Real Stupid Question

Re: Real Stupid Question

Barry Irby

Locally (Central Virginia) "wild" cherry trees grow in the woods, usually around the edges. The cherries are small and quite tart. These are the trees we harvest for the wood. The cultivated trees grow for the fruit are some sort of hybrid of those trees or trees selected for their fruit. I think the wood is similar. When I was kid there was an orchard of fruiting cherries on a farm my father bought. We picked the fruit when we could. Life got in the way. Recently I went back to see if they were there and still bearing or if they could be harvested for the wood. They were completely gone, not a trace.

excellent question

John K Jordan

Related by genus Prunus which includes plums, cherries, peaches, nectarines, apricots, and almonds. I haven't tried all of these but I've used some of them for woodturning and they were good. I wouldn't hesitate to get other types of cherry wood, at least for woodturning. I haven't seen any trees that produce edible cherries get as big as the Black Cherry, but that doesn't mean they don't.

There are many cherry cultivars.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherry

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/fruits/cherry/types-of-cherry-trees.htm

JKJ

Re: Real Stupid Question

JohnV

The largest fruit cherries I've seen were 15-20 ft with relatively short trunks before branching, maybe 5 feet or so and 9" did. Just like apples ultimately descended from wild crabapple type trees, "domesticated" cherries have a similar history.

Re: Real Stupid Question

William Duffield

But the short, spreading cultivated cherry trees are just that, cultivated. Specifically, they are pruned to spread out, for maximum yield and ease of spraying and picking. If they had high branches, those would shade the leaves on the lower branches, and the lower branches would produce less fruit. Their growth pattern would be quite different if they were growing naturally, in a forest or even in a hedgerow.

Re: Real Stupid Question

Don Stephan

Slightly outside your categories, but last spring I was asked to turn some bowls from the trunk of a weeping cherry landscape tree that was declining. Half the bowls developed significant cracks, usually across the bottom. Never had this type of crack in black cherry tree type producing lumber.