I have two CJ bushes, but they are only two year old started from twigs less then a pencil. They grew considerably and are approx 3.5 feet high now, bloomed first time in 2009, but no fruits yet. Bushes looks good so far, leaves stay healthy and the plant shape is good. Can't wait to taste cherries. I love sour cherries in general, so hopefully will not be dissapointed. Olga

OregonWoods, I've heard the horror stories too. One guy reported catching a couple having sex in his orchard. Having heard all kinds of stories, I put some pretty stringent qualifiers on my small U-pick. One of the qualifiers was no children under 13. Mind you, I'm all for kids, but mothers look at U-pick as an entertainment venue for their children, and I'm not set up to handle it. Many U-picks cater to that clientele with mazes, etc. But if you have other garden crops, children will utterly trample them down. They are also tree climbers, which increases potential accidents, as well as broken branches. People will do all kinds of unexpected things. I know of one guy who didn't provide ladders to his customers due to liability, and one customer searched his barns till he found one. Last summer, one lady brought her dog to my U-pick. I suppose a person should expect that kind of thing dealing w/ the public. Not a problem as long as you don't have other pets. It never bothered me that people eat some of the U-pick. I know it bothers some farmers (I heard of one who weighed customers in and out, and charged for the difference). For me, I figure it's to be expected, and one should figure eating loss in the pricing. Ken, Thanks again for the good advice. I've got my email set up on my new domain (one small hurdle). I've also started looking into the tools I need to get the first page up; FTP software along with software to build the first page. Software's all free of course. I may have a different opinion once I get started, but so far it doesn't look too bad. Maybe I won't need the hot shot after all. Thanks for the encouragement. Mark

You gotta take Fields for what they are, a low margin high volume business, and adjust your expectations accordingly. I've had really good luck with them on that basis. I also just got a bunch of strawberries that have worked out real well. Their web site comes up for me with "70% site wide sale" at the top, and $8.99 Carmine Jewel Cherries and $2.99 for many varieties of strawberries (25 pack). Try calling them.

I have yet to harvest a cherry from any of my trees or bushes. The lapins actually had three or four cherries high up this year, but the birds got them. The evans had some cherries forming, too, but the birds must have gotten them long before they ripened. I guess I will have to net the evans. The lapins is much too tall to net if it ever produces a crop. The carmen jewels have never produced anything yet. The meteor looked like it was getting cherries one year, but when they got about 1/4" in diameter, they disappeared. I wondered if they weren't pollinated properly. They are all in full sun on a sandy ridge. Maybe I need to water them more. My apples, strawberries, pears, and blueberries are doing well, though. Haskaps have had only a handful of berries. Apricots still too young. My many varieties of plums have been a disappointment so far. With enough variety, you are bound to get a harvest on something, I figure. Northwoodswis