Featured Fruit — Nanking Cherry

Nanking Cherry   Exerpted from “Plums on the Prairies” by Rick Sawatzky http://www.usask.ca/agriculture/plantsci/dom_fruit/articles/plums.pdf   “Prunus tomentosa, Nanking cherry, is widely grown in the prairie provinces.  Nanking cherry as well as eastern and western sandcherries are listed with the plums because they are more closely related botanically to the plums than to true cherries.  Nanking cherry…

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Romeo cherry tree likely doesn’t need fertilizer

Original article BY GERALD FILIPSKI, EDMONTONJOURNAL.COM JULY 16, 2012 Forwarded with a note by Kevin Irvin: For what it is worth, please do remember these are considered ‘trial’ her,e and our South Central temp swings can wreak havoc on plants. It is exciting to trial new fruits though isn’t it? Unlike many cherry trees, the…

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Orchard Report

By Tami Schlies If you’ve been to the membership forums, you’ll find a section where people are posting the results of the past winter. Very interesting to see what survived and what didn’t in various parts of the state. Like many people, I had terrible dieback on my Evans cherries. They are about eight years…

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From the President

By Pat Mulligan   Hello members.  Much of the value of this group is the sharing of experience. When one member tries something new, we all benefit.  Why should we miss new, hardier plants or make the same mistakes?  Our newsletters convey some of our experiences.  Please join me in thanking Dawn Deiser for scanning…

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From the Editor’s Garden

By Tami Schlies Another season is over, with the golden birch and cottonwoods raining down their leaves in a forecast of the snow to come.  I sit at my computer once again, reworking in my mind all that has occurred in the brief summer since the last newsletter. Spring seemed to take its own sweet…

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Researching Cherry Fruit Bud Hardiness

Researching Cherry Fruit Bud Hardiness Below is a forwarded email from Lynn Long a Hort. Extension agent from the University of Oregon. [Kevin] came across the attached Article written by Lynn and thought it would be good information for the Newsletter. Lynn has given permission to reprint.   Hello, I came across your paper on…

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Cherries

These Cherries are reported to begin fruiting at 3 years old! SK Carmine Jewel Stands out for it’s early fruit. Harvest mid to late July when fruit is dark red almost black. Small pit; lots of flesh. Mature height 6’ to 8’ SK Crimson Passion (formerly called Big Mamma) Dark red fruit. Fresh eating Cherry.…

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New Fruit Variety Trials

By Tami Schlies Our visit from Bernie Nikolai this summer was very enlightening on a lot of fronts.  He is from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, which has weather most like our state, though a bit colder winters and hotter summers than Anchorage.  Their average frost dates are around may 24th and September 15th.  They only get…

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Did You Know?

Did You Know?     If you discover a girdled tree in early spring, use white silicone caulking on the exposed area to prevent desiccation and save the tree.  The bark may grow back.   Young apple trees do best in bare soil with no competing grass or weeds and no mulch.   Evans cherry…

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Bench Grafting Stone Fruits In The Spring

  By BOB PURVIS Bench-grafting stone fruits in the spring can be done, but the requirements for success are more rigorous than are those for apples or pears.  In late January I discussed with Dr. Brian Smith, the stone-fruit breeder at the University of Wisconsin at River Falls, what the requirements are for bench-grafting cherries.  …

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August 2002 Tours

by DAN ELLIOT APFG Members had an enjoyable and educational visit to Gene and Alaine Dinkle’s on Fairview Loop Road in Wasilla on a wet evening in August.  From giant cabbages to little crabapples, we were impressed by the variety and productivity of the established plantings. The prolific, large clump of red currant was called…

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Cherry

Cherry  Prunus cerasus Cherries occupy the Cerasus subgenus within Prunus. They are members of the Rosaceae family, subfamily Prunoideae.  Prunus avium L. is the Sweet Cherry, and Prunus cerasus L. the Sour Cherry. P. fruticosa (ground cherry) and P. pseudocerasus (Chinese cherry) are other minor fruit species. Cherries originated in Asia, but spread to Europe…

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Orchard Report – Peters Creek – 2002

Orchard Reports by Tami Schlies We got to see the wonderful acreage of Larry and Judy Wilmarth out in South Anchorage in July, and she gave us some notes I thought I would include in this issue.  They have a huge greenhouse where they keep some of their potted fruit plants in the winter.  They…

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Recipes – Spring 2002

Homemade Fruit Juice from Jackson Gardens   Pick berries when ripe and freeze.  Later, thaw berries in a strainer to remove juice naturally, without killing the healthy enzymes in them.  Once the berries are thawed and strained, you can use a juicer or steamer to get the last of the juice out.  Freeze the juice…

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Orchard Report – Ketchikan – 2001

Ketchikan, Alaska by JERROLD KOERNER December 26, 2001 We are late in getting out our written evaluations on our trials of early ripening apple varieties here at the nursery.  Ketchikan experienced another horrible spring, much like the spring of 1999.  The apple bloom was delayed more than four weeks, spring temperatures were below normal, and…

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Hansen Bush Cherry Sets Fruit with Manure Tea

by SEYMOUR MILLS At the orchard tour at my place someone said  that Hansen Bush Cherry did not fruit in Anchorage.  Guess what?  Mine have fruit on them this year.  They are a tear drop shape.  I have had one 4 or 5 years and another 2 or 3 years.  Each has flowered every year…

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Orchard Report Peter’s Creek August 30, 2001

  by TAMI SCHLIES   It is hard to believe that summer is almost over already.  It has not felt cold enough to be fall yet, but the trees have that bronzy sheen that speaks of the golden days of autumn just around the corner.  Perhaps milder days will give me the incentive to clean…

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Orchard Reports – Fall 2000

  Peters Creek, Alaska Dwight Bradley, Sept. 1, 2000 It’s finally starting to look like an orchard. Without a doubt this has been the best apple year since we planted the orchard in 1992.  Most trees survived last winter with very little damage.  Bloom lasted from June 3 to somewhere around the last week of…

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TART-CHERRY AND PLUM OBSERVATIONS

TART-CHERRY OBSERVATIONS by Bob Purvis   In 1993 I planted a Meteor tart cherry on a Mazzard rootstock and in 1994, a Baird pie cherry, grafted from the tree in Bill Baird’s yard in Anchorage. This year I had the opportunity to watch closely as both trees set a good crop of cherries and ripened…

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ORCHARD REPORT

ORCHARD REPORT -by Michael J. O’Brien Nikiski   This report covers the production of fruit for this past season in my Nikiski orchard.   I have six Meteor cherry trees which produced one cherry each. These trees are seven years old.   Concerning apples, I had one-quarter to one-fifth the fruit as last year, approximately…

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FRUIT TREE THOUGHTS

  by Bob Boyer Anchorage   The following are blossoming dates (B) and fruit pick dates (P) for trees in ground or buckets.   Nanking cherry. B May 5, P Sept. 26. 1 gallon. Cavalier cherry. B May 22. No fruit. Chokecherry. B May 22, didn’t pick; put Cygon 2 on tree. White Nanking cherry,…

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FRUIT-RIPENING DATES IN FAIRBANKS

  —by Clair hammers   I had a very good apple, plum, and cherry plum crop this-year. No pears or apricots. I also had some grapes (Valiant) and elderberries for the first time. One of my elderberries set two different crops about a month apart — and they both got ripe. The following is the…

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FRUIT TREE SURVIVAL RECORD FOR WINTER OF 91-92 IN FAIRBANKS, AK.

The following had no winter injury:   APPLE 922 END                                                                               IMP. BATTLEFORD                          RED SUMBO AKANE                                                                                 JACQUES                                             RED WELL AL MA SWEET                                                                   JOHN WALLACE                               RENOWN ANOROS                                                                               JORDAN RUSSET                              RESCUE ARBOR DALE                                                                     KEEPSAKE                                          ROMFO UNKNOWN ARCTIC RED                                                                      KERR                                                    ROSTHERN 18 BATTLEFORD                                                                    LEAFLAND                                          ROSYBROOK BIDDY                                                                                  LIVELAND RASBERRY                  SCOT 144 BREAKEY                                                                            LODI                                                      SEPT. RUBY BREAKEY X CRIMSON BEAUTY                                LOWELL                                             …

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INDUCING BLOOM IN NANKING CHERRY

By Bob Purvis   Nanking cherry (Prunus tomentosa) has been grown as a substitute for pie cherry trees by Alaskan gardeners for many years because of its hardiness (zone 2—it has fruited in Fairbanks, as well as in Anchorage). Unfortunately, I know more than a few Alaskans who have had great difficulty getting their bushes…

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Fruit Performance Summary for Anchorage and Hope

By Bob Purvis   From 24 to 29 April 1991 i was privileged to spend time with members of the Alaska Chapter of NAFEX. For the benefit and encouragement of those I did not see, I would like to report on progress made by some of our members with various fruit cultivars.   Apples. For…

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SELF INCOMPATIBILITY IN PRUNUS

Self-incompatibility in Prunus is widespread. Most commercial almond (Prunus dulcis) and sweet cherry cultivars (Prunus avium) are self-incompatible, and some are cross incompatible. Thus, they require a specific pollen source other than themselves to bear fruit. Plums (Prunus domestica) can be self-compatible, self-incompatible or partially self-compatible. Partial self-compatibility means that fruit set from self-pollination can…

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SWEET CHERRY OBSERVATIONS

One June 16 I visited the IR- 2 Repository at Prosser, WA Agricultural Research and Extension Center of Washington State University. The IR-2 sweet cherry collection contains 59 varieties. The fruiting season was just beginning; on many cultivars the fruit was red but not ripe. We were highly impressed with the flavor of ‘Salmo’, a…

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WILD CHOKECHERRIES TAMED

The sour chokecherry is looking sweeter these days. The demand for chokecherry jelly and syrup is good, so prices are premium for the wild fruit.   Now Colorado has the first cultivated chokecherry orchard in the nation. The research project was conceived and developed by the private sector and paid for by industry and interested…

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FRONT AND CENTER: CLAIR LAMMERS

Chapter member Clair Lammers has been in touch with me a few times over the past two months and has written down some of the things he is testing in a very favorable microclimate close to Fairbanks. During the nine years he has kept records, it has yet to go below -32 F at his…

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Overwintering Fruit trees in Alaska 1988

During the winters of 1986 and 1987 and 1987 to 1988 I overwintered in pots, a number of apple, pear, plum, apricot, and sweet and tart cherry trees. The decision to grow things in pots was based on these considerations: First, a black plastic pot provides a warm environment for growing new roots on bare-root…

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News from Fairbanks, 1988

I picked a single fruit off my “Yellow Transparent” apple tree this summer. It was slightly unripe on September 9th. The apple was smaller than the “Hyer 12” at the Experimental Farm. I have been doing a lot of research this summer into possible rootstocks for the Fairbanks area. The Peking cotoneaster and the American…

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