• Post Reply Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic
permaculture forums growies critters building homesteading energy monies kitchen purity ungarbage community wilderness fiber arts art permaculture artisans regional education skip experiences global resources cider press projects digital market permies.com pie forums private forums all forums
this forum made possible by our volunteer staff, including ...
master stewards:
  • r ranson
  • Carla Burke
  • Nancy Reading
  • John F Dean
  • Jay Angler
  • paul wheaton
stewards:
  • Pearl Sutton
  • Burra Maluca
  • Joseph Lofthouse
master gardeners:
  • Timothy Norton
  • Christopher Weeks
gardeners:
  • Jeremy VanGelder
  • Maieshe Ljin
  • Nina Surya

Grafting Black Cherry (Prunus serotina)

 
Posts: 27
Location: Western Pennsylvania, USA
12
4
  • Likes 2
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Hi all,
We have a number of small black cherry trees here on the homestead---most are 5-8' tall.  This winter, I'm thinking about grafting them with some sour cherry varieties. However, some of the things I've read in other places seem to suggest P. Serotina is not compatible with the domesticated cherries.

Does anyone have experience doing this and can share insight?

Also, like other grafts, I assume I can do this in Pennsylvania (Zone 6, USDA) till the buds start popping in April.  I was thinking of doing this in early February.

Thanks!
 
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
You up probably shluld wait for warm weather march-April.
Prunus Serotina van have compatibility issues apparently, but I mistook one for a pin cherry and I grafted one with every stone fruit in the book, almost I'll update you.

If you have pin cherry or choke cherries it's probably better.
 
pollinator
Posts: 373
58
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I just got a chance to try some wild black Cherries & they are actually pretty bitter when raw. Not anywhere near as bad as Chokecherries can be, but still noticeably bitter. Their fruit isn't as large or as firm as domesticated Cherries, either. They have a tendency to want to burst all over. Like, it was squirting juice out of the stem hole when I picked it.

I don't know if any of that has anything to do with why they wouldn't be compatible with one another, but I'd understand if it did. They are extremely closely related species, so it might not be be like having one species of tree growing out of another, but like all one tree, and if that's the case, it might just end up not being capable of producing completely different kinds of Cherries from the same tree? I'm curious now, though.
 
gardener
Posts: 619
Location: VT, zone 5a
299
forest garden foraging composting toilet fiber arts bike seed writing ungarbage
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Black cherries and chokecherries both have their good and bad varieties, and soil can have an effect too. For instance, I know of an absolutely awful chokecherry bush, but the one next to my garden has fruit that is delicious for eating fresh, a little like sweet cherries with a touch of astringency. I suggest one course of action is looking around and tasting these wild cherries until you find an individual you actually like.

With domesticated varieties you can taste any given one and it will probably be relatively tasty (or tasteless...) and that is because they were selected as the best out of a variety of individuals. You can do the same with most wild fruits, because there is such variability in the yields and palatability of each of the fruits, as with domestic seedling fruits. I know of wild grapes, for instance, with very excellent yields and sweet fruit, and also vines that barely ever fruit. So to conclude this little tangent, it’s also a (good) option to select out of natural variation.  
 
snakes are really good at eating slugs. And you wouldn't think it, but so are tiny ads:
PIE - The Easy Way to Support Permies.com
https://permies.com/t/240094/PIE-Easy-Support-Permies
reply
    Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic