# Nanking Cherry BUSH



## cwgrl23 (Feb 19, 2004)

Anybody have one of these? I am looking for a sweet-pie cherry bush. Any other kinds your can recommend? I am in zone 4. Where to get them? All my local sources have are trees and I really didn't want a tree.

Please help!

Carrie in SD


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## katydidagain (Jun 11, 2004)

I have them but would never try to make pies from them; the seeds are enormous! They're nice to nibble in the garden--spit the seeds and you're sure to get new bushes. Run through a Foley, they make nice seedless jam. They also make a great cordial--place in jar, cover with vodka, add a lid, put them in a dark place and let them mellow.

Don't have any recommendations but I really hated Hansen's--bitter IMO.


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## Patches (Aug 9, 2006)

I have nanking cherry bushes. Got them from Gurneys 2 years ago. They had a few cherries last year, bloomed like crazy this year, but most of them got frostbit. Was just out there looking and maybe a few survived. I am in sw MO and they bloomed out in March which was way too early. I got some from a friend of mine a few years ago, like gallons from her bushes and I made cherry pie filling from them. We all loved it. Got the recipe from the Ball Blue Book. If they don't bloom too early, they will produce cherries the first or second year. They don't get very big either. I love mine......if I could just teach them to read a calendar. Probably here I can expect a crop every 4 or 5 years when it warms up real early in the year.


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## Pamela (May 10, 2002)

I have had a Nanking Cherry hedge for about 10 years now. They are loaded with cherry's every year, and we are in zone 3. I have to trim them back 3-4 times in the summer. The cherry's are actually pretty good sized and a nice flavor. The dogs eat their share off the bushes too.


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## DayBird (Jul 26, 2004)

Will they live in zone 7b? Do they have the same chill requirements of tree cherries? Where is the best place to purchase them?


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## cowboy joe (Sep 14, 2003)

Zone 5. Does your state have a nursery? Bought rootstock two years ago from the county dept of soil conservation. They were really inexpensive...$1 each in qty of 10. Gave half to family and planted half. They're still too small to bear fruit...maybe this year. We have mature oxheart cherry trees on the property. Anxious to see what the nankings are like as the oxhearts are almost too sweet for pies.


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## knoche (Feb 9, 2009)

I have a number of nanking cherries in the yard here in Colorado (5b).
They do well enough here, tolerant of poor soil, drought, etc.
They tend bloom earlier than my other cherries. Very showy blooms.
I used them mainly as a distraction for birds and other wildlife so they leave my pie and sweet cherries alone. It is moderately successful at that.
The fruit isn't usable in my opinion. It is quite a bit more tart than other pie cherries and the fruit is small with a large pit (may be due to my cultural practice of not watering them).
I would recommend Montmorency for a pie cherry. Pretty hardy. Can be grown as a tree or trimmed as a shrub. Pretty good pie cherry, very productive. They do vary in flavor and tartness which may be due to the soil, siting and water that each get. We have one that is more like a sweet cherry and another that is very tart, almost inedible (my wife says anything that takes more sugar than fruit is just too much trouble) and the rest are in between.


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## Pamela (May 10, 2002)

I got mine from the Ottertail Rod and Gun Club, who does a tree give away every spring. I water mine well, plus mulch them every spring so they don't dry out. The ones I have planted away from the yard are very small in size and so are the cherry's. The ones in the yard as a hedge grow over my head, hence the cutting them back a number of times in the summer to keep them neat. Those produce a good size sweet/tart cherry.


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## oberhaslikid (May 13, 2002)

They make Great jelly and Brandy LOL


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## sammyd (Mar 11, 2007)

I wouldn't make pie out of them unless I had one of those handcrank pitters that could do a lot of cherries fast. You'd be there a long time with an individual cherry pitter, the fruit is rather small.
But throw them all in a pot and boil down for jelly, and you are on your way to a slice of heaven.
My folks have tons of them and we have a lot of starts going by us. Zone 4


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## Rocky Fields (Jan 24, 2007)

Hey.

Try Evans Bali Cherry...it grows more like a bush than a tree. They are hardy here in Northern WI. Mine are slow growing. The fruit is not sweet as a bing cherry, but is sweeter than some pie cherries.

RF


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## Rocky Fields (Jan 24, 2007)

PS: Google "Bali Cherry" or "Evans Cherry" for more info


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## cwgrl23 (Feb 19, 2004)

Thanks all for the info! I have found a local greenhouse that has the Nanking Cherry Bush. I have not found anyone else that has any other kind of cherry in a bush. All they have are trees! Will keep looking for more bush type cherries!

Thanks again!

Carrie in SD


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