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Cherries Of My Estate
Jun. 18th, 2022 08:41 pmI have four cherry trees, at varying stages of becoming happy and productive. Two heirloom sour cherries (Morello and Montmorency) and two more modern sweet cherries (Black Tartarian and Bing). The sour cherries have steadily been increasing their output year by year. The Morello was planted in 2013 and spent several years giving me just enough for a smallish cherry tart. This year, the output was up to 2 cups of pitted cherries, which would be enough for a full pie, but I've frozen them in tart-sized aliquots because that's how I roll. The Montmorency is a few years younger and hadn't really produced enough to do more than get rolled in with the Morellos until this year when I got about a cup after pitting.
The sweet cherries have been a bit more tardy, though it's not entirely their fault. They aren't self-fertile and need each other for pollination. I'd planted the Black Tartarian in 2013 but hadn't gotten a pollinator yet until 2016 when I planted a Coral Champagne. But the Coral decided to die on me a couple years later and it took me a couple years to get around to replacing it. The Bing went in at the beginning of this year and wasn't really up to flowering yet so no fruit and no pollen. Oddly enough, I did actually get three cherries off the Black Tartarian last year when it shouldn't have produce anything at all, so either it's fertile wiht the sour cherries or there's another cherry tree in bee-commuting distance in the neighborhood.
Anyway, three cups of pie-worthy cherries this year! I just had my first tiny cherry tart. In the local Ranch 99 market (a large Asian-specialty chain) I spotted the perfect tart shells for single servings -- marketed for egg tarts. I baked four tarts and all the rest of the cherries are freezing in an ice cube tray -- about the right amount for those tart shells.
People ask me whether I have problems with bird depredation and oddly enough I haven't had trouble with that. I've seen evidence that the birds take a couple, but not the "descend on the whole crop" thing. I should probably hang mylar streamers or the equivalent as a precaution, but like most things I'll probably wait to get motivated until a year when I lose a crop.
The thing about planting fruit trees is that it's a long-term prospect. About half of the trees I've planted have been in the ground 8-9 years. The rest mostly within the last 5 years. Some of the trees have yet to produce any fruit. (I've more more less given up on the multiple-graft pear tree. I think it's just in a bad location, but it's too late to do anything about now.) A couple of the citrus trees are still thinking about being productive, but my experience has been that it can take them 4-5 years to settle in and then...wham!
At this point, there really isn't any good place to plant more fruit trees. Oh, technically I could fit a couple more in, but it would be in places that I'd rather leave open. But you know, 30 fruit trees on a quarter acre lot isn't too bad at all! I stick to the semi-dwarf and dwarf habits to fit more variety in (and to make it more likely I can actually pick the fruit) And I can pretty much fulfill my fantasy of growing all the fruit I eat, though there are long stretches of the year when it's frozen plums, dried apples, and all the lemons I can use. I don't have any illusions about self-sufficiency for vegetables, but I do love my orchard.
The sweet cherries have been a bit more tardy, though it's not entirely their fault. They aren't self-fertile and need each other for pollination. I'd planted the Black Tartarian in 2013 but hadn't gotten a pollinator yet until 2016 when I planted a Coral Champagne. But the Coral decided to die on me a couple years later and it took me a couple years to get around to replacing it. The Bing went in at the beginning of this year and wasn't really up to flowering yet so no fruit and no pollen. Oddly enough, I did actually get three cherries off the Black Tartarian last year when it shouldn't have produce anything at all, so either it's fertile wiht the sour cherries or there's another cherry tree in bee-commuting distance in the neighborhood.
Anyway, three cups of pie-worthy cherries this year! I just had my first tiny cherry tart. In the local Ranch 99 market (a large Asian-specialty chain) I spotted the perfect tart shells for single servings -- marketed for egg tarts. I baked four tarts and all the rest of the cherries are freezing in an ice cube tray -- about the right amount for those tart shells.
People ask me whether I have problems with bird depredation and oddly enough I haven't had trouble with that. I've seen evidence that the birds take a couple, but not the "descend on the whole crop" thing. I should probably hang mylar streamers or the equivalent as a precaution, but like most things I'll probably wait to get motivated until a year when I lose a crop.
The thing about planting fruit trees is that it's a long-term prospect. About half of the trees I've planted have been in the ground 8-9 years. The rest mostly within the last 5 years. Some of the trees have yet to produce any fruit. (I've more more less given up on the multiple-graft pear tree. I think it's just in a bad location, but it's too late to do anything about now.) A couple of the citrus trees are still thinking about being productive, but my experience has been that it can take them 4-5 years to settle in and then...wham!
At this point, there really isn't any good place to plant more fruit trees. Oh, technically I could fit a couple more in, but it would be in places that I'd rather leave open. But you know, 30 fruit trees on a quarter acre lot isn't too bad at all! I stick to the semi-dwarf and dwarf habits to fit more variety in (and to make it more likely I can actually pick the fruit) And I can pretty much fulfill my fantasy of growing all the fruit I eat, though there are long stretches of the year when it's frozen plums, dried apples, and all the lemons I can use. I don't have any illusions about self-sufficiency for vegetables, but I do love my orchard.
