Cherry of the Rio Grande

From GrowingFruit.org Forum
by Richard

Cherry of the Rio Grande
Eugenia involucrata

Richard: I bought this plant as a seedling in a 4x4x10" starter pot in about 2010. I transplanted it to a 5 gallon pot in 2011 and then planted it in 2014. It bloomed a few months later. I don't recommend this course of action to others - it is simply what happened due other life events.
This plant is actually a shrub, and I don't recommend trying to train them as trees.

Cherry of the Rio Grande flowers

Fig. 1

Here comes the spring crop!

Seedling

Fig. 2

Lids: Mine is just a baby. I read on a CRFG guide that they could be espaliered. Fingers crossed because there's not a lot of space there!

Richard: The plant has an upright growth habit and capriciously starts new branches at almost any node. I think it would be a lifetime of maintenance to try and grow it as an espalier.

Richard: Here's some photos showing the progression of growth of my bush. The window shown in the images faces south. The purpose of the cinder block enclosure is to direct irrigation water and roots downward.

June 2014

Fig. 3

June 2014

Fig. 4

March 2015

Fig. 5

April 2015 Fruits

March 14, 2016

Fig. 6

March 2016

First ripe fruit of the year for this plant

Fig. 7

First ripe fruit of the year for this plant. April 2016

Fig. 8

Today's harvest April 30 2016

Fig. 9
An embarrassment of fruits! Neither I, my neighbors, or the wild finches can keep up with them.

Richard: The shelf life is about 6 hours, which can be extended from midday to the following midmorning in a 37°F refrigerator. The waste is really my fault - next time around I hope to plan better and have my juicer ready!

Richard: I'm discovering in my location that they have a long "hang time". For the past several days there have been completely black fruits on the tree -- mostly sacks of incredible "cherry" juice. The local birds are ignoring them. I'm eating them at leisure. Hooray!! May 2016

Cut back to 1 meter high

Fig. 10

Richard: Today I cut it back to about 1 meter high in preparation for roof repairs and house painting. Sept 2016

Mpigg: How long will it take that tree to produce fruit again?

Richard: It is evergreen. I estimate it will put on at least 2 feet of growth by the end of Spring and quite a bit more by Fall. I expect 2 crops next year.

7 months later

Fig. 11

7 months later

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Cherry of the Rio Grande Page

Bibliography

¹ Richard. "Cherry of the Rio Grande, Eugenia involucrata." Growing Fruit Forum, (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0). growingfruit.org. Accessed 6 June 2017.

Photographs

Fig. ^{1,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11} Richard. "Cherry of the Rio Grande, Eugenia involucrata." Growing Fruit Forum, 2014, 2015, 2016, (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0), growingfruit.org. Accessed 6 June 2017.
Fig. ² Lids. "Cherry of the Rio Grande, Eugenia involucrata." Growing Fruit Forum, (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0), growingfruit.org. Accessed 6 June 2017.

Published 6 June 2017 LR