|
|
Author |
|
Message | |
|
tahir
Joined: 28 Oct 2004 Posts: 45425 Location: Essex
|
|
|
|
|
judith
Joined: 16 Dec 2004 Posts: 22789 Location: Montgomeryshire
|
Posted: Thu Jul 07, 11 9:35 am Post subject: |
|
judith wrote: |
tahir wrote: |
Blue Peter wrote: |
What colour were the cherries? |
Believe me that's complete b*llux, last year all our cherries suffered equally; white, red, black, even morello (which Tiptree grow unprotected) |
Now I hesitate (very briefly ) to take issue with the DS Soft Fruit God, but last year I lost about half of my red cherries to birds, but had practically no losses from the white ones. Purely anecdotal, I am sure, but my blackbirds really weren't interested in the Merton Glory. |
In the interests of full disclosure, I probably ought to admit that the birds had the bl**dy lot this year - before they were ripe. |
|
|
|
|
tahir
Joined: 28 Oct 2004 Posts: 45425 Location: Essex
|
|
|
|
|
judith
Joined: 16 Dec 2004 Posts: 22789 Location: Montgomeryshire
|
|
|
|
|
tahir
Joined: 28 Oct 2004 Posts: 45425 Location: Essex
|
|
|
|
|
gray_b
Joined: 24 Jun 2011 Posts: 251 Location: Leafy Shires of the Midlands
|
|
|
|
|
tahir
Joined: 28 Oct 2004 Posts: 45425 Location: Essex
|
|
|
|
|
Marches
Joined: 13 Dec 2011 Posts: 171 Location: Nr Peak District, England
|
|
|
|
|
tahir
Joined: 28 Oct 2004 Posts: 45425 Location: Essex
|
Posted: Thu Jul 25, 13 6:07 pm Post subject: |
|
Thoughts so far:
Worse than pointless unless you net
Bacterial canker and blossom wilt are significant issues here, commercial crops really need to be sprayed (we don't)
Trees even on G5 are very vigorous, you need to prune
Varieties are very variable season to season, last year in a poor season we had more Merton Glory than we have had this year, flavour seems to be season dependent too, Yellow Spanish was terrible in 2011 but very tasty this year (much sunnier)
Harvest period is affected hugely by season; we started picking 3 weeks later this year than 2011 and would still be picking in a couple of weeks time if it hadn't rained (most of the remaining crop will have split by now)
Older softer cherry varieties are more split resistant but don't keep as well, not as big either
Nursery descriptions are rubbish; Noir de Guben is NOT a big cherry, Vega will NOT avoid the birds as it needs to be bright red to be tasty
Most reliable so far:
Kordia - A delicious large black cherry
Summer Sun - Excellent dark red cherry, prone to splitting at the first sign of rain though
Stella - Needs to be REALLY dark to be very tasty
Noir de Guben - Small but very tasty, more split resistant than modern varieties |
|
|
|
|
Mistress Rose
Joined: 21 Jul 2011 Posts: 15579
|
|
|
|
|
tahir
Joined: 28 Oct 2004 Posts: 45425 Location: Essex
|
|
|
|
|
mochyn
Joined: 21 Dec 2004 Posts: 24585 Location: mid-Wales
|
|
|
|
|
tahir
Joined: 28 Oct 2004 Posts: 45425 Location: Essex
|
|
|
|
|
mochyn
Joined: 21 Dec 2004 Posts: 24585 Location: mid-Wales
|
|
|
|
|
tahir
Joined: 28 Oct 2004 Posts: 45425 Location: Essex
|
|
|
|
|
|