My rainier has survived -30 and a lot of below zero weather. It’s my most productive tree except this year it got froze out in the spring like most other fruit.
I’m in Oxford, Michigan.
Lucky you. Michigan is few friendlier states for sweet cherries beyond the west coast. Challenges go up for further east like us.
Glad to hear your Rainier withstood subzero for you. Do you have a large body of water moderate your climate?
Michigan cherries are up north on the western shoreline of Lake Michigan. Lake Michigan shorelines provide an excellent cherry environment. They also grow good on the other side of the lake in Door county Wis. I’m a couple hundred miles from the cherry belt in Traverse City Michigan so not much advantage with the water warmth in the winter and spring. I’m actually in a small cold spot for my entire area. I hold snow longer and get more of it. Kids in town when they came to birthday sled parties were in disbelief that we had snow because it’s all melted a mile from us. Even the guys at work roll their eyes thinking my climate is not any different that theirs. Everyone on my road says that only the ones that live here will really know. We live at the top edge of a small plateau but it’s just enough to make it change the weather.
All my cherry trees grow good but Rainier grows like crazy! It grew five foot one year. I wish I knew how to prune them better when I first got them. I would have done the KGB method.
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