North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Claude Jolicoeur <cjoli@gmc.ulaval.ca>]

Douglas,
Thanks again for your notes on apricots and cherries.

You wrote:
>I don't know what winter thaws and spring weather are like around 
>Quebec City, but they are certainly bad enough from the dormancy 
>point of view at Montreal. I would surmise that where maple sugar and 
>syrup can readily be produced, Prunus mandshurica is not well 
>adapted, and P.armeniaca will often be irregular in cropping - but 

This is certainly the case. My orchard is in the county of Charlevoix and,
although not as famous as the Beauce region for maple syrup, the maples do
produce very good syrup.

>It's hard to draw conclusions from one tree; there are so many 
>variables. I would be very cautious about the rootstock question. 
>Nurseries are often quite irresponsible about marginal customers and 
>the home-grower market.

I totally agree with you on this. As a list member mentioned recently, when
one has a sample of 100 trees, then it is possible to draw a real
conclusion. However, this requires a lot of space, time and money...

>Claude, have you grown Nanking cherry (Prunus tomentosa)? I have not, 
>but I have been told that the best of them are quite good. There are 
>selections which are sold for fruit, by among others Ken Taylor, and 
>Beaverlodge Nurseries (if they are still in business). There are also 
>unselected plants sold by mass-market nurseries on the P. T. Barnum 
>principle ("there's a sucker born every minute"). Ditto for Mongolian 
>cherry, Prunus fruticosa.   

About the cherries, I have some hope that Evans will do better than the
usual Montmorency, Meteor and Northstar. However, I am quite sure it is not
the climate that keep them from being healthy, as I have seen specimens of
the same varieties that are very healthy in the same climate or even colder
(at Murray Bay for example). There is a Montmorency at my father's place in
Quebec City that has produced good crops every year for over 20 years (this
is a bit warmer than my orchard, however). Even after the very cold 1994-95
winter, my cherry trees were not in any worse state than after a milder
winter (and they flowered). There has to be something else they don't like
at my place...

I haven't tried the Nankin nor the Mongolia. From what I understand, the
fruit is only good cooked - and I don't really like to cook pies. Like you,
I really enjoy a well ripe Montmorency eaten off the tree. The only thing
is that my tree produces about 12 cherries a year.

About Ken's bigarreau, if I look at the map, I see that he is in the warmer
part of zone 5, and you say his bigarreau is showing some winter injury. I
am in the colder part of zone 4... I did try a Hedelfingen which lived from
1990 to 1998. It flowered a few times but I didn't get a single cherry. My
feeling is that all bigarreaux are hopeless in zone 4, even the hardiest
like the Gold.

When I planted the Evans, I promised myself this was the last chance I
would give to cherries. You almost convinced me to try this Michurin before
I get positive results out of the Evans. I'll think about it...

Claude

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