Mykes is a brand name for a naturally occurring fungus, mycorrhizae, that can be added as a soil booster to greatly improve the development of the root systems of plants. It does help quite a bit. Although, most soils have mycorrhizae in small quantities, already. It looks like a bucket of fertilizer and sells for about $10.00.

These U of S are supposed to produce in their 3rd year, also. Well, I guess if I can wait for an asparagus patch, I can wait for cherries, too. LOL!

How clever to graft Stella onto Evans (that almost sounds . . ?). That would make it much more hardy, right?

Shauna

>> How clever to graft Stella onto Evans (that almost >>sounds . . ?). That would make it much more hardy, right?

Yes, for sure Shauna

Here, one of a couple grafts I did 3 Years ago.

Wow, Konrad, those look so nice. How was your harvest? Did you get alot? Do you have any problems with the birds getting to them first?

I've got my "babies" tucked in for the winter. I didn't do too much for winter protection, though. I decided that if they were going to be hardy, they better learn to suck it up while they're little. I just put some mulch around the bases of them. Here's hoping that in the spring they will survive and bounce back with resilience.

Shauna

Thanks..
you should be fine with your babies!

>>How was your harvest? Did you get allot

Just a couple of graft's as what you see, they tasted great! sweet, the real thing!

Had to cover them up with bird netting.....as soon as they just turn red, the birds will find them, it's not a big problem with sour cherries, the Evans on the same tree, you
can see on the bottom and very right of the pic, they are still small and about a month later,
[two crops on one tree in one season!] LOL

Konrad

Konrad:have you ever experimented with Carmine Jewel cherry "trees" from the U of S (university of Saskatchewan for all of our southern neighours)or any of the other cultivars that they have produced? Also, what kind of planting/watering/feeding tips can you give us. I am in awe of what you do!

We've had 'Carmine Jewel' for about 3 years now, and it's produced fruit for the last two. The fruit is about half the size, and not as sweet as 'Evan's' cherry. The plant itself is shrubby, and low-headed - currently about 5' tall. Of the two, if you are looking for something as close to a sweet cherry as possible, I'd recommend 'Evan's' over 'Carmine Jewel'.

Thank you all!

I agree with Lori,
There is nothing better then Evans....all that "talk" about new verities, I like to see it first!
Go with Evans and you should get some fruits....ooh, you are zone 2??
If you plant against the house, barn, you might be OK?
Or do as I do, I graft allot out on the acreage, [away from home] to our native pin cherry and I will have much more fruits this way, you are going to have a hardier tree and lots of nice blossoms in spring, my Honeybees and Swallowtail love them too........

Most my cherries I haven't fertilized at all, the one on the pic,[with fruit] grows beside the compost pile and don't need any. If you have a good crop, it's perhaps good to fertilize to replenish the loss of nutrient. I never watered them on the acreage, but if it's really dry it wouldn't hurt.
Have you ever grown Nanking cherry?...they are your last alternative and not bad at all!

Konrad

We have two Nanking cherries, and they're on and off with fruiting. It mostly depends on how late a frost we have, though we've started trying to cover them if a late frost threatens. Three summers ago there were enough cherries for a batch of jelly, but not near enough lately. The baby robins love them, though!

Thank-you to all with your excellent advice! I am so disappointed in knowing that Carmine Jewel is not living up to its supposed reputation. However, the good news is that, yes, even in zone 2b I can grow Evans cherries. My friend has one in her backyard in Saskatoon and they have been harvesting for about 3 years now. I find the cherries a little sour but, even so, they are excellent in cherry pie as she gave me one made with Evans cherries (thank-you Pat, you sweetie!). Also, luv2gro, I am going to try Big Momma, Big Late this spring. You are a wealth of knowledge to me gardening friends!

I have the cherry from T&T Seeds called "Rose Cherry". One thing IÂll say is itÂs definitely a vigorous grower (as all cherry bushes probably are). It started out as a 5 inch cutting and within a few years hit six feet high (less one setback year when it got severe winter kill, most Âprunus shrubs did that year).

The cherries are sour, but tasty, kind of addictive. My only beef is it has loads of blooms but not that many cherries. My thinking is though they claim it is "self-pollinating", it might benefit with another tree to cross pollinate.

I have a cistena cherry (though it doesn't bloom much) and there is a chokecherry nearby, but I donÂt think these are helping. Unless, of course, the problem is something other than a lack of pollination. One year there was cool weather during bloom time and I thought that was the problem. This year I thought the weather was perfect but still, not that much in the way of fruit production.

On the plus side, it is quite an attractive shrub. I love the glossy leaves and the fact that if it gets winter killed or gets chewed on by a rabbit, it comes back quickly.

Glen

Hello all, I am new to this forum and need some guidance. I planted a Stella cherry, two years ago. First year it had two cherries on the whole tree. This year we had a lot of wind and I think all of the flowers blew off. I have no cherries this year! I live in El Paso TX and the weather is hot and dry. I water everday? I have not feed or chemically treated the cherry. the tree looks healthy and is about 9 feet tall. What can I do? Thank you, John

This forum is mostly 40 below, stuck in a snowbank kind of people but I'll try. Do other people grow cherries in El Paso? Some tree fruits require a period of chilling or dormancy but your trees did bloom. Stella is supposed to be self fruitful so pollination shouldn't be an issue. A guess is that the tree is still getting established and dropping its blossoms is how it diverts its energy to new root and stem growth. They really didn't blow off.

Konrad.
The Stella cherries look luscious. I have 1 Stella and 3 Lapins that I got from you that I grafted 2 years ago. They are doing well. You said your stella is 3 years old. Am I right to think that these grafts will flower next year? I am sad to say that all the cuttings I got from you last year did not take, not one! I can't think of one reason why they all failed to take. Have you any opinion?

Sengyan

>> I am sad to say that all the cuttings I got from you last year did not take, not one!That's too bad, how about this year's graft?

Hm...not sure, it could be many things like timing, dry weather, contamination, dead scion etc.
Just keep trying, ...you're doing good, at least you have some growing now.
I find that when you cut your cherry scion when buds just start to swell, then graft in the same day
that you have better results.
Keep trying
Konrad

How is everybody doing with sweet cherries this year?

The Stella graft died off, mainly because that large Evans branch where the graft was on died, it grew from a crotch V, split, opened up and started to rot.
A good young shoot came up and I grafted to that one near the bottom, I think that's a better way to do it, low branches near the ground so it gets good snow cover, I had good flowering and some cherries formed this year.

I cheat because mine grow in pots, but here we go:

Stella
May 3rd
{{gwi:759285}}

June 20th
{{gwi:759287}}

Looks good but this is zone 3 and colder forum.

Canadians don't want Americans posting in here? Fine with me.

I have always been welcome here. I hope things haven't changed. I think you just caught Konrad of guard.

BTW, as I feared, Lonicera caerulea (Honeyberry) has escaped into the wild near Duluth, Minnesota (zone 3). There is a huge "field" of them near the airport. Watch out everyone!

Rick

It doesn't matter whether you are American or Canadian at all..as long as the conversation is about things that can grow in the "far north." Otherwise, there are lots of other sections for warmer zones.

So, about these Stella cherries...I don't think I have even ever seen them in greenhouses. What do they taste like compared to the U of S cherries?(Juliet, Crimson Passion, etc.) Are they "real" sweet cherries, or sour cherries that taste sweet? I haven't ever tried grafting, and all my feeble attempts at cuttings and other non-seed ways of propagation for trees and shrubs have failed. Oh well.

I'm sorry if I have caused to offend you, Frank...It wasn't meant to do so, we all love our American's, I do respect all people, no matter from where or what color they're.

Weeper, not sure where your'e from but I have bought several self fruitful sweet cherry trees for testing some years ago from Kuhlmann's in Edmonton. They're still alive, planted very deep below the graft, I can cut scion in spring if needed, 3 trees in total but none flowered, think the buds had damage because the branches are too far up and didnt' get that snow cover. It would be best to head them back and just grow low branches not more then a foot up. Yes, Stella is totally sweet,...like you would buy from the supermarket. I think Evans is a good hardy vigorous rootstock, if you have good snow cover, it can survive a very cold winter,...one night we had around minus 40C. here in Beaumont, none of the tremendous new grows froze back. I'm going to try some tender plums the same way out of town, by heaving branches very low to the ground...and hope for lots of snow or cover with something.

Konrad, a few years ago I had talked with your friend that lives west of Spruce Grove and a bit north of Highway 16. The man had two cherries trees on the south side of his home, I think these were dwarf sweet cherries and had then came through two winters in very good condition. Do you know how these trees have continued to do? I might have to visit with him again.

Terry

Konrad, I'm from an hour south-east of Saskatoon. We live on a farm and have a large yard. We're currently fencing off a large section with game fence to have an orchard and veggie garden. I'm just curious about some of the options I could look into. I'll probably just stick with the hardier sour cherries that taste sweet. However, I sure to love to hear about your adventures and victories!

Weeper - make sure you read the rest of the post about producing compost in Zone 3. I wrote more there for you, and I'll bet your new area, and your cherry trees, will love tons of compost =:)

Sorry to kinda change the subject here.......

Terry, I know who you're talking about, most often I'll see him at the fruit show...next time I will ask.
Weeper, makes sense in your even colder zone, which sour cherry is your favored? Any of the new one's any good?

I haven't tried any of the new sour cherries...I really, really want to! I'd love to taste them before I buy, so that I know which varieties are the tastiest. Fresh eating and freezing will be mainly what I'm doing with them. Seems like reactions of how they taste and how sweet they are vary depending on who you ask. From what I've read, Juliet and Crimson Passion will probably be my favorites...but I'll probably plant Cupid and Romeo as well. I'm hoping they'll be fully hardy for me.

We have horrid number of deer here, they browse everything, and just destroy any fruit trees. So I'm waiting until the deer fence is complete before I plant. Next spring here I come!! I'm doing my research now, though. I'm also looking into apple varieties, plums, chums, honeyberries etc. I already know what I want for raspberries, strawberries, saskatoons.

Fot the 3rd year in a row I'm not eating any cherries off of my trees. They are two 3 year old Stellas and a Black Tartan and even though I had immature fruit this year, they all fel off and none grew to maturity. At least I got to get excited with anticipation. Anyone care to offer an opion as to what could have gone wrong. Will pruning back the limbs promote fruit growth?

I don't think pruning will have any effect, poor pollination, lots of
rain and cool during the flowering period seem to be the main culprit.

A nice little bunch I picked today and they were great, some splitted due to rain.

{{gwi:118583}}

Very impressive! Well done.

That is cool. I hope to try a something like that on a Pin Cherry someday.

I am a new gardener
I bought two cherry trees and put them in my garden as I was instructed to do by the experts.
Now these trees are six years old were in a flowering state when I purchased them.
The blooms are all gone after facing the harsh cold and then sudden hot weather .
My leaves at their stems have ruby red growth like little beads.
Are these cherries or the cherries will come out of the nodes on the branch.
Please help.

I'm afraid your cherries have aborted fruit set.
Fruit set is coming from the flowers, [center].

Well I can't say I am well versed in cherry growing but my Crimson Passion is doing well this year. No blossoms but vigorous. I moved up to the next size pot but was surprised how little the roots grew. At this rate I can keep it in a pot for a few years.

I have never fertilized this plant. I am curious if all the Romance series cherries have such an intense growth period from the middle of May till the end of June. I had hoped to see blossoms in the third year.

I've been contemplating whether I should fertilize or not given the very lush growth. I learned last year this plant responds well to moisture up to the middle of June then it shuts down. Any further water causes yellowing of the leaves. This year I am moving to a much drier location.

The bush has at least one branch that breaks every winter due to snow load. The bush/tree has too much lateral growth and not enough vertical in my opinion. Any extra nutrients I add to induce blossoming is only going to add the to the fragility of the plant. After conversing with the market gardens my plants are anywhere from 2-3 weeks ahead and look and act "fertilized". Ideas anyone?

Glad to find this thread. I live just outside of Edmonton and got gifted a Stella cherry for our wedding. The people that gave it to us said they bought it at Home Depot, not sure I've seen any other greenhouses carry a it because it is well outside zone 3. We were a bit concerned it wouldn't survive the winter, but winter 2015/2016 was pretty mild. It survived quite nicely, flowered even. This year, with the colder (more typical) winter, it seem to be slower to put its leaves and flowers out. We figure at worse if we can keep it alive we have a nice tree. Best case scenario would be fruiting.

Thoughts? I know people have had success with grafted branches, but a whole tree?

Welcome to Gardenweb, Lisa!

I lost Stella when the whole Evans tree died, [grafted onto].

You should be fine until we get a test winter and tree will die back and might shoot up again, definitely not a tree you can rely on picking yearly.

I have now Lapin, Skeena and Vandalay, they all flowered a little. Got them at Kuhlmann's. Think Stella is slightly hardier then any of these.

Boy...already 12 year old thread, thanks for reviving?

How is everybody else doing since?

Well sweet cherries are now being sold everywhere here and I learnt very quickly they don't tolerate Calgary winters. Drastic 20 -30 degree temp swings kill them fast

My brother-in-law wife (Calgary) really wanted a sweet cherry tree... gave her a warning that it might not survive our harsh environment. Will see if Lapins survive the coming Winter.

Well...sometimes things are strange, you're doing the right thing and try several times, seems a tree or graft can do good in one spot but not good in another.

I just grafted Sandra Rose onto Evans at the orchard last year, 3 grafts, all within 10 yards, guess what..2 are dead but the other is alive all the way up, so I used some of this wood for a couple more new grafts. Seems the root has something to do as well, how they harden off in the fall etc...just some weird things going on we don't know.

Do sweet cherries graft onto Evans?

Yes...think it's a good hardy root stock.

Wha't I've have done with the bought sweet cherry trees which are probably on Gisela stock is to burry it, including with some of the cultivar on top. Seems this way you'll never loose it. I should try this with Evans stock also.

Has anybody ever produced a full crop of sweet cherries in zone 4 ?

I knew a guy in Edmonton who had a nice crop of Stella one's in a while, he also told me that Stella was the hardiest amongst many others he tried.

I planted 2 lapins that were year end clearance. 1 winterkilled and one next to the spruce survived very well but didn't bloom. I cheated and put a 3rd in a large pot a couple of years ago. It is absolutely loaded with fruit. I'm starting to lean more to potted trees that will not survive in the ground in my low rural area.

Hey Katie where are you located?

Far South Western Alberta, about 1/2 hour from USA border and mountains. I'm in a low area so get a lot of late frosts and Chinooks.

Potted trees are lots of work and don't think I'll go that route... yet

We had a longer cold winter then last year...about the same low temp. of around minus 32C which is the critical temp. for flower buds to die off. More fruiting buds died off then last year. On the Lapin I have a double leader...one completely died back, the other is alive all the way up with all fruiting buds dead, only some lower branches have some fruit on. The other trees are all green to the top but most of the fruiting buds got winter killed also.

So my Stella has about 6 cherries on it. There was quite a bit of die off at the top of the tree, but on the whole it looks pretty good since I didn't expect it to survive at all.

My plum tree seems to be loaded this year which is nice as it is the first year it has set fruit since we planted it.

OK, I missed the scion spring grafting window and can get a hold of some sweet cherry budwood. How soon can I bud it to Evans, and is budding cherries very successful?