Dwarf sour cherries in the pacific northwest?

Is anyone growing dwarf sour cherries in the pacific northwest? Especially interested in the USask 'Romance' cultivars (Romeo, Juliet, Valentine, Cupid...) http://www.fruit.usask.ca/dwarfsourcherries.html

There are a few mature cherry trees on my parents' property, but they are mostly very difficult to harvest from, and impossible to net/cage, so the birds/squirrels take from 98-100% of the harvest before it's ripe enough to finish ripening off the tree.

I'd like to put in a few new trees that are small enough to protect from the critters, and the dwarf sour cherries sound like a good fit on paper... but I've been quite disappointed in the performance and fruit from my Haskap bushes, which leaves me a bit wary of another interesting fruit from the same program.

Anyone have any experience to relate? Alternatives to suggest?

There has been success growing Evans (aka Bali) cherries in Anchorage. Nice, not too big, shrubs. They can be very productive in a small space.

I went ahead and bought a couple - 1 Valentine, 1 Romeo. The Bairds @ Ecosense have them available, small 1-yr old trees in pots.

He's got some 3-yr old trees in the ground, 3-4 ft tall. Looking pretty good even in clay-ish soil. No fruit yet.

I'll report back here as time passes.

I bought a Juliet cherry as a tiny plug many years ago and it is now a large bush. Unfortunately I haven’t had much success getting much fruit from it. It does flower abundantly. Perhaps earlier than it should. Last year I used a paintbrush to move pollen between its own blossoms. That definitely helped with fruit set. I got perhaps a dozen cherries instead of like two. I didn’t net though and the birds got some. The ones I tasted were a hit with my family.

I wonder if I had a wild or tart cherry nearby if that would help. Unfortunately I don’t have space for any.  

I think I will try one more year and net this time and if not pull it out.

It suckers a fair amount so I have dug up and given away quite a few.
I live in Victoria BC in a zone 9a microclimate.

I also had minimal success with haskap. Inthink the USask breeding program is excellent but not geared towards our milder climate.

Hi Katherine,

Welcome to Permies.

Katherine Mun wrote:I also had minimal success with haskap. In think the USask breeding program is excellent but not geared towards our milder climate.

I would agree with this, which is why I'm hesitant to order plants from too far out of the Lower Vancouver Island ecosystem. We have long cool springs and don't get the spike in summer heat, particularly where I am that typically gets on-shore evening breezes. For example in the winter, the temperature will start to drop in the evening as the sun is setting, and I'll look at it and think "maybe I need to drain a couple of hoses" and then I'll look 2 hours later and the temps gone up a degree or two. That's not Saskatchewan weather!

Are you sure the suckers are the same as the fruiting branches and it's not some different root stock that the plant's been grafted to? I ask because I hadn't heard that anyone had managed a dwarf cherry without grafting. If it is fruiting, dwarf volunteers you're getting, I'd be interested in trying a baby on my land - PM me which is the little button to the right of my name on this post.

I have a large cherry tree, but as noted above, between the squirrels and birds, I'm lucky to get 2 cherries for me.