North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Art Petrzelka <art@complum.com>]

On Fri, 2003-08-22 at 09:32, tanis cuff wrote:
> I'm hoping to propagate a fairly nice P.serotina.  I've collected about a 
> pint of fruit, and want to grow the seeds.   Found some good info via 
> internet searches, but wonder if anyone has some helpful tips-- I've never 
> intentionally grown this before.

The State Forester told me that my forest would change from white oak
and red oak into black cherry and ash if nothing was done. The cherry
will grow in shade, unlike the oak. I have prunus serotina thickets all
through the forest.

One patch that was logged took about three years to turn into a cherry
thicket. The big problem is deer. The deer eat every twig they can
reach. So black cherry is a lot like any other fruit tree as far as deer
is concerned.

So, since cherry like these conditions so much, I would try a low pH
soil mixture and keep the seedlings out of direct sun. If using forest
soil isn't attractive, I've had good results using mycorhizal (sp?)
including one transplant that something half dug up one night that
survived anyway.

This is the first year I've been able to harvest any. Usually the fruit
is up at least 30-40 feet. I've got enough smaller trees growing that
the fruit is lower . . for now.
-- 
-----
Art Petrzelka
Amana, Iowa, USA