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nafex - [NAFEX] Harvesting Prunus serotina

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  • From: "Jim Fruth" <jfruth@tds.net>
  • To: "NAFEX" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [NAFEX] Harvesting Prunus serotina
  • Date: Sun, 1 Apr 2007 08:38:40 -0500

When I harvest Wild Black Cherry, I do it the way Black Bear do it. Bend the tree to the ground. I use a length of rope and my spare tire to hold it there until I'm through picking. When the bole becomes too thick to be bent down, I use a step ladder but (up to) 4" trees can be bent down providing you do it every year.
Like Chokecherry, the fruit is born on racemes. Unlike Chokecherry whose fruit all ripens at the same time on any given tree, Black Cherry fruits ripen one at a time so there are ripe fruit and green, and everything in between, on the same raceme. That makes for inconvenient harvesting, having to pick one berry at a time instead of stripping the whole raceme. If your tree is in an area that is not subject to alot of bird pressure, you can wait until all the berries per raceme ripen, as most will hang on until they become very overripe. At that point, they become sugary-sticky, messy to pick but worth the mess to make jelly. We make Black Cherry Jelly here at Brambleberry Farm.

Jim Fruth
Brambleberry Farm
Pequot Lakes, MN 56472
www.bberryfarm.com
(218)568-8483 [Store]
(218)831-7018 [My Cell]

This is great
fruit, the trick being to find those trees & branches which can be harvested from
the ground or from the bed of a truck. If you have enough success w/ this project,
please share the best techniques you find, and also the scionwood.


--- BekeeprTop wrote:





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