Sorry to hear your cherries are not working out for you fruitnut. I would offer some novice advice but I'm sure you know everything I would recommend and more.

I planted my first cherries this year. Four trees in three varieties. I have not heard of anyone successfully growing cherries down here in the Valley. Its dry here though so mine should do well IF they fruit.

That's not good!!..after all that work and investment.

How about sour cherries?...Evans have about 12 brix and probably
are better for you?
Not sure if you get enough chill?

Konrad

I thought Cherries liked snow. Hmmmmm Where I live, in the low desert, we get one day of freeze once every 2 or 9 years, and no stone fruit (except olives) grows here, however about an hour and 15 minute drive up the pass, you come to Cherry Valley, and it's a high enough elevation that cherries do great there. We went cherry picking last year, and it was so much fun!!

I hope you don't have to rip out your trees. That would be very sad.

Best Wishes!
Suzi

Give it a few more years. See if you cam find some cherry varieties more suited to your area, especially local heirlooms, and just top work them into your existing orchard.

I'm really sorry to hear about the last few crops... Good luck on the next!

Fruit-

I got exactly ONE !!! perfect cherry off 4 trees. It was off a "Black Gold". It ended up being huge with a nice heart shape. I split it with the wife and told her this one cost about $150 (4 trees). It tasted just like a Bing cherry you'd buy in the store, nothing specially. I really think cherries are overrated (IMO). They are tough to grow, bug attractors and very iffy here...the PC just LOVE them.

I'm removing all 4 and either giving them away or burning them! I'll take my chances with peaches.

Frank:

Cherries aren't overrated, just very hard to grow ones of exceptional quality. The ones in the store are seldom really good. I've had some from my greenhouse up to 35 mm diameter and as good tasting as anything.

Suzi:

Mind telling us exactly where those good cherries are grown?

My buddy came by so we tested the brix on these cherries. The following are 3 to 5 fruit high, low and mean brix:

Bing: 26, 20, ave 23
Rainier: 28, 21, ave 24
Royal Rainier: 30, 19, ave 24
Sonata: all 21

I was blown away that these sour tasting fruit was as high as 30 brix. My buddy agreed about the taste and they were bad enough we trashed the ones we didn't test. It has been 91 to 102F lately but heat is supposed to lower fruit acidity. So I'm stumped.

Inside greenhouse Lapins and Rainier both averaged 26 brix this morning and tasted better. We had a 19 brix Arctic Jay that was very sweet and great flavor. Arctic Jay is a low acid fruit.

Probably not fully ripe to balance out other things. It's not all sugar and acid.
My Montmorency was high brix for a sour cherry, higher than the Northstar. The Northstar tasted better. The Northstar is usually ripe long enough before the Montmorency.
Even though they were both about the same color I've only been picking the Northstar, the Montmorency has a bitterness to it that I don't think would go well in a pie.
A few more days and I'll be stipping the Northstar. Tasted a Montmorency today and it was much better. Now if the birds will only leave me enough by the time they get fully ripe.

The Northstar is usually ripe long enough to be completely picked before starting to pick the Montmorency.
That is how I would edit that if there was an ability to edit.

Fruit-

To me they are overrated. I rate most other fruit, including pears and apples above cherries. I just don't like the flavor that much, never have. I don't have a sweet tooth like you! I don't need ever fruit to be pure sugar (when you think of it, all fruit is just sugar and water and a few vitamins...). I'm pulling mine this fall or next spring and giving them to my brother or put them on Craigslist. Growing sweet cherries in Zone 4 is really pushing it (i hit -20F or colder almost every year...and the records here are in the -30s...that would probably kill them to the rootstock). Your climate in TX is nothing like that !

My sour cherries have been OK, but the birds and the chafers have taken their share.

The Bings were fully ripe to over ripe. Rainier and Royal Rainier were fully ripe. Sonata was under ripe. But it's known as pretty tart. In fact it is reputed to be sour if grown in too cool an area. The greenhouse Sonata were sweet this year and it is huge and beautiful. My only fault with Sonata is that it isn't firm enough.

Frank & Myk,

I have to say, you guys posts crack me up.

I mentioned we had a seedling tart cherry fruiting for the first time. When I first tasted the fruit (at first blush)it seemed slightly less tart than Montmorency. However, now that the cherries are full red, I can't tell they've gained any sweetness. I don't understand. Maybe they still need more time.

I don't think it's sweetness as much as perceived sweetness. Two cups of instant coffee, both with the same amount of sugar, one with two spoons of coffee, one with one spoon of coffee. Same sweetness but one tastes much sweeter.

My fully ripe Northstar haven't gained any sweetness but they do taste better than they did when I first tested. The juice from what I pitted yesterday is the same 12° it was when most of the tree was green.

Using our tongues to judge brix is just as bad as using brix to judge taste. Unless you're a bird, or so it seems, they're going after my Montmorency a lot more than the Northstar. I guess I should be thankful for that since the Northstar is tasting better.

I'm sorry to hear that the effort you have gone to with cherries has not yielded good results. I know from your other posts that you are having much better results with fruit raised in greenhouse setting, so at least something is working out for you. So far, it looks like we will have a decent crop of blueberries here. Blooms emerged on 4-17, and we had light frost on 4-18. I did not see any evidence of damage to the flowers, and by 5-15, the pollination was complete, & our shrubs were covered with tiny green fruit. I don't know how blueberries manage to endure a light frost without damage to leaves and flowers, but they do. Here in Wisconsin, cherries are grown in Door County, a narrow peninsula that reaches about 50 miles into Lake Michigan. I suppose that the lake helps keep the orchards from getting too cold in the winter. I wonder if they have a higher than average snow cover, and if that is what keeps the trees alive? I am certain that there are times when the north wind blows cold, even in Door County. I have seen blueberries growing wild, in a very exposed location, on the south shore of Isle Royale, located in Lake Superior, near Canada. These were not highbush, they were lowbush, and very small shrubs. Still, I wonder how they survive in that location. I would like to grow cherries, but after hearing about problems that others are having, I think I will leave this particular crop to the commercial growers.

Here in Northern California, (SF Bay Area) I have had a Stella Sweet cheery tree for 20 years. On good years, it produces the best cherries i've ever had; lots of big, super flavorful fruit.

But it developed a bad case of bacterial canker about 10 years ago and has been slowly dying, limb by limb. I started spraying with copper a few years ago and it has slowed down the decline, but I know it's a matter of time.

Cherries are tough. While we don't get the insects here, we do get disease, birds and raccoons; one year raccoons broke about 40% of the branches.

Oh well, the good years make it worth the effort.

letsski:

I also had a Stella for almost 20 yrs in Amarillo Texas. It had fruit about half the years. But it was never better than just fair quality. Not that sweet and nothing great in flavor. I have had some great cherries from my greenhouse. Last years Royal Rainier were superb. The Bings have always been better than Rainier but both very good. This years Selah were very good.

Growing conditions and individual tastes vary a lot. But my buddy and I almost always agree on what is really good.