Hm..this is a surprise to me, have never heard of black knot on Evans around here, Chokecherries yes, but very little, so far not in my property.
Are you in a humid environment?..not sure what conditon blacknot thrives in.

Konrad

Haven't had any problem on my Evans, but have only had it 5 or so years, also. Black Knot shows up on chokecherries throughout the area and have had some on Early Richmond cherries that grow with the chokecherries. Never a problem, occasionally trim a branch or two out when it dies.

I've had Evans/Bali in the ground here for 10-12 years, with no sign of black knot - and it's rampant on the native P.serotina throughout the area, and I've had a little on some of the European & Japanese hybrid plums in the orchard.

After seeing Konrad's photos of Evans in fruit, I can see why folks in the true frigid northland(being a native of south AL, I often jokingly call KY by that moniker)are so fond of it. However, here in my hot zone 6, it's just not that great a cherry; the old standard Montmorency is much more productive, the fruits are larger, and have nearly twice as much pulp surrounding the pits.
So...I'm not sure I'd even recommend Evans for a zone 6 site - but I'm not a cherry fan; I don't really care for them at all, and were it not for my wife, probably wouldn't have planted any.

Interesting comments about finding black knot on chokecherries but not Evans. I have seen it on chokecherries around here, and also come to think of it on pin cherries - which there are quite of few of on our property.

I wouldn't be so concerned myself, and would go ahead and order some, as they're not that expensive, but I've gotten some other people here interested and feel responsible for them getting good trees.

I've emailed the black knot question to DNA gardens and await a response. The lady did say last time "Yes Evans cherry and our other cherries would do well there. They like heat and humidity for growth. To protect from diseases aggravated by humidity you may want to spray your trees with our organic Neem oil product".

A humid climate is what we have. And although we're in zone 6 it's a pretty cold zone 6, long winters with -10 to -15C (2 to 8F?) not uncommon.

This is Black knot from my neighbours large
chokecherry tree, [old] he dind't know what
it was, called me over to see it,
he said that this was going on for years and it really hasn't bothered
the tree.
I would probably cut it out, not sure how Evans would suffer from this.
And yes, I would just put some in and see.
Konrad
{{gwi:73498}}

Wow, any updates on this problem in Edmonton?