Thanks:
This is a wonderful resource for apple growers. My brother has several old old cherry trees. Today, they are hardly producing fruit, but some years ago they produced the best cherries that I'd ever tasted. Can they be grafted to new roots, or should they be replaced?
Best sweet disease free Cherry for adding to a SE US orchard
Moderator: appledude
Re: Best sweet disease free Cherry for adding to a SE US orc
Here in the Northwest there is alot of prunus virus' that inhabit neighborhoods. Some of them will actually make cherries sick trees, but not kill outright, and with great attenuation of fruit size and or yield. Other viruses just kill the cherry tree outright. I have taken down 2 Bings and a Ranier on account of viruses, and they were mature trees. Now I see the neighbor taking out his cherries too.
The cherry wood makes very good smoke for meats and such, so not all is lost!
If those trees of your brothers are actually infected with some virus, then grafting bits of them to new rootstock will not answer your problem. Easiest thing to do is to cut those trees down, plus any of the neighbors infected trees (get permission!) and plant anew in soil that hasn't seen cherries for awhile. That would be the safest thing to do.
I think it is the U of W at Prosser, Washington that does the virus testing. LINK
Hope that helps.
The cherry wood makes very good smoke for meats and such, so not all is lost!
If those trees of your brothers are actually infected with some virus, then grafting bits of them to new rootstock will not answer your problem. Easiest thing to do is to cut those trees down, plus any of the neighbors infected trees (get permission!) and plant anew in soil that hasn't seen cherries for awhile. That would be the safest thing to do.
I think it is the U of W at Prosser, Washington that does the virus testing. LINK
Hope that helps.