Bush Cherry’s

[b116757]

My coworker has a Carmine Jewel bush cherry that he and wife talk up quite a bit they like it very well. I’m thinking of ordering one of them and a Wowza bush cherry for around the edge of my yard anyone have any experience with either of these?

 

[Telemark]

Bush cherries are tart. I have Wowza and Montmorency. If you like cherry pies and preserves they are excellent.

You'll need nets to keep the critters off them. Cherries are incredible wildlife trees.

 

[Charles Clear]

I am interested as well. I have 4 Nanking in my yard, I made jelly last year and really enjoyed it. I'd love to get a bush with a bigger cherry like a Carmine jewel or Wowza

 

[Ben.MN/WI]

I don't know where you will be planting the cherry trees/shrubs, I haven't had much luck with eater cherry trees in Minnesota and Wisconsin. They seem to grow well for a while, but mine have all died within about 10 years. I'm assuming they aren't winter hardy enough, but that's just a guess. They do make good pies for a while though, but long lived they are not.

 

[b116757]

We had a very old stand of pie cherry trees but I’m fairly sure my row crop farmer over sprayed them last year and they are pretty much no more. To be honest they were never really great cherries very buggy but I’m still sad to lose them. I’m hoping these bush cherries are less bug prone.

 

[Native Hunter]

This is Romeo Bush Cherry last spring:

 

[Telemark]

I am interested as well. I have 4 Nanking in my yard, I made jelly last year and really enjoyed it. I'd love to get a bush with a bigger cherry like a Carmine jewel or Wowza

I think Carmine Jewel is a rather small cherry, but was selected for flavor and appearance. Wowza is a rather large cherry.

 

[Telemark]

I don't know where you will be planting the cherry trees/shrubs, I haven't had much luck with eater cherry trees in Minnesota and Wisconsin. They seem to grow well for a while, but mine have all died within about 10 years. I'm assuming they aren't winter hardy enough, but that's just a guess. They do make good pies for a while though, but long lived they are not.

If by eater cherries, you mean sweet cherries similar to Bing and other varieties from the Pacific Northwest, I have a lot of challenges with mine as well. I have Merton Glory, Lapins, and Stella. They leaf out and produce fruit, but they do not put on a lot of growth, and they are constantly getting wounds on the bark that ooze a gummy sap. And of course, the birds get into them just before they are ripe.

Sour cherries are completely different. They are much easier to grow, and much more cold tolerant. We used to have some trees in Ohio before they were removed to make space for the new garage, and they were loaded every year. We have a couple new ones in Ontario, and the only problem we have with them is the birds. I've even had to physically smack a pileated woodpecker out of a cherry tree because it wouldn't be scared off. I have a video of it somewhere.

 

[roth2000]

I can give you some insight on them as I have Carmine, Romeo and Juliet. First if you are looking for size, of these 3 Juliet is the largest and best for fresh eating IMO. Carmine is the smallest of the 3 but is the most consistently productive. Romeo was the first to produce fruit by a year. All can be enjoyed fresh if allowed to hang on the bush well after they have turned red but they will still be sour just less so with the developing sugars. In fact the you'll want them to be almost black for fresh eating but the texture will be very soft by that time. They do sucker a lot so keep that in mind as well. I also have many Nanking cherries and they are far less sour than any of the other bush cherries mentioned but are also much smaller with a bigger pit to flesh ratio so more work for processing. If you are ever around my area I'd be happy to let you dig up some suckers to plant for yourself.

 

[b116757]

I can give you some insight on them as I have Carmine, Romeo and Juliet. First if you are looking for size, of these 3 Juliet is the largest and best for fresh eating IMO. Carmine is the smallest of the 3 but is the most consistently productive. Romeo was the first to produce fruit by a year. All can be enjoyed fresh if allowed to hang on the bush well after they have turned red but they will still be sour just less so with the developing sugars. In fact the you'll want them to be almost black for fresh eating but the texture will be very soft by that time. They do sucker a lot so keep that in mind as well. I also have many Nanking cherries and they are far less sour than any of the other bush cherries mentioned but are also much smaller with a bigger pit to flesh ratio so more work for processing. If you are ever around my area I'd be happy to let you dig up some suckers to plant for yourself.

Good info thanks