We are looking at planting dwarf cherries along our property line, and while we’d like a rather thick hedge, we also want the plants to be healthy, and pick able. We’re in zone 7 and I’m thinking those plants are going to get larger then they would up north. Recommended plant spacing for mechanically harvested plants is only a meter. We’re thinking about 5 feet would work well, and plan on setting the row six feet off the fence. Does anyone with experience growing these have suggestions or additional input?
Jolene,
They will in time sucker a bit so you might count that in. The bushes will stay very compact about 7’ height and 4’ width. This is what a dormant row I planted looks like. They are 7’ tall now which I believe will be their maximum height. Great choice of cherries!
Hope this gives you some help. I planted these in May 2011 and this photo is from late Sept. 2015. They are planted on a 2-meter spacing (about 6.5 feet). Garden spade in there for scale. Only the plant on the far right is a Carmine Jewel but the others are also from the U of Saskatchewan bush-cherry series. I can still walk between the plants and I suspect when they are fully mature they might just start to merge together into a wall. I do trim them a bit with shears to keep them more pyramidal than globe-shaped, and the hares come by in the winter and help with that too
mine haven’t stopped growing yet, think 10’ or so now, also the 2 plants are 8’ apart and have grown into each other. Depends what is on the other side of the fence, if a neighbor’s yard, they may not like the suckers popping up, the farthest sucker for me so far has been 10’ away.
Clark’s photo shows some vigorous top growth, and if that is them at 7’ feet, probably going to be 9’ feet this fall.
I’m with Kleckner on this one. I have 5 CJ’s and 2 CP’s, with 2 Juliet’s coming probably in April. My CJ’s went in the ground in ‘11 & ‘12 and I have them on 12’ centers and most are over 10’ in height with one closer to 12’, and there is about 3’ between the bushes right now in this dormant season.
I plan on pruning them to keep them lower than they want to get. That’s what attracted me to them in the beginning, the advertised compactness. As they were initially marketed as being 6-7’ bushes. (Which in fairness is probably true in the U of S breeding plot locations) And while I see places like Gurney’s still advertises them as 6 1/2’ bushes, I noticed the other day that Bernice up at Honeyberry USA has changed the height range on their site to now show most of the varieties ranging between 6 1/2 and 12’. (Incidentally, I highly recommend HBUSA)
I think Clarkinks has mentioned in other threads too that the CJ’s do sucker some, in fact I think he once noted that it was only evident after they got some age on them, and that’s been the case for me too. Last year during their 5th leaf was the first suckering I noticed, it wasn’t obtrusive like raspberries, but I mowed 'em down anyway 'cuz I’m not trying to have hedges here.
Anyway I’m glad I went with the wider spacing to allow me to get around them for spraying and harvesting, and for air flow too.
Jo, I don’t know how they’ll do in your warmer z7 (I hope they do well) and I know the U of S folks as well as the various nurseries are very interested to know how they preform in warmer climes, but if they do better there than they do here in our Iowa climate you’ll want to keep the pruners sharp, and keep plenty of room in your freezer!
Interesting that some folks are reporting heights of 10-12 feet in warmer zones. No way here in zone 3 these bushes are getting anywhere near that height. Good thing too…
Lots of great feedback and photos. Thanks a lot.
Because we do want them to be a thick hedge (block the view of the neighbor’s house…and porch light) and don’t anticipate disease issues, we’re leaning towards planting them about six feet apart.
Of course we hope they will do well. The page I read at Honeyberry USA said they like a loam soil, with a ph of 6.5 to 8. We have excellent soil that runs on the alkaline side. …TONS of earthworms.
We’re in the mountains and the extension folk recommend we plant varieties that like 700 to 1000 chill hours. Hopefully they won’t mind the few weeks that get over 100 in the afternoons…we always cool down at night.
I appreciate the good word for Honeyberry too. They have the best prices I could find, with price breaks for volume orders.
We’re thinking about three varieties. Juliet, and Romeo as well as Carmine Jewel to extend the season. $20.00 a plant for Juliet though…and those are small plants. I guess it’s the price you pay for a hot new release.
Still excited. This will be a row over 300 feet.
Which could mean a ton of fruit someday.
Over 100 degrees is not a problem they take it in stride in full sun here. The babies will get sunburn and may even lose their leaves (mine did) and they quickly acclimated to Kansas weather after losing the leaves they shipped with (potted 4" plants). The alkaline soil here is very similar to yours so they will be fine. They benefit greatly from a shovel of manure on top of the ground and some wood chips. You might want to look at this thread Carmine Jewell's don't sucker much? and this one My "Romance series" cherries - #25 by clarkinks. I think the price for Juliet should be less http://honeyberryusa.com/info/HoneyberryUSAPricelist.pdf but maybe quantity or other factors are affecting the cost.
Bear,
Thank you! My deer prefer blackberries because they are farther from the house and I don’t chase them out of the patch. They can eat all they want I have a couple of acres of blackberries which is more than we use. The birds and I have a deal I leave their mulberries alone most of the time and they leave my cherries alone most of the time. There is plenty of fruit here.
