celandra:

Nanking and all the other "bush cherry" varieties are better landscape specimens than fruit producers, and when nurseries advertise their delicious cherries they are really just having a good time, and trying to sell some nursery plants. If you ever did get some cherries from these bushes, you would be disappointed to find that the cherry consists of a thin layer of flesh around a fairly large seed. Very difficult and time-consuming to pit if you want to make a pie.

If you want real cherries -- tart cherries -- plant a Northstar or Meteor cherry tree. Both are available from nurseries like Gurney's and Jung. My favorite is Meteor, a yellow-fleshed amarelle type, although the slightly more tart red-fleshed Northstar is good too. With either of these trees, you would normally begin to get some production in about year 3, and it would double every year after that. These trees are self-pollinating.

Sweet cherries are literally a different breed of cat. They cannot be pollinated by sour cherry types, much less by bush cherries, although there are now some varieties that are pretty nearly self-pollinating and do not require a companion tree. Stella and Lapins are among those. Whether or not you can successfully grow sweet cherries depends largely on your climate because they bloom early and are subject to late frosts. Whether you live in Southern Iowa or the more rigorous climate of Northern Iowa could make all the difference. There are, however, people who grow sweet cherries in Minnesota and Wisconsin, because they occasionally check in here. If you do choose to try a sweet cherry, be absolutely certain you plant a tree on a dwarfing rootstock like Gisela 5 or 6, not the more traditional Mahaleb or Mazzard rootstocks that grow a much larger tree. A dwarfed tree will begin producing several years sooner, and will be much easier to control than the older types which can easily grow up to 25 feet or more without regular pruning. When you have to pick the cherries, you don't want any tree that will be over 12 feet tall, and out of reach of your ladder.

Blueberries often require 4-5 years in the ground before they begin to produce, and require regular acidic soil amendments such as sulphur or iron sulphate to grow and produce well. This is particularly true in the sweet limestone soils in many parts of the Midwest. They should also be heavily mulched to conserve moisture during dry spells and gradually feed the plants. I hope when you planted your blueberries that you mixed in lots (up to 50%) peat moss which is one of the better organic soil acidifiers and provides an excellent medium for growing blueberries.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Hm...my Nanking bloomed late, about at year 3 or four and produced about in year 7.
Some say that plum will pollinate them?
That's maybe why my only one bush is producing sooo.. much after I planted a bunch of plum.
Konrad
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