There was a post about pin and black cherry on this thread.
https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=29236.msg421262#new
I did not want to hijack the thread about it.swampdockey talked about the types that he has seen.I some cherry,very few,I doubt I could find 50 on my 120 acres,alive or dead.What I have seems to grow crooked.Lucky if I could get a 4 foot piece staight.Most of the time a foot throught is big.If it does get any bigger the ants start to chew on it.Seems to like to die about 6-8 inches through and than all of the sap wood rots off and the heart is nice and hard and seems to stand there for years.All the cherry seems to look like all the rest.Not looking for money,just want to know the diffeance.Is there any way to tell the 2 apart?What is the quality between the two?If it matters,I'm kinda right in the middle,lower part of Maine.
I asked because I did not think that cherry would grow that far north. We have two kinds of cherry, Either really good or the kind you talk about. It really kind of strange. We have nothing in the middle. It is either firewood or a veneer or really good sawlog. Course that makes thinning decisions a little easier.
Stonebroke
thecfarm, I'm glad you brought up that subject, I'd like to know the diff. also. Although I'm from this area I don't know the difference. I do see two types of cherry on my property, one that looks like healthy Black Cherry and one with Large sap knots in it and the sap knot ones are usually very crooked and not very big maybe 4" dbh.
David
According to Field Guide of North American Trees the best differences I can come up with are winter buds - now is the time - and fruits.
Black cherry (Prunus serotina) winter buds: .1-.2" long, broadest near base, blunt to pointed at the tip, chestnut brown. Fruits rounded, depressed at tip, .3-.4" diameter, dark red to almost black at maturity, in long, narrow clusters (kinda like grapes)
Pin cherry (Prunus pensylvanica) winter buds: less than .1" long, egg-shaped to broadest in the middle, pointed, bright reddish brown scales with tiny hairs along the margins. Fruits.2-.3" in diameter bright red turning black late in season, in small groups (3- maybe 6 or 7), not in long clusters, more like a bouquet of flowers.
In general the leaves of pin cherry are thinner in the middle (to ~1.3" wide max) and have a longer, pointier tip. I know it's not much...
Hi guys.... over here in Quebec near Montreal we do have those 2 kinds of cherry wood. Pin cherry (or wild red cherry)as you called was called *merisier* that is yellow birch ( was called like that by the first *arrivants* it was because of the ressemblance with there own merisier (kind of acid cherry in France). This tree won,t grow higher than 30 feet and 4 inches in diameter. (real yellow birch will get to 24 inches and more over here)
But black cherry over here will grow to 24 in. and more if they do not have shade.(french name would be translated in automn cherry or also late cherry)...they must be dominant otherwise they die. I saw some on my land that were 15in. for 12 ft logs. most were 10 to 12 in. logs. I have 400 fb drying in my basement near my stove (mouldering) (is it also called rum cherry). see you.
Roger