Aphids usually are on very vigorous grows,..this can happen after a good freeze back or too fertile. This last 3 years we had good moisture and growing rate was allot, which means more die back. They do best on higher ground and let grass grow around it at least for several years until you get a good size trunk system. I would give it another chance,..I would give you a tree for free now but best planting time is spring, I could get you one then, pick up in the city or come scion wood exchange at the Devonian Garden.

I never had Aphids problem on the Evans, you can blast them off with the water hose, the deer problem can be fixed with a loop of farm wire fence.

I had bad aphid infestations on some of my Romance Series (U of Sask) cherries last year. It was their first year and I fertilized them when planting, which meant vigorous soft growth that the aphids loved. This year I skipped the fertilizer and no aphids. Not sure if that relates to your situation or not, but thought I'd put it out there.

very interesting, I put in two evan's several years ago, they both got turned into bushes by the deer, but oh well. One is in very rich soil (we have cows) and it has had aphids for two years now. Thanks for the info. C

I had planted 11 evan trees 7 years ago, i now have 4 left. They bloom nice but still only manage to get 6 or 7 cherries off all the trees together. There is severe die back every winter, and oh yes not to forget the black aphid attack on them every year. What few cherries they have produced are sweet and not a bad size, but here in central alberta I dont think they are hardy enough.

bdgardener
They normally turn into bushes if you let them be for several years, that has been with mine for about 10 years. Then I pruned out some dead wood, if left alone it can look like more then one trunk, usually around 3 or so coming off from the main, very low to the ground,..if my memory is correct?

Out in the country unprotected can be challenging, several have died on me too, they're around 15 years old, best place for them is up on the hill, higher the better, there are about 5 or so trees in the lower part and never had any fruits.

Poor soil is good, I have sandy clay, protect them against deer until they're large. About my first 8 years of growing them I never thought I would have a decant harvest, then they smartened up with some good harvest.
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Here, in February I was pruning off dead wood from the freeze back.

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That's a very productive tree! I have one young Evans tree in the city and I've already had problems with birds stealing the fruit. I'm surprised that out in the country you don't seem to have the tree covered in birds stealing the tasty fruit.

I've had an Evans Cherry for about eight years as well. This past year it gave me 60lbs of cherries.
Never had aphids, no deer. It is situated in clay, near the back of the house facing north. We have a low spot there so always has water. Doing great.

Looks like you're nice & sheltered,.. in town?

Yes in town but backyard faces north and its open behind the house so do get a lot of north wind.

Mine looks more like Konrads winter picture.

I have a five year old Evans cherry. It has grown very well, but never produced ripe fruit. The last two years, it set lots of fruit, but when the cherries were still green, nearly all of them dropped off. This happened in June both years.

I thought that the tree might need better nutrients, so I dug up all the grass around it last year, topped it with fresh soil, and mulched it. However, that didn't stop the cherry drop this year again.

The tree is in a sheltered location in my back yard in town. It gets a lot of sun, but not full sun. The soil is heavy clay.

Does anyone have suggestions?

Not sure but allot of mine dropped too in the early stage when fruits were very little. I think it happened due to cool nights when in flower,..poor fruit set or light frost kill, not many cherries this year, I've heard, some have the same thing in the city!

I wouldn't worry too much, location is fine, mine never fruited much in the first 8 or 10 years, they don't need much nutrient, clay is fine.

Welcome to the forum!

In the city, I planted an Evans in spring, 2010. In 2011 it produced enough fruit for one pie. In 2012 a nasty hailstorm destroyed most of the fruit but I got maybe a half pound of cherries. This year production is similar to 2012, yet the tree is bigger and the cherries are far more spread out on the branches. I blame the poor harvest this year on the early hard freeze in October 2012 -- my tree was in full-leaf and kept most of those leaves until spring 2013. I'm betting that early, long winter was also very hard on the flower buds.

My Evans Cherry didn't produce anything for the first four years. I got a bit in the fifth, and after that, there was way more fruit than I could use...most of it is left for the birds.

My Evans is loaded with fruit, as is true most years. Hope to pick this week. I get black aphids, but between spraying with water and just rubbing them off by hand, I can control them. My tree only stands about 7' tall, so it's a relatively easy task. I love this variety.

I'm not sure if I have an Evans Cherry. However, the trees are generally loaded with sour red fruit. Suckering is a problem and I have a surplus of bushes. A couple of bushes are single trunk, four foot high and together provide about 4 litres of cherries.

If anyone wants one of these, come and get it.