North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Brungardt, Sam" <Sam.Brungardt@state.mn.us>]

One big difference I have discovered between Evans (a.k.a. Bali) and
Meteor and Northstar tart cherries is that Evans is quite susceptible to
mildew during prolonged wet periods.  The year before last the mildew
even affected the fruit.  I don't believe Meteor or Northstar have that
same weakness.  So, unless you really need an ultra-hardy tart cherry,
you may want to consider the two Univ. of Minn. cultivars over Evans. --
Sam Brungardt, St. Paul, Minn. (USDA Hardiness Zone 4b)

-----Original Message-----
From: nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Rodney Eveland
Sent: Thursday, June 02, 2005 10:21 PM
To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: [NAFEX] Fruity Opinions Wanted !!!


There is probably a very good reason why your orchard is  preplanted
with apples. Unless you are a gambler you should look around carefully
and ask others just how well plums and tart cherries do in your area. I
have a single Stanley and only one mature Montmorency. The Stanley often
loses out to spring frosts, but the Montmorency has produced heavily
every year except last year when we had two frosts during bloom, one of
16 degrees and the other 17 degrees. We still managed to pick enough
cherries to make 4-5 pies and the Robins also ate well.  A search on (
fruit trees plums Maine ) doesn't come up with a lot of promising
results.  You would also need to inquire as to rootstocks. It is my
understanding that Mahaleb is a great rootstock for trees planted on
"great cherry soils" and Mazzard is better for clay. Mazzard takes a
long time to get to full production so there is a long wait after
planting. I think you have to go to dwarfing rootstocks like Gisela if
you don't want to wait so long, but once again you should ask around
your neighborhood before committing to any mass planting. A rootstock
that could significantly delay bloom would be wonderful for any fruit
tree, but plums are more in need of this than Montmorency. It is my
understanding that Evans/Bali is similar in characteristics to
Montmorency , but more winter hardy if properly hardened off ( don't
water a lot from August to dormancy).

If you google the following keywords: ( fruit trees Maine plums ) you
get a lot of info about apples. Here are some urls about Maine fruits:

http://www.fedcoseeds.com/trees/FTavail.htm           2 plums from
FEDCO in Maine

http://www.fedcoseeds.com/trees/treesale.htm           notice the
dearth of plums

http://www.siloamorchards.com/apple_tr.html           forget Maine
check out the heritage apples in Ontario -  what a list.....

more Maine stuff (mostly apples - found using the above 4 keywords)

http://www.mofga.org/active/apprstart.php

http://www.hortsales.com/catalog/fruit_trees.htm        (no plums)

http://www.mainecottagegarden.com/

http://www.applesofmaine.com/nurs.htm

http://www.motherearthnews.com/library/2002_August_September/Plums
(plums in Maine)

http://shakerhillnursery.com/fruittrees.htm          ( a nursery in
Maine )

I vote for Montmorency/Evans over other tart cherries because they
produce heavier and over plums unless you can find a consistent
producer. On the other hand if you live in an area of Maine that doesn't
have spring frosts (ha, ha, ha, chuckle) then plant lots of plums.

I forgot to mention that Stanley picks very cleanly from the tree and
tart cherries don't. The cherries often leave the pit still on the stem
with the now empty cherry bleeding it's precious body fluids on your
hands and clothing. The clear juice stains clothing so wear your old
clothes. Plus all cherries keep longer if they go directly from the tree
into a bucket of ice water and are kept in it until processed. You may
have noticed that the sweet cherry season has gotten "longer" in the
past few years. This is due to putting them in cold water immediately
from the tree and then using special packaging (small plastic bag of
about 4 lbs cherries with a certain size of ventilation holes). All in
all apples keep better than cherries while waiting for a buyer to show
up, and tart cherries withstand spring frost better than plums.

But life is a gamble and you only have so many years to "place a bet".
If you don't need the money from your fruit give either one a go if you
think  they can be grown successfully  (consistently)  in your area.
P.S. this might be a good time to "get religion".




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