Black Cherry Multiflora?

[livinonfaith]

Oh my Goodness! Zipcode, that second one is just gorgeous!

[PatrickArtist]

Several of my black cherry trusses are doubled, and a few like this one are tripled

[EBHarvey]

Interesting to see how widespread this behavior is...that last one from Patrick looks a heck of a lot like what my plants are doing now - more of a grape-like cluster than a ladder structure typical of cherries.

Incidentally, I have a green doctors plant doing the same thing now too.....

Still interested to see if I can isolate or magnify the trait in black cherry, even if it is "normal".

[Sydney Grower]

Hi all,

I don’t know whether it is bad etiquett to raise a thread that has been dormant for a year... however I am wondering whether we have decided that multiflora black cherries are everywhere, or not.

I have only been growing heirlooms for a year but my first ever black cherry was multiflora (from a prominant seed vendor in Aus). I now have two clones from it that are both producing multiflora (see photos attached). I also have its next generation up and about 2 inches tall and I will save seed from the clones and grow some out from them as well.

Have we decided multiflora black cherries are passé? If not I will happily join the challenge from down under.

Best wishes
Carl

[EBHarvey]

Originally Posted by Sydney Grower

Hi all,

I don’t know whether it is bad etiquett to raise a thread that has been dormant for a year... however I am wondering whether we have decided that multiflora black cherries are everywhere, or not.

I have only been growing heirlooms for a year but my first ever black cherry was multiflora (from a prominant seed vendor in Aus). I now have two clones from it that are both producing multiflora (see photos attached). I also have its next generation up and about 2 inches tall and I will save seed from the clones and grow some out from them as well.

Have we decided multiflora black cherries are passé? If not I will happily join the challenge from down under.

Best wishes
Carl

Thanks for bringing this back up as I don't think I ever reported back on last year's growout.....

I did about 60 plants last year from seed saved from that one prominent multi-flora-esque 2012 plant and got probably half that showed similar branching of the flower trusses, but none that really seemed to amplify the trait. It was a particularly awful growing season for tomatoes here in coastal CT as it got very very hot very early in the summer with a lot of humidity but little rain the stifled plant growth and fruit set. So, I don't know if better condition would have yielded better results.

Ultimately, the only seed I saved from the entire growout was one I labelled "big black cherry" which was from a plant that was consistently producing fruits about half again as big as the other plants - some almost golfball-sized and with very good flavor.

My "play" garden space will be taken up this year with 240 F2's from 6 selections I made last year from a hodgepodge of crosses between all sorts of stuff a few years back, so I don't really have the room or motivation to further explore black cherry's potential diversity. If I can get a good stable strain of this big black cherry I'll be happy enough with the previous effort.

[Anthony_Toronto]

my black cherry have always had at least some trusses like this, is that not normal? seeds are probably 7 or 8 years old now, have been using same seeds for all that time. My beefsteak varieties often have this also...one year CP had trusses with as many as 47 flowers if I recall correctly. That was after harsh weather caused severe blossom drop, and the garden seemed to respond by putting out large bouquets of flowers.