Cherries, Plums & Pawpaws

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and stock for today’s homesteader

Due to problems with our rootstock storage this year, we have limited availability of cherry trees. All available sour cherries are two year old trees in two gallon pots for $26 ea. Call for availability. Sweet Cherries are available in gallon and 2 gallon sizes with limited availability.

Sour (Pie) Cherries: I find sour cherries simply delightful to eat fresh off the tree, despite any reputation otherwise. If too tart for your taste buds, don’t fret; they can be put to a hundred other delicious uses in cooking, baking, drying, preserving, etc. Sour cherries are large and can be easily pitted with any version of standard cherry pitters. Sour cherries share the spotlight with pears as the easiest to produce tree fruits in the Midwest without any sprays. Birds can be a problem, eating the crop as soon as it ripens. Sour cherries will even tolerate little to no pruning if that sounds like a daunting task to you. A cherry in bloom is a stunning sight, and have a nice natural growth form. Grafted onto Mazzard seedling rootstock, which does better in heavy wet soils than Mahaleb.

Pollination: All sour cherries are fully self-fertile.

Northstar: A natural dwarf, reaching only 8-10’ at maturity. Cherries are large and bright red. ‘Northstar’ is a perfect edible landscaping plant due to it’s small size, low care and beautiful blooms and fruit. Space 8-10’ apart. Gallon Pots—$16 Not Available in 2011

Montmorency: A well-known and time-tested variety which is still grown commercially. Very similar to ‘Northstar’, but tree grows larger (16’) and is more vigorous. Space 12-16’ apart. Gallon Pots—$16 Not Available in 2011

Sweet Cherries: While sweet cherries are savored by almost everyone for their meaty, rich and juicy flesh, they are a little more difficult to grow without synthetic sprays. The fruit is prone to brown rot, often starting on split fruits. Insect pests (and birds) are also drawn to the fruitlets, so Surround WP is a good idea for these guys. Sweet cherries in southern IN sometimes miss a crop from blooming too early and having the blossoms killed by heavy frost. Grafted on Krymsk 5 which is a vigorous, early bearing, semi-dwarfing rootstock for cherries. It performs better in heavy clay soils and can be kept at 15’ for easier picking! Space sweet cherries 15-18’ apart. Gallon Pots—$16

Pollination: ‘Kristin’ and ‘Gold’ need another variety for pollination. All our sweet cherries are compatible pollenizers.

Kristin: Early-mid season (early July). Dark, sweet and great flavor. Medium sized fruit. Known for its winter-hardiness. Resistant to cracking and bacterial canker. Zone 4-8 Gallon Pots—$16

Gold: Mid season (mid July). It is believed that birds will not bother sweet cherries that are fully yellow when ripe, and here one is! Apparently even the blushed varieties like Emperor Francis can be prone to bird predation. This is an easy to grow large gold cherry that is cold hardy and a good pollinator for other varieties. Zone 4-8 Gallon Pots—$16

Lapins: Late season (late July). Self fertile sweet cherry with dark, crack-resistant fruit. Good pollinator for other varieties. Precocious fruiter. Zone 5-8 Gallon Pots—$16

Nanking Bush Cherry (Prunus tomentosa): I have hesitated to offer bush cherries for years since the fruit is too small to pit using a standard cherry pitter. However, after having some of our plants produce fruit the last few years, I now see its value as a delightful out-of-hand snack and a plant that will thrive under utter neglect. It is one also one of the first things to blossom in the Spring, only preceded by our apricot tree. The bushes reach 8’ high if unpruned and about 6’ wide. Can grow and even fruit in semi-shade, though more fruit is produced in full sun. Somewhat self-fertile, but really best with a second plant as a pollinator (these are seedlings so any two plants should work). Gallon Pots for $12

Plums: The following are hybrid plum varieties that are crosses between American and Asian plum varieties. A friend of mine has a grove of these and I must say I’m impressed with how well they have performed in our high insect and disease pressure in southern IN! Most European and Japanese plums are extremely prone to insect and disease problems in the Midwest, so these hybrid plums are your best bet if growing organically. Pollination is the only problem they are reported to have, and it is recommended to plant them in groups or circles with as little as 4’ between plants (I’d personally recommend you put them 8-10’apart). Let the branches mingle but keep them pruned enough to stay open to air flow. Including an American plum seedling will help pollination greatly. Need at least two for pollination. Height to 15’. Full to part sun. Grafted on American Plum seedling rootstock.

Waneta: Midsummer. Red-skinned, orange-fleshed fruit up to 2”. Fairly juicy and very delicious! Reliable bearer. Zone 3-6. Gallon Pots—$16

Toka: Late summer. Supposedly a good pollinator for other hybrid plums. Mottled red/purple fruit up to 1 1/2”. Great flavor, meatier and drier than other hybrid plums. Zone 3-6. Gallon Pots—$16

Purple Heart: Late summer. Outstanding juicy flavor! Purple skin and purple flesh. Can have tricky pollination problems. Less winter hardy than other hybrid plums. Zone 4-6. Gallon Pots—$16

American Plum (Prunus Americana): These seedling trees are extremely disease-resistant and set bumper crops of golf-ball sized fruit every two years. In between years get a smaller crop. The fruit is red-skinned and yellow fleshed and glows when the sunlight hits it! It is delicious eaten straight off the tree with a slight astringency that comes through delightfully in wine made from these fruits. The roots will sucker so if you do not mow around them, they will eventually form a clonal “grove” of plums for you! 4” pots $6; Gallon Pots $12

Pawpaw (Asimina triloba): The largest native North American edible fruit! This northernmost member of the tropical custard apple family (cherimoya, guayabana) has great potential for landscape and orchard use in the Midwest. Very shade tolerant, where it still will produce, it gets positively loaded like a peach tree if grown in full sun. Custard-like fruits have the texture of an avocado with flavors ranging from banana to mango. Pawpaw fruits contain a strong anti-tumor compound. Extract made from the bark is a strong, broad-spectrum insecticide (thus it has no real pests, except the zebra swallowtail butterfly larvae feed on this plant). Need two for pollination; plant 8-15’ apart. Height to 25’. Seedlings in Gallon Pots for $12 and Two Gallon pots for $22

Apples, Pears & Peaches, Cherries, Plums, & Pawpaws, Blackberries & Raspberries, Gooseberries, Jostaberries & Currants, Grapes & Kiwis, Hardy Figs, Nut Trees & etc.