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  • From: rmelrose@bluemoo.net
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [NAFEX] Cherries -- Longish, questions and comments
  • Date: Mon, 28 Jul 2003 15:11:30 -0400 (EDT)

Greetings,

I have a bunch of questions (and comments) about cherry-growing in a cold
climate. The USDA seems to have put my plot of land, which is in Vermont,
on the 4a/3b border, but I believe the new edition moves it into 4a for
what that is worth. As many of you will probably agree, last winter was of
the sort-the-men-from-the-boys type, such as we have not had for several
years. In particular this summer has brought me the unsatisfactory total of 8
cherries, from a total of about 8 trees which are bearing age! Still, I am
only mildly discouraged, after all cherry trees are very decorative.

Question: Winter injury. How permanent is it? I am talking about the damage
that produces tuft leaf growth, presumably corresponding to considerable
vascular damage. I did not see any trunk damage, but the trees are wrapped
in nylon-cloth wrap (why is that stuff so expensive?) Here is a little
report in decreasing order of severity:

Kristen:- Stone dead, even though it was in a quite protected spot.

Morello:- Severe damage, still has only limited leaf out. This was in its
fifth year and had grown well, although not in a particularly protected
spot. I will probably leave it over next winter to see, but I suppose it is
done for. By the way, although listed as a sour cherry this looks much more
like a sweet cherry to me both in leaf and tree character.

Van Sweet, Yellow Glass, Stella, Stark Gold:- These all lost around 1/3 of
their
branches, were late in breaking dormancy, initially had only tuft growth
but have subsequently filled out pretty completely on the remaining
branches. All flower buds killed. The `Yellow Glass' by the way is the most
successful sweet cherry here, no fruit (of course you might say) but in
previous years has flowered heavily, but without a pollinator.

No need to tell me I shouldn't be trying to grow sweet cherries, I know but
that doesn't stop me from trying!

Danube (Erdi Botermo), Surefire, Early Richmond:- These three lost a couple
of branches each, were slow to leaf out but seem to have recovered and are
growing strongly this summer. I was particularly surprised at the damage to
`Early Richmond'.

So, does anyone have a guess as to recovery? Should I expect long-term damage
even in the less severely affected trees?

As to other sour cherries, `Meteor' seems to be the most resilient here
although the oldest tree (6 years) only has a half dozen cherries this
year. The others which survived the winter apparently unscathed are
`Balaton' (with a cherry) and `Bali' (ditto; silly me I have bought both a
`Bali' and an `Evans' not realizing they were the same -- although my trees
look a bit different in leaf colour). `North Star' (2) I have had decent
crops from this in the past but nada this year. In fact it seems to be very
susceptible to what I take to be bacterial canker. I lost two trees (which
were bearing quite heavily) before I realized what was happening, now I cut
it out (viciously) each winter. None of my other cherries seem to get this.

Question:- Does anyone know the habits of bacterial canker, does it spread?
Does it infect apricots, since something on one `Sungold' looked
suspiciously similar.

Continuing:- `Mesabi' (young) did fine as did `Montmorency' (the first of
these
seems to be dwarfed by something, possibly soil conditions, the second was
supposed to be a dwarf but is now larger than the first, although 3 years
younger ..). Also

Question:- `Erdi Jubileum' does anyone have any experience with the cold
hardiness of this Hungarian? I planted one this year, as always in hope.

Question: Does anyone know how to, preferably legally, import the Canadian
cherries (where I use the term in the wide sense) `Carmine Jewel', `Galaxy'
and `Rose'? It occurred to me that these might be hardy here and bear even
in bad years. Even a cutting would be welcome.

It has not been a great fruit year -- apples have also set very poorly
(including wild trees and usually reliable cultivars), no pears (not to
mention quinces and medlars), few blueberries, dead apricots, no plums;
grump. The bananas aren't doing well either. BUT there are currants,
mulberries (surprising that, the trees are not really hardy but the buds
must be tough), raspberries and, having rained heavily last week, it is
`porcini' season so who cares!!

Question:- Does anyone know which bird puts mushrooms in the trees? I
suspect Bluejays, but have not caught them at it.

Ah, so many questions.

Richard Melrose





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