Timely reminder that it’s time to get the myclo spray on the cherries, with all the rain and damp we’ve had this year
1 Like
That Black Gold is really loaded! Beautiful tree!
Tony-
Very nice. Have you tried many of those varieties and if you have, do you notice much difference between the various types or is it more just that they ripen at different times and spread out the harvest? I have just Lapins and Black Gold. I don’t notice too much (flavor/shape). I love Lapins. I’m not sure how it can get much better, but maybe i’m wrong. My problem is brown rot and birds. I’m going to cover whole branches with clear plastic as they start to turn.
I’d like to add Bing and maybe Van.
Things are advancing at a high rate of speed right now with these perfect conditions. It should be a very early ripening this year.
Rob,
Bing and Rainier were my first two grafts and I liked these two varieties a lot since I got to the States in 1979. In the last few years, I saw Fruitnut trial of high Birx sweet cherries and decided to grafted Van, Sandra Rose, and Selah ( the deer got this one, Uh) based on their high Brix in the 30+. Vandalay, White and Black Gold were recently grafted. Most of these sweet cherries ripened within a two weeks period for me but I loved their high Brix. Can’t live without them.
Tony
I grafted Vandalay, Black Gold, and Black Star back in April (thanks Maumang!) and it looks like 5-6 of the 9 grafts (on a Newroot shoots from a dead Black Tartarian) have taken. In fact, there are two cherries, one each on two Vandalay grafts. I’m guessing that flowering during a much warmer time (than they would have if not freshly grafted) helped with the set. A Black Gold graft also flowered around the same time (no set), so that probably supplied the pollen.
I too have had horrible set on Danube for the second year in a row. Big tree, lots of flowers, less than 4-7 cherries per year. I’ve given up on it now and am working it over with 7-8 varieties (both sweets and sours).
For the 2nd year in a row, North Star has gotten bad blossom blight, which limits the set, though it is far more than Danube. From what I’ve seen so far, the Romance series is the best bet on all fronts- production, lack of issues, and compactness. So, I’ve also started working North Star over, though less aggressively than Danube.
3 Likes
Bob,
I think I should follow you and graft over the Danube with other varieties. Danube is not produce enough to occupy the space…
Do you think we can graft the romance series on it?
So far, I have North Star and Montmerency on it.
Someone mentioned grafting sweet cherry on carmine jewell this year (I’m assuming a sucker). Maybe you could convert your Danube to another sweet cherry.
I’m not sure, but I would guess that you could. I think they do nicely on their own roots though. That keeps them reasonably compact. But, if you don’t want an additional bush, it might work.
I’m not sure that grafting sweet cherries onto Danube will work, but I’m giving it a try. Some of the grafts have already taken, but that doesn’t mean much about long term compatibility (re: apple & pear thread). I think it may work given that I remember hearing that Danube was part sweet cherry (25%)?
1 Like
So far, I only graft sweet to sweet and sour to sour. I love cherries but so far, I’ve not eaten anything I grow that tastes as good as store bought Rainier or Bing. I grafted Bing on both Vandalay and Black Gold. I’ll see if I would get anything in a few years.
1 Like
Tony, nice grafts. Last week I was driving in NW Omaha and saw that all trees were without leaves or with very few. I wondered for a while what happened until I remembered about hail storm a couple weeks ago. Looking at all deflated trees, it was a disaster! I hope your trees and grafts are doing OK.
1 Like
My Danube had plenty of flowers and many fruitlets most of them fell off. Carmine jewel graft is growing nicely on Danube. I would like to make a Frankenstein cherry tree, but I have disease issues with sour cherry grafts. Yesterday I removed the last three grafts which were probably infected. They had a few green leaves but did not grow for a long time. I cut the scion union in one of them. The union was well formed with good callus tissues, but about half of its tissues was dead. It did not look like canker, the dead tissues were light in color and there was no sap. I still hope, it will be cool to graft a bunch of Romance series cherries on the same tree.
I got nailed with the hail storm but not as bad as 15 blocks away. Mine were marbles in size for 15 minutes in duration and their were golf balls or larger. Most of their roofs needed to be replaced. The fruits on sweet cherries, peaches, and pawpaws were 95% affected. It sad to see 300 or so pawpaw fruits on the ground but I got 5 mature pawpaw trees so there will be enough to eat but not enough to give them away to my relatives this year. Oh well, I still have Asian and Euro pears, Asian and American persimmons, apples, a few cots , a few TangOs, Grapes, and Jujubes to look forward to.
Tony
1 Like
Your, Bob’s and my Danube behave the same way, tons of blooms, little in fruit set. I grafted North Star on it last year and Montmerency this year. They have had no issue.
I suspect your issue was the quality of scionwood. This included how dormant they were when collected, if they were infected with something from the original trees, how well they were kept in your fridge, Etc.
This year, my failed grafts are due mostly to iffy scionwood quality and how well they were kept in my fridge. I did not have 2nd fridge so everything is together in there, not an ideal storage condition for scionwood. The scionwood that need to be kept longer like peach,nect, may be more affected.
I have a second fridge now so it will be better next year 
.
Tony, there is always another year, but it is good that you still have enough for your own use. Every year I am looking forward for the hail season to pass, it is weather disaster which is very unpredictable.
Mamuang, I completely agree about the issues of the scion quality. This is exactly my thought.
The sour cherry scions from ARS looked really good though. Next year if I get anything from them I will treat them not only with bleach but with some antifungal-antibacterial concoction, I have to research more about the issue.
Next year I may try this product on Danube cherry. It contains the plant hormones and it is supposed to help with the fruit set.
http://www.fertilome.com/product.aspx?pid=2d3b72dd-f77d-4499-8f9f-6568f4afc3f1
Marie,
If you want any cherry I have, just let me know. I’ve treated my cherry with Kocide 3000 in late fall and early spring. So far, so good.
I need to spray Immunox for leaf spot but has not done so yet. Tomorrow it will rain so This Tues is it.
Thank you, Mamuang, I’ll catch you on your offer. I grafted several varieties of sweet cherries and If they survive and I won’t see any disease problems with them, I would probably have some scionwood available for the exchange. I’ll send you the private message later in the winter.
I grafted Danube and Jubileum onto a couple K5 rootstocks a couple years ago. While removing support for the Danube, it snapped off at the graft site with small pressure only. Well I of course as fairly bummed but looks like no big loss after reading your posts here. The good news is I got to try a couple of Jubileum cherries which have potential to make a great pie with less added sugar.
Danube tastes on a sweet side. It is supposed to be one of the sweetest sour cherry. I like the taste but do not like the lack of production.