margi: Growth on a Gisela rootstock should be expected to be slower than a semi-dwarf, but not as slow as you describe. Four years is too long to wait for any significant branching, but it may not have helped that the tree was also trying to fruit in this period. How are the leaves? Are they the normal, dark green color you would expect, and are they as numerous as they should be? Leaves are the best indicator of the health of a tree. Bark peeling off the tree, whether above or below the graft, is not normal, and yes you should be worried. It may be that the roostock is failing, or insufficently vigorous for some reason; perhaps the rootstock itself, or some combination of cultural factors. I planted my first two Gisela trees this past spring, on G5 and G6, and they were growing quite vigorously until the deer started stripping them. If I can solve that problem, I expect them to resume growth, although they are also favorites of various leaf-eating beetles here. But I also expect a fully dwarfing rootstock like Gisela to be touchier than the more vigorous semi-dwarfs, and to experience a higher incidence of problems. Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

the weeping cherry we planted a week ago. ==>> transplant or shipping shock.. or both ... if you planted in late june.... a couple months outside of prime planting time ... one should expect some level of reaction from the plant ... refer to link on proper watering ... one branch wouldnt bother me in the least.. at this time of year... not even if it lost 10 or 20% of its leaves ... its just not the best time to do it ... [no matter what gal says she does in the PNW ... the midwest just isnt the pacific northwest] i would focus on the growth tips... and as long as they look fat and happy.. i would NOT be too concerned about the rest... all i would expect this season.. is life ... last week.. just north of the OH border.. here in adrian ... is was like a bazillion degrees all week.. with humidity over 90%.... please dont tell me.. just a little south of me, wherever you are in OH .. it was sweet and cool all that week.. or else i might come move in with you.. lol ... how bad was the weather.. the week of planting??? perfect watering and you should be all set ... ken ps: why is that branch laying on the stone.. that cant be good in sunshine either???? Here is a link that might be useful: link

Leftwood, After talking with Bors about these previous experiments at Sask grafting high I found out it applied only to using less than 2 year old pie cherry seedlings as scions. Apparently such seedlings when less than 2 years old grow out of sync. and often winter kill (when left growing that way) where as the more mature bigger trees work in sync. (stop growing soon enough). Using these young scions when grafting high to mature trees makes them change to act more mature... thus the act of grafting high saves tender seedling types from otherwise freezing to death. In light of these facts it now appears that maybe grafting high tender varieties on a hardy rootstock no longer applies the way I used to think because it applies to making seedlings cold hardier which in itself might have nothing to do with how hardy the rootstock your grafting to is... Notice I said might. So I'm going to give it a shot using sweet cherries high on the hardy Amur cherry anyways. Who knows. Grafting on Amur cherry is good anyways for vole prevention. Has anyone seen a moose eat Amur cherry? I havn't. Neither has Dr. Bors seen it. He's tasted them and says the reason must be that the wood is too tart. He's also pulled opened freezers with his hybrid pie cherries inside and says the whole freezer smells really great (ie. compelling to herbivores) as of sweet cherries.

Not many....just a few branches. Some parts of the city can grow them allot better...Bernie told me about a tree in Edmonton... One of my clandestine horticultural contacts lives just south of downtown Edmonton and sent a photo of his 12 year old Lapins taken today, July 8. He lives just up the hill from the Muttart conservatory, so the cold air goes downhill away from him. Also he is in about the best possible microclimate as all the big downtown buildings act as giant radiators and warm the coldest winter temperatures a few degrees. His tree is on standard rootstock, and is about 15-20 ft. tall. He has not had temperatures below -32C, the limit for Lapins, for several years. This tree did suffer some winter damage for a couple of winters years ago, but has recovered. This is the second year of a big crop. So yes, it is possible to grow sweet cherries in Edmonton under ideal conditions and location, at least until a winter colder than -32C hits the location. Lapins is also self fertile, so that helps with pollination. Bernie