North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[mauch1@aol.com]

Doreen,

 

I don't know if you're looking for more opinions on cherries, but here's my experience:

 

I originally concentrated on sweet cherries as 1) I love them 2) they're incredibly

expensive in the store 3) I prefer fruit that is able to be eaten out of hand

 

My experience has been miserable.  Defoliation by deer and Japanese beetles (and

they both seem to prefer these trees over any of my others), has kept my trees stunted 

(I've attempted to keep them protected from the deer with cages (large concrete wire mesh

tomato cages) which helped somewhat.  Since I usually stop spraying about the begining of

July, nothing has much stopped the beetles.  This year the largest of the 3 trees died from the

top down, I think disease.

 

I've had much better success with Nanking cherries and am considering planting some of the

more 'sweet' tart cherries.  I would consider Dukes, but they seem to have disappeared. 

Any opinions on the different varieties of tarts would be welcome.

 

Chris Mauchline
SE PA, zone 6
40° 5' N 75° 51'W
~650 ft elevation