Questions about Nanking cherry and Serviceberry

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I would like to ask if anyone here has ever or currently grows Nanking cherries? I live about 35 miles north of Houston, and I have a book titled Growing Fruits and Nuts in the South. According to one of the authors, a former TX agricultural extension agent, the Nanking cherry will grow and fruit along the gulf coast where the summers are very long and hot and the winter has limited chill hours. Also according to the author, some seedlings will do well and some won't. I have a pretty extensive variety of small fruits (and some not so small!) here and am always looking for new kinds. I have tried the Capulin and Barbados cherries and they are just a little too tropical for this area. If you have ever grown the Nanking I would be extremely interested in knowing how they performed, what care they received, and what exactly they taste like. I know they have a large pit and relatively thin flesh.

ALSO, I am interested in obtaining seed for the Serviceberry (aka Shadblow). I am pretty good at starting tree seeds and would like to try to grow a large group of seedlings and see if any are adaptable to this area, USDA zone 8B. I am willing to pay a fee for the seed, plus postage. If you can help, please email me. I would be very appreciative.

-- HannahMariaHolly (hannahholly@hotmail.com), April 28, 2001

Answers

I am growing them here in North Alabama....zone 7B. They were bought as plants not seeds from Gurneys about 3 years ago. They are 4 foot tall now and produced fruit for the first time last year. Very good...yes, a fairly large seed but nice tasting! I have done nothing out of the ordinary...mulched with compost a couple times a year and watered regularly last year during our bad drought. They seem to be pretty tough. They do bloom rather early though...here it gets warm in late Feb and then frosts again in March! A later blooming variety might be better.

-- Jason (AJAMA5@netscape.net), April 28, 2001.

hello, hanna, we are growing Nanking cherries, also bought from Gurneys (as very slight twigs). We are in Central Texas, between Austin and Waco. They have done very well, but the fruit(on ours at least) is very small, not like a regular cherry at all(Although last year was the first we had fruit, don't know if it will get bigger). OUrs set fruit maybe a month ago. They are a bush, not big.

-- mary, texas (marylgarcia@aol.com), April 28, 2001.

We had two Nankings in IL, they did fine, but due to lack of pruning (Dad thinks that ALL bushes should have flat tops, lol!) they stopped fruiting a year or so ago. With proper care - ie. pruning correctly, occasional manure, etc, they should be VERY prolific for you. Nothing in that yard received any care that I didn't give it, so they don't require all that much!

They are slightly bitter, I only used them for jams. They are quite FULL flavored, though.

Can't help out with the serviceberries, though... You might try Gurney or Harris seeds... They have a lot of varieties of fruit bushes, and fairly resonable prices. Don't think they sell the seed for them, though... Mainly started bare-root bushes.

-- Sue Diederich (willow666@rocketmail.com), April 30, 2001.


About the Nankings from Gurneys - I just planted one a couple of weeks back. It was/is a sad looking twig sort of thing. How long before I should see some signs of life? We live in the central Cal foothills and have long hot summers too. I am worried that this thing is dead. Hubby says give it time. When we planted it we mulched it with old pig poop mixed with shavings. It's on a drip so gets regular watering. Thanks

-- cindy (jandcpalmer@sierratel.com), May 02, 2001.

I bought two of the Nanking and one survived..it is huge now..fertilized it a couple of times and that was it.. takes about 3- 4 years before you see any significant growth but they make a really pretty bush..is the first to bloom here of all my shrubs and bushes..I live in S.E. Mo. and they seem to love the heat. Can't help you with the serviceberry though.

-- Lynn(MO) (mscratch1@semo.net), May 05, 2001.


I ordered a Nanking Cherry Tree from Gurneys. They told me it would bear fruit the first year! All I receved was a brown dry twig that looked like a bamboo stalk!!!! Please tell me that wasn't the tree!!?? How will it fare in the Adirondeck Mts of NY.? Thanks!

-- Mary Lambert (joy8486@yahoo.com), June 01, 2001.

I have 2 nanking cherry, they are now over 5 feet tall and almost as big around. I live in Erie, Pa, where the weather is not predictable. One of the bushes was eaten down to the ground but rabbits, but came back and is as big as the other one. I have had them for 5 years. This is the second year they have fruit.

-- suzanne (amiyesiam@aol.com), July 04, 2001.

Hi I live in Central Saskatchewan, Canada (Zone 2)and if I can grow Nanking Cherries anyone can. Ours is a transplant from a relative in Alberta with same zone, so I don't know the name of the variety. This is the first year they are producing (5th year), and producing they are. I am not into winemaking but would dearly love a recipe for making jelly.

Jackie

-- Jackie Bonneau (jacmar@sk.sympatico.ca), July 18, 2001.


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