Has anyone successfully grown “sweet thing” Bush cherry bred by the U of S? Looks like they were first introduced in 2021, so I wasn’t sure if anyone has successfully grown these to peak fruiting yet. As far as I’m aware, it was introduced later in the US by honeyberry USA, so I’m guessing if people are getting it to fruit, they’re mostly Canadian growers. If you’re growing it, what is your experience so far? How does it compare to the other U of S varieties?Have you had any edible fruit from it, and if so, what is it like? Thanks in advance.
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Curse you! I hadn’t even heard of this one and now I need it, lol.
The description sounds great, but it sounds so new that I can’t imagine anyone has reliably fruited it, so it is probably worth calling Honeyberry USA to ask them about it. When I spoke to them, about 6 years ago, they were very helpful and seemed honest about the lower production of Crimson Passion. Of course, for me, lower production meant zero berries, so anything less than a great review saying it is as hardy and productive as Carmine Jewel would actually give me pause.
The description sounds a little like Wowza! that Gurney’s licensed, but it seems probably newer than that one. I think from what I’ve heard Wowza doesn’t seem as productive as some others, so I haven’t bothered with it.
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My d’Artagnon Cherry fruited this year and i planted it last fall… gave me a few cherries that were very tasty. I paid $50 for it but as an investment as its supposed to sucker and give lots of offspring (i know some dont want that)… but i plan on ending up with about 10 of them which makes them $5 each.
I did want Sweet Thing… due to the wording of the ‘highest quality’… but d’Artagnon was pretty good to me… and it only gets 6’ tall (a true dwarf) so that works for me all around.
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Re: sweet thing
I bought one from honey berry USA this year, they ran out of the large plant that I pre ordered so sent me a little 4” guy that’s along ways off—it has been very slow growing so hoping for a growth spurt soon. I have a crimson passion as well—-no fruit in the last couple years but it’s getting quite large.
This one I considered ordering and will probably grab one for next year since I regained some space due to some apricots trees dying this spring. I also liked it was a natural dwarf and supposedly a tasty one. Nice to hear a good report on taste.
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Looks like, per a quick search of the site, @PaulinKansas6b , @Heath , and @MountZionCollec are all growing sweet thing too.
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I bought several of the U of S bush cherries this spring from HoneyBerryUSA. They were all so small and fragile-looking that I left them in pots for the season.
Juliet and Cupid took off rapidly, but Big Red and Sweet Thing have hardly grown. Here is Sweet Thing after three months in a pot:
I am most excited about Sweet Thing because it is supposed to be a cross of Carmine Jewel and Erdí Jublieum, which is the one Hungarian sour cherry that my little orchard is missing and which is sold out everywhere.
The very slow growth of my Sweet Thing is not encouraging, though. It gets more than a half day of sun in its location, and the potting soil is pretty decent stuff (FoxFarm). Right now, I am debating whether to put it in the ground before winter, to give it more of a chance to get established.
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Ordered the 2 gallon bare root ‘Sweet thing’ from Honeyberry USA for planting this fall. rolling the dice, so we will see how it goes for me!
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I ordered sweet thing, Juliet, and cutie pie for this fall.
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@marten I put in 2 Sweet Things this spring, and one is filling out beautifully and is about 3 times bushier than when I started, and the other one is struggling mightily and is two little twigs with less than 10 leaves. To be fair it did get stepped on and had part broken, but it got stepped on bc it was so small and sparse. The one that is struggling gets full and rather intense sun, amd the flourishing one gets maybe a half day of good sun. I also have not fertilized the flourishing one, and have given liquid sea kelp and worm castings to the struggling one. Go figure.
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Mine was tiny and got bit in half by a bunny down to about 4 inches when I first planted it. It’s grown like crazy but straight up like a tree vs bushy. It’s probably a good 2 ft now.
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My sweet thing is doing quite well.
this is how it’s going
it needs some weeding
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Look like its going to fruit this year?
Mine does not 
My ‘Sweet Thing’ is on year two, growing vigorously, and at only about 20” tall, was covered with blooms this spring. I have a few other varieties, some a couple years older that still haven’t bloomed… so nothing to pollinate the flowers so nothing set!
