Minnie Royal and Royal Lee low-chill Cherry
 

Blossoms and fruit sets on Minnie Royal and Royal Lee, respectively:

Re: Minnie Royal and Royal Lee low-chill Cherry
 

Nice, If someone was able to graft these two together I would have this type. Have you tasted the fruit before?

Re: Minnie Royal and Royal Lee low-chill Cherry
 

They are "Rainier" type cherries. This will be my fourth harvest. 2-in-1 grafted trees are available at nurseries, although you should consider the size of cherries and the total size of harvest before purchasing these.

Re: Minnie Royal and Royal Lee low-chill Cherry
 

I went with Stella because I could not find a 2-in-1 at the time and was a little sad. I head the Minnie Royal and Royal lee were both dwarf's and have good yeild. I was also told Stella is breed off bing, but dont expect anything that makes you think bing. Im out of room for fruit trees, but I may start to expand into the front yard soon.

Re: Minnie Royal and Royal Lee low-chill Cherry
 

Very nice. How long have you had yours in the ground? I planted a bare root pair last year, but the Royal Lee bloomed significantly later than the Minnie Royal and it looks like I won't get any fruit this year.

Re: Minnie Royal and Royal Lee low-chill Cherry
 

Richard ----------- Potted my MR and RL a few weeks ago and they are pushing leaves well. Will have to stay potted this year until I figure a spot for them. Busy with other stuff right now.

And thanks again for the tip. Pics later.

Dan

Re: Minnie Royal and Royal Lee low-chill Cherry
 

I planted them bareroot 5 years ago last month. Here they are, MR on the left and RL on the right. In January I pruned some of the verticals so that the overall height was near 7 feet. The trunk diameters are about 7".

Re: Minnie Royal and Royal Lee low-chill Cherry
 

What can one expect as far as size of fruit and taste?

Re: Minnie Royal and Royal Lee low-chill Cherry
 

Almost identical to Rainier cherries in size and taste.

Re: Minnie Royal and Royal Lee low-chill Cherry
 

Charles --------- To my taste the Rainier is the best!

I got my MR and RL trees from Peaceful Valley at groworganic.com

You got to get one or 2 of each. They are grown at Dave Wilson nursery. Only $19.95 each with shipping at $35.00. Couldn't find anybody in S Fla that has these or even knew about them.

Came in a 5ft tall box and had the correct first pruning. Both were almost 2" caliper and were very healthy. If you can't ground plant them right away just do what I did and pot them.

Re: Minnie Royal and Royal Lee low-chill Cherry
 

They will likely graft very readily to high chill cherry trees although I believe that since it is a registered cultivar it would illegal to do so. For people having to pay high shipping costs it is shame that the growers cannot supply grafting wood. Be a lot cheaper to ship. I have a few of what may be bings and black something other cherries that I purchased on the roadside for about $4 each that came from cottage industries up in georgia. Years ago it was nursery stock and moonshine in those areas and I sort of do not want to know what they are involved in now. A local nurseryman was driving up that way years ago and stopped to talk about looking for bare root trees. They give him a jar of moonshine and told him never to return.
Anyway I have these high chill cherry trees that after a cold winter will putout a few flowers that I would like to graft over to something better like a low chill cherry.

Re: Minnie Royal and Royal Lee low-chill Cherry
 

Dave Wilson does not supply scion wood because for most of the varieties of trees they sell, the selection of root stock is important. In fact, I think the greatest value of Dave Wilson Nursery is the variety of tuned root stocks they offer for a particular plant.

The breeder of these cherries is Zaiger Genetics. I'm not sure if Dave Wilson has an exclusive with them. If you are interested in scion wood it would be worth checking out.

Re: Minnie Royal and Royal Lee low-chill Cherry
 

The current root stock is working great so far after 6-7 yrs. The most dangerous thing we have this way are borers and I was told of case from a local nursery of some local cherry trees that were done in by them. I will check into Zaiger, but have no high hopes as an individual.

Re: Minnie Royal and Royal Lee low-chill Cherry
 

Personally, if I'm going to plant Minnie Royal and Royal Lee in the ground they are going to be on Colt rootstock. However, I'd have a different choice for some of the other Cherry hybrids, or if I was going to grow them in a pot.

Borers are especially problematic when the plants are not being fed a complete fertilizer that contains suitable amounts of minerals from the electrolytic series; esp. zinc and copper. Then the orchard becomes a breeding ground.

Re: Minnie Royal and Royal Lee low-chill Cherry
 

Now that is interesting and it is something that I should look into as well as the pH when one is concerned with electrolyte deficiencies. Our soils are very poor and erosion over the years from logging and then farming has not helped at all. There is even cotton farming in this region which is also hard on soils. When the soils are poor there certainly is a place for some organic farming practices to build it up to a better state which is something else that I need to look into.
since I have been very busy I just planted trees and what ever survived is good and I will work on getting everything to grow once I have time to do everything right. Pears have been very successful and now it is time to get other things prosper.

Re: Minnie Royal and Royal Lee low-chill Cherry
 

I checked out the cherries but I saw that they would like cool Summers and do not like hot and humid. There is nothing about our Summers that are cool and it is definitely very hot and extremely humid. I don't see where they stand much of a chance here. Barnetmill do you think they could prosper here or just languish taking up valuable space?

Re: Minnie Royal and Royal Lee low-chill Cherry
 

I can only speak from my limited experience. I have about 6 high chill cherries growing mostly in the shade that have survived for about 6 yrs in NWFL. Beyond that the only thing I can add is that KC Nursery near Avalon blvd just west of that I-10 exit is selling a cherry from kansas that is supposed to take the heat. It died on me, but they are still selling it and perhaps in more caring hands it will survive.
PS: I am thinking of trying sour cherries and I understand that they exist in our area or did around old homesteads. Good for pies, preserves, and perhaps other things.

Re: Minnie Royal and Royal Lee low-chill Cherry
 

Quote from Barnetmill: They will likely graft very readily to high chill cherry trees although I believe that since it is a registered cultivar it would illegal to do so. For people having to pay high shipping costs it is shame that the growers cannot supply grafting wood.

You should try some state agricultural stations, and universities to obtain budwood. I have gotten some from the N. Y. State Ag. Experimental Station, Geneva, NY, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, University of California, at Davis, CA, Canadian Ag. Experimental Stations at both Summerland, BC and Harrow, Ontario.
I've also picked some up from local commercial fruit growers.
One of the items I got from Summerland was Stella cherry. I lost the first crop, because I didn't realize they are bright red when ripe. I was waiting for them to turn purple/black, and they rotted. One year we netted the tree, to keep the birds away, and we got 40 pounds. The only problem with that is that the branches grow through the net, and you tear a lot of leaves off when trying to remove the net.

Re: Minnie Royal and Royal Lee low-chill Cherry
 

The really cold years we had did you get any cherries?

If so how were they?

Re: Minnie Royal and Royal Lee low-chill Cherry
 

Since Monday I've been eating about a quart of cherries a day. This is likely to continue for awhile because the trees are loaded they are still flowering and setting fruit!

:woohoonaner: