North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["William C. Garthright" <billg@inebraska.com>]

> I bet I need a couple of these. Where should I buy them?


Just thought I'd note that I had a Northstar cherry tree for three years 
- a beautiful little tree, just the right size, and no problem at all - 
and then last summer it just... died. I got one small crop of cherries 
from it (the previous year, 2007, was when we had that hard April 
freeze, so no berries that year), and then the tree died shortly afterwards.

I never did figure out why it died. There were no holes in the trunk, no 
drainage problems that I could see (or, alternately, drought). But when 
I posted about it here, I was told that this seems to happen with 
Northstar cherry trees - just sudden death for no apparent reason.

Hey, I don't really know, and I'm not trying to discourage you from 
trying them. Just thought I'd mention my own experience with that variety.

Oh, yeah, I picked up the tree at Home Depot. This was in 2005, before 
I'd joined NAFEX or really become interested in fruit. I had no idea 
what I was getting, except that it was supposed to have good-tasting 
fruit (which it did, though they were tart).

Bill
Lincoln, NE (zone 5)

--
Brevity is the soul of lingerie. - Dorothy Parker