it down to 24 inches? Open vase? Any pruning/shaping suggestions?
The chill hours are unknown. Zaiger and DW want us to do their research for them. Original tags for Royal Lee indicate 400 hours, but that’s been revised down on DW’s site to 200-300. I’d imagine you’d get more fruit set with another cultivar – but who knows. Open vase is how I’m going. Since 6GM25 came on Mazzard, they have the potential to be big trees, so summer pruning will be required.
Thanks, I was thinking open vase as well. How low were you or did you cut your tree?
I was at the Poway location this morning and their bin was empty for 6GM25, maybe had them in the back still? I called the other location got them from there.
