Cherry of the Rio Grande did not fruit this year!

[jez251]

I really don't like it when one of my fruiting trees fails to fruit in its season. That's what happened with my cherry of the rio grande this year. I'd like to blame the late cold front that we had this year, maybe it messed up the fruiting window since it came in early March. Or it may be because i fertilized it with some potassium sulfate soon after that to try to encourage it to flower.

Did anyone else's CORG not fruit this year?

Any advice or comments would be appreciated.

Jaime

[Cookie Monster]

Could have been the prolonged drought. My tree will not produce if not watered during a drought.

[jez251]

Hmmm... I water all my plants at least 1-2 times a week unless it has rained. So don't think it was due to drought. the other thing is that my tree seems to be deciduous as it loses all of its leaves every Winter. I seem to recall that we had this discussion on the Yahoo group about whether CORG was deciduous or not. I believe it is, at least it has been for me.

Jaime

[Fruitguy]

I don't recall a prolonged drought (I was away for most of January though) but I rarely provide any supplemental irrigation to the CORG and mine had a decent crop this year.   

[Cookie Monster]

Here in Tamarac, I had something like 3 to 4 weeks without rain back in march / apr. My 25 - 30 year old cherry rio grande and similarly aged grumichama were suffering from severe drought stress. I don't provide any supplemental irrigation and don't have lawn where the trees are located.

[Cookie Monster]

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/productview.php?pil=DGTMFL

DROUGHT INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIAMI FL
350 PM EST FRI MAR 22 2013

...MODERATE DROUGHT CONDITIONS NOW IN PLACE ACROSS METRO BROWARD,
METRO MIAMI-DADE, WESTERN GLADES, MAINLAND MONROE, EASTERN COLLIER,
AND SOUTHERN MIAMI-DADE COUNTIES...

...ABNORMALLY DRY CONDITIONS CONTINUE OVER THE REST OF SOUTH
FLORIDA...

                              PERCENT OF NORMAL       PERCENT OF NORMAL
                             NOV1,2012-MAR21,2013    JAN1,2013-MAR21,2013
AIRPORTS

FORT LAUDERDALE INTERNATIONAL        33%                      36%
MIAMI INTERNATIONAL                            37%                      53%
NAPLES MUNICIPAL AIRPORT                  49%                      45%
PALM BEACH INTERNATIONAL                  33%                      42%

[Fruitguy]

Nice documentation!     I must have either gotten lucky with brief showers rolling thru or simply not noticed as we don't normally get much rain this time of year.  My rain guage kicked the bucket back in January. 

[jez251]

Maybe the problem is that I over-watered it! Who knows, but I did miss tasting them this year as I really enjoy their flavor.

jaime

[Cookie Monster]

haha most people don't notice cause they have sprinklers running to water the grass. I just let the little bit of lawn in the front die off during the spring :-). Some dood came by the other day trying to sell his lawn management services, and I basically told him that I could care less if the entire lawn died off tomorrow. Then he tried to sell me his tree and shrub management services. ha ha - I'm super anal about my fr00t trees and aint no body gonna be layin their grubby hands on my trees but me!

I actually chainsawed the cherry rio grande to make room for a mango. I got tired of watching the leaves wilt every single spring due to drought stress. My jabos do the same thing, but that's a fruit that I'm willing to hand water once a week for. cookiemonster like jaboticaba.

IFAS claims that cherry rio grande is drought tolerant, but I guess they haven't seen the ones in my yard (I had another young one that croaked this spring).

[kgknight]

In my yard I have noticed that my pitomba, rio grande and grumichama all require a lot of water to flower and set fruit.  This is just what I noticed in my own yard, if I water frequently, once a day in later winter early spring the leaves are greener and flowers actually sprout and develope fruit.  Im no expert just my observations.

[jez251]

Something else that may be affecting it is the fact that it gets a lot of wind in its current location, so the winters are always colder for it since it bears the brunt of any cold winds! I don't know how that may influence fruit set, but it may have something to do with it, and also its deciduousness!

Jaime

[jb_fla]

Jaime,

I live about 30 minutes north of Tampa and had a huge harvest this year.  I am much colder than you so i dont think it was the cold.  Strangely, mine loses some leaves in early spring but never completely defoliates.

[jez251]

Back to square two on my theory. I believe spraying it with the potassium sulfate did the trick.

Jaime

[Mike T]

Grumis and jabos fruit well if allowed to be water stressed a little and then watering profusely.Fertilizing too close to flowering season especially if N is in the fertilizer.I hear this species is very sensitive and could have heard you talking about it in a negative way.It just goes to show yiou should never cross the Rio Grande.

[barath]

Have folks in California or similar climates figured out how drought tolerant these Eugenias are in our climate?  I've heard of folks not watering surinam cherry and cherry of the rio grande, but I don't know if they still fruit under that care.

[Bananaizme]

    In my experience COTRG stresses easily and fruit will dry up . Suriname Cherry needs regular water too . I'm referring to my conditions in Visalia in july and august when temps are triple digits . My COTRG will usually have the main crop , and some years it will have a smaller 2nd crop. Both trees love water.

 William

 

[barath]

    In my experience COTRG stresses easily and fruit will dry up . Suriname Cherry needs regular water too . I'm referring to my conditions in Visalia in july and august when temps are triple digits . My COTRG will usually have the main crop , and some years it will have a smaller 2nd crop. Both trees love water.

 William

Thanks, that's a good datapoint.  I know of Surinam Cherries in Northern California that survive on rainfall alone, so there must be some geographic / climatic tipping point in California where there's too much heat or not enough rainfall for them to survive.

[Bananaizme]

  Once they get established they are quite hardy. A friend of mine had one that was a old tree , well established and it had been through several very cold arctic freeze events over the years. The outer layer of leaves would get damaged but the tree always bounced back in spring. After he passed I don't know what ever became of his tree. His family didn't like fruit like him. My COTRG has been in the ground since 2003 and has done very well for me here in visalia. If i lived in the country with lots of room I would have a whole row of them. Unfortunately the birds love them too.

 William

[clannewton]

Which of the tropical cherries (cotrg, suriman, grumichama) most emulate the taste of the cherris grown up north. I have some limited space in my yard in Brevard Fl, and want to appease my wife with a tree with cherries with the taste that most replicate cherries from the north, but can be grown in 9b climate

[gunnar429]

I would say no to surinam or acerola tasting like cherries...maybe grumichama...never had CORG

[Bananaizme]

    I would have to agree with Jeff . I don't think that any of these tropical cherries taste like a northern Bing cherry. I think that of the 3 mentioned , I prefer the COTRG ,of course when I say this I recognize that taste is a subjective thing . My COTRG tree gives very good fruit and the longer their on the tree the sweeter they become. Their very dark almost black at this stage. Of course the birds love them too. All this being said, they are not a substitute for a good northern cherry.

 William

[clannewton]

Thanks for the input. Looks like grumichama it will be.