Fruit tree questions

[Hooch]

The birds around here won't touch the choke cherries, but bears seem to love them. We have probably 5 acres of choke cherry trees here.

Have you ever made the jelly? I haven't but I hear it's good..not like the super bitter raw choke cherry..nasty..

 

[Hooch]

I have a few varieties of honeyberry..they are hardy and the berries are great.
I ran one over twice when it was tiny but it came back. They are drought resistant too and will look dead when the grasshoppers strip them but have come back to life e ery fall when the bugs go away.
My blueberries are not as hardy unfortunately..I'm down to 4 small twiggy bushes...

 

[Tim Horton]

Have you ever made the jelly? I haven't but I hear it's good..not like the super bitter raw choke cherry..nasty..

Yes... It has been too many years.. But as a kid and young adult my mom used to make me crawl into the choke cherry thicket with a tarp and bucket on a string.. Pick and shake down the berries.. She made jelly and pancake syrup.. Kind of a left handed tart taste like lingonberry jam.. To me.. All these are good on toast, with chicken, turkey, roast pork and such..

Same with wild buffalo berry... Small orange berry a bit sweeter than choke cherry, but the bushes have 1" VERY sharp spines to work around.. Good luck...

 

[shanrose]

I'm going to look into them. You're really all set with 5 acres!

Are chokecherry black & the tree grows to thirty feet tall with trunks as large as 14 inches in diameter.
If so, that what we call wild black cherry, which is grown for lumber.
Bees & birds love them, they make good jelly also.
Prunus serotina

Are chokecherry's edible? Do they taste like regular cherries?

 

[shanrose]

I am the Webster definition of ...black thumb...
However I did have pretty good luck planting local domestic versions and wild replants of local fruit trees, bushes.. This being Saskatoon berry, honey berry (Hascup?) sour pin cherry, black current.. This all in growing zone 2..

The trick was to plant a $5 tree in a $50 hole.. Meaning I dug holes with the tractor post hole digger, filled with chicken house or rabbit pen cleanings, potting soil mix and putting a cage around the bush to keep rabbits from girdling it or moose from browsing it to the ground..

Good luck..

You and me both with the black thumb...I'm trying to learn from others who know more. We went to Home Depot today and there were no fruit trees. So we'll try someplace else.

 

[Hooch]

Are chokecherry's edible? Do they taste like regular cherries?

They need to be made into jam or syrup in order to be able to eat them. They are extremely bitter..bears around here like them tho..

 

[Hooch]

You and me both with the black thumb...I'm trying to learn from others who know more. We went to Home Depot today and there were no fruit trees. So we'll try someplace else.

Home depot will sell trees and plants that are not suitable potentially to your grow zone.

Any big box store does this because they are a one size fits all mentality on that stuff

So be aware..if you get them at a big box store..you have to make sure they will be OK in your area.

Make sure you know what grow zone you are in. A local nursery at this time of year might be your only choice to purchase trees at this point.
However, a local nursery will help inform you of the care and grow zone too.

Most of that garden stuff is sold in spring and when they are sold out..that's it.

 

[Mountain trapper]

Are chokecherry's edible? Do they taste like regular cherries?

Not in my opinion. They are bitter and sour. Some people might eat some, but I don't like them at all. They take a lot of sugar to make edible.

 

[joel]

Are chokecherry's edible? Do they taste like regular cherries?

I have never seen a chokecherry, forget eating one.
But thanks to this thread I have read up on them & some varieties taste better than others, none are sweet.
My Black cherries are strong, I would not say bitter, green persimmons are bitter, bitter weed & bitter gourd are truly bitter.
Wild cherries I have tasted are not, hopefully I will get to taste Chokecherries.

 

[Hooch]

I have some Asian friends who eat damb near anything.
The dad Is the main cook...awesome cook..but I said no way on the maggots of some bug they like from Thailand.
It was canned too..in a can just like you'd buy at the store..

I did try the fried chicken feet tho..
Wasn't actually bad..just real ...chewy.

I'm pretty sure I had dog or cat once..not from my friends but , iit was back in the 80's at a local farmers market. A new cart type vendor got busted for selling beef on a stick to be either dog or cat.

My friend n I got a stick each once..we both worked for vendors there..it was a huge market. Anyways, we both noticed it was not like any beef we tasted. The texture n flavor wernt right..it wasn't gross..actually not bad.
However..about 2 week later it was in the paper that they got busted.

 

[joel]

I have some Asian friends who eat damb near anything.
The dad Is the main cook...awesome cook..but I said no way on the maggots of some bug they like from Thailand.
It was canned too..in a can just like you'd buy at the store..

I did try the fried chicken feet tho..
Wasn't actually bad..just real ...chewy.

I'm pretty sure I had dog or cat once..not from my friends but , iit was back in the 80's at a local farmers market. A new cart type vendor got busted for selling beef on a stick to be either dog or cat.

My friend n I got a stick each once..we both worked for vendors there..it was a huge market. Anyways, we both noticed it was not like any beef we tasted. The texture n flavor wernt right..it wasn't gross..actually not bad.
However..about 2 week later it was in the paper that they got busted.

I had beef & bitter Gourd in Washington, DC.

 

[Hooch]

Never heard bitter guord..good?

 

[shanrose]

Home depot will sell trees and plants that are not suitable potentially to your grow zone.

Any big box store does this because they are a one size fits all mentality on that stuff

So be aware..if you get them at a big box store..you have to make sure they will be OK in your garea.

Make sure you know what grow zone you are in. A local nursery at this time of year might be your only choice to purchase trees at this point.
However, a local nursery will help inform you of the care and grow zone too.

Most of that garden stuff is sold in spring and when they are sold out..that's it.

Thanks for the tip. I began looking at Stark Bros and another nursery that someone recommended.

 

[shanrose]

I have never seen a chokecherry, forget eating one.
But thanks to this thread I have read up on them & some varieties taste better than others, none are sweet.
My Black cherries are strong, I would not say bitter, green persimmons are bitter, bitter weed & bitter gourd are truly bitter.
Wild cherries I have tasted are not, hopefully I will get to taste Chokecherries.

Don't you have trouble with the birds eating your black cherries? That's one fruit tree that I bought years ago and we couldn't harvest anything because the birds picked it clean. I wonder if those fake owls work to keep them away. My husband told me to buy a wind spinner but they only work when there is wind.

 

[shanrose]

I have some Asian friends who eat damb near anything.
The dad Is the main cook...awesome cook..but I said no way on the maggots of some bug they like from Thailand.
It was canned too..in a can just like you'd buy at the store..

I did try the fried chicken feet tho..
Wasn't actually bad..just real ...chewy.

I'm pretty sure I had dog or cat once..not from my friends but , iit was back in the 80's at a local farmers market. A new cart type vendor got busted for selling beef on a stick to be either dog or cat.

My friend n I got a stick each once..we both worked for vendors there..it was a huge market. Anyways, we both noticed it was not like any beef we tasted. The texture n flavor wernt right..it wasn't gross..actually not bad.
However..about 2 week later it was in the paper that they got busted.

Asians are known for eating unusual things...but maggots or bugs??? Allegedly humans don't have the digestive capabilities for bugs. I remember someone telling me that they put a live monkey in a table that locks around its neck and they slice off the top of the monkeys head and eat the insides. That still makes me sick to my stomach even recounting the story.

 

[Mountain trapper]

Don't you have trouble with the birds eating your black cherries? That's one fruit tree that I bought years ago and we couldn't harvest anything because the birds picked it clean. I wonder if those fake owls work to keep them away. My husband told me to buy a wind spinner but they only work when there is wind.

The birds get used to the fake owls and just ignore them. Same with the spinners, CD's, and other flashy things. Someone make noise maker that runs off propane and has a timer, but I don't want listen to a noise maker all day long.

 

[joel]

The birds get used to the fake owls and just ignore them. Same with the spinners, CD's, and other flashy things. Someone make noise maker that runs off propane and has a timer, but I don't want listen to a noise maker all day long.

Have friend who loves wind chimes
At least he buys the ones with great pitch.

 

[ClemKadiddlehopper]

I got my first fruit from my 4 yr old bare root orchard; a hand full of cupid pie cherries.

It looks like I will get around 15 chums. They are still green. I have bagged them to keep the birds from stealing them. I hope they taste good.

The plan is to plant all the seeds on the edges of the road ditches (water) and see if I get lucky and expand the bounty for the wild life.

 

[Mountain trapper]

One of the apple trees that we planted 2 years ago died. Last summer grasshoppers ate every last leaf on the tree. I thought it was dead until this spring it started to put on leaves. Then we had frost in June and I think the tree was just too weakened and didn't survive. I think we'll replace it with a peach tree next spring. I'll cut the tree up and use it in the smoker. All of our other apple trees are doing good, most are loaded with apples.

 

[Tim Horton]

Clem... Although I am the definition of ...black thumb... On the north end of the Caribou I planted several nursery stock pin cherry that surprisingly survived and thrived.. Also a number of black current nursery stock I got for end of season cheap and give away that grew and produced well.. (growing zone 2)

I tried to plant bing cherry seeds with the recommended process of cracking the outer shell, wrapping in a wet paper towel, freezing for 90 days or so, then potting.. Same process for using a peach pit.. I could never get this to work with anything..

I also had to cage any berry shrub, tree I planted to protect from deer and moose..

 

[joel]

I forged wild blueberries & wild muscadines.

 

[ClemKadiddlehopper]

Has anyone else tried chums. I planted 3 trees 4 years ago and one produced a handful this year. They were nasty. Lovely texture but bitter like orange pith. I sure hope this isn't going to be what I get from the other 2 trees.

 

[joel]

Has anyone else tried chums. I planted 3 trees 4 years ago and one produced a handful this year. They were nasty. Lovely texture but bitter like orange pith. I sure hope this isn't going to be what I get from the other 2 trees.

What are "chums"???

 

[ClemKadiddlehopper]

A hybrid plum/cherry cross.

 

[Peanut]

I forged wild blueberries & wild muscadines.

Wild muscadines didn't do well here. June was dry and 10degress above average. This cut the numbers and size. Also dry and extra hot in august which made them extra sweet. We loved it if we could get 3 weeks of dry weather just before our peaches got ripe. Always made them extra sweet.

Thankfully my cousin has two varieties of muscadines on one harbor and two varieties of scuppernongs on another, all from old house places. The small muscadine is excellent. I got a bowl for dad and I the other night. The scuppernongs will be ready in a few days. Can't wait. Just talked myself getting a bowl of muscadines from the fridge!

 

[joel]

A hybrid plum/cherry cross.

Captain Obvious!
I did not get that answer in my google search.
Thank you, now I know.

 

[Tim Horton]

One example of ....chums....
https://www.whiffletreefarmandnursery.ca/product-category/trees/chum/

I wish I would have known about these when I lived in ..bush.. I would have tried some in a hot minute.. They sound kind of like a pin cherry (pie cherry) Sour or tart raw but wonderful in most any other use.. Is that about right ??

 

[ClemKadiddlehopper]

That's the claim, but the few I have gotten taste like bitter crap. Rose hips taste better. I sure hope that changes. My trees came from whiffletree.

 

[Tim Horton]

That's the claim, but the few I have gotten taste like bitter crap. Rose hips taste better. I sure hope that changes. My trees came from whiffletree.

Remember... I am the Websters definition of ..black thumb..
I wonder if you added a couple trees that are a little different variety if that would help ?? Like cross pollination and a bunch of other plant stuff I don't understand.. KnowwhatImean.. ??

 

[DWinCO]

I experiment lots. We are very cold winter, windy, dry & way too hot in summer. Dwarf trees don't make it here but semi dwarf do okay. I have quite a few from Stark Bros. that have done very well.