Carmine Jewel was the earliest of the new sour cherries released from the Saskatchewan breeding program.
One of our customers just told us about an article in your magazine about University of Saskatchewan cherries (“Prairie cherries,” May 15, 2014, issue). She just purchased 127 Crimson Passion cherry trees from us to add to her orchard. She mentioned that the article stated that the cherries are only available in the United States from Growers Alive. This is true in the sense that they have exclusive rights to propagate the Romance Series including Romeo, Juliet, Cupid and Valentine. However, Carmine Jewel and Crimson Passion fall outside that contract, and we have been selling these virus-indexed varieties since 2010.
Jim and Bernis Ingvaldson
Honeyberry USA
Bagley, Minnesota
www.honeyberryusa.com
Carmine Jewel has done very poorly here in Western MA. I have yet to harvest any fruit on two trees that are eight years old and still very small. Each year they have lost their leaves to a leaf spot disease by mid to late summer,.