The climate in New Zealand…would it be like Zone 8-10 or do you get ’cold’ weather in your Winters? I live in southern California and as you know, we dont get much ’rain’ let alone temperatures below 50* almost all year long. i visited Campbell Town Scotland once and that temperture remained cool and damp most of the year…(I was informed)…and though i always wanted to ’see’ Australia and New Zealand, i never got an invite so i don’t know the climate. a great encouragement to guys like us is to watch videos on Youtube about growing Food Forests!!!!…and those guys amazing success about all types of ideas!!!!!

Zaiger was working with different cherry tree cultivars from Spain. It's quite possible—I would even say very likely—they could have used Cristobalina to breed Royal Lee. The descriptions of these cherries sound quite similar to each other in many respects, dark colored flesh, sweet, and good flavor. quote by goyo626: "I tried searching for cristobalina cherry patent info but nothing comes up. Can anyone direct me to the patent info on this variety. The only info I have found is that it is an old spanish variety. Thank you. " I feel reluctant to post this again, because I have already posted in several other places in this message board, but here it goes... There is a low chill Spanish heirloom variety cherry called Cristobalina. It is self-fertile and requires about 200 chill hours. Cristobalina has been grown for generations of cherry growers in Andalucia and Valencia, where winters are as mild as they are in Southern California, and reliably produces fruit despite lack of a cold winter. It is known to flower mid-February and produces dark purple, delicious sweet cherries. The only negative is that the fruit does not have as much edible flesh as other more popular cherry varieties, but thinning the tree can help lead to more full-sized fruit. Of course there would not be a patent on it, and this variety is not widely known in America.

Yeah, what gets me is the waiting. If/when any of the grafts has clearly and surely failed, it will be far too late to attempt any others for the year to replace them. But oh well, thats the name of the game. I've done everything I can for them, time to just leave them alone and "Live or die, make your choice!".

Mine on Colt are now second leaf and survived their second summer. Look good. Mine on Mazzard died of Cotton Root Rot mid-June, first leaf. Mine on Newroot-1 are first leaf and I am very impressed with their growth rate compared with Colt. Too early for any of them to produce fruit. Planted 18" apart. Flood irrigation. Arcadia area. Partial overhead and western shade required in summer, even on second leaf, to prevent severe leaf sunburn. This post was edited by Fascist_Nation on Tue, Oct 22, 13 at 9:34