Has anyone ever heard of a Surinam bush cherry? I bought one from Lowes in 2011 or 2012 and the tag says it can’t survive north of Tampa Florida without winter protection. I am a good 400 miles north of Tampa and I haven’t covered mine up for the past 2 winters. Temperatures in the 20s don’t faze the thing. It also hasn’t made any effort whatsoever to bloom.
It has rather small leaves that are pointed on the end and very shiny. New leaves have a reddish tint to them and then turn a rather dull shade of green. It would be a good 10 feet tall by now if I weren’t cutting it back constantly.
Because you are constantly cutting it back. Cut it back once a year - immediately after it blooms… that way its got plenty of time to recover.
The leaves cannot tolerate being frozen,as the cells will be exploded by the ice inside. The ice forms “in the 20’s”… Just below freezing of pure water, because the cell is not pure water… The exact freezing point is variable, your cutting it back may lower the freezing point by keeping the mineral concentration of the sap high… (less leaves to spread the minerals around to… )
Surinam cherry is not actually a real cherry. It does not taste like cherry either.
Sometimes people can find Capulin cherry being sold by the nursery. Many people do not really consider Capulin to be real cherries either (although technically they are). Capulin cherries are sweet but some people say they taste a little resinous, not as good as regular sweet cherries (but it really depends on the person).
Surinam cherries and Capulin cherry trees are often sold in places that are considered too warm for regular cherry trees to do well (not enough chill hours).
Sorry, I answered the wrong question! Surinam Cherry is semitropical. It won’t grow to ten feet 400 miles north of Tampa. You must have something else. Maybe you have one or another of the actual cherry species in the genus Prunus. As Zach29 says, Eugenia isn’t a true cherry.
The plant has never bloomed and it has never gone dormant. I have to cut it back to keep it from getting too big to mow around.
The temperature here was in the 20s last night. I lost some blooms on a lemon tree that is too big for me to cover, but the bush cherry is perfectly fine.
I have fertilized it with fruit tree spikes and Peter’s liquid plant food, and other times I haven’t given it anything at all. It has gone weeks on end with no water and weeks on end with heavy rain every day.
The Surinam fruit is edible, but only as preserves with a lot of sugar. Otherwise it’s food for the birds. I don’t have a very big yard and I want as much as possible to be edible.
I’ve considered Nanking bush cherries, but everything I’ve read about them says they won’t take Florida’s heat.
I wouldn’t put it past Lowes to have something that is mislabeled. They used to sell what they labeled as golden rain tree, but the blooms on it didn’t look a thing like what you see on golden rain trees that are already planted in people’s yards. The past few years they have had the same plant, but it now labeled as cinna.