I planted in-ground in the winter while dormant, and this year the growth has been really impressive :) Now it's slowed again in the heat, but that spring flush of growth probably tripled/quadrupled its size.

I planted mine on a mound for drainage, and it's in full sun all day (so quite hot in the summer). I do water pretty often in the heat for a fruit 'tree', but that's because I know the mound dries totally out quickly and the roots couldn't be very deep yet. As it ages, I'll let it go longer between waterings.

I was worried about the crazy heat, but CJ has taken it very well so far. Mine will get some afternoon shade later on, because trees behind it will grow tall enough for that within a few years.

Yes and no,..was eating sweet cherries today, brix was 13 on average,..which correlates to be the right number.
Bush cherries can read higher,..up the 20 or more.

>>Do the cherries taste more like sweet or sour cherries?<<
Still taste like sour cherries because of high acid content.

That's not very high for a sweet.
Here's what fruitnut says about cherry brix

In 2012, we had the earliest winter I have ever seen here, with snow arriving to stay on October 20... my Romance cherries got frozen with almost a full leaf cover still on them, and they didn't lose most of those leaves until the following spring. No die back at all in spring, but still it seems like they would have been better off in a warmer zone where they could harden up better for winter.

As for fruit set, well they have only produced a few cherries thus far, from all 4 bushes combined (most from Cupid, a couple from Carmine Jewel, none from Juliet or Romeo). This summer (year 4) it is looking like there may be at least a few cherries from all 4 bushes, at least if the fruit-gods are merciful from now to harvest.

As for taste, in my limited experience, well yes, these are definitely tart cherries, regardless of their brix. That's because they have the acidity that causes the sourness of tart cherries, and no amount of sugar can change that. Still, I find them meatier (less watery) and tastier than standard tart cherries that I have tasted. So perhaps okay to eat directly as a snack, though you would never mistake them for sweet cherries.

Well,..these early US Cherries we get are not very sweet but
show higher average then this chart,..showing average at 10.6

All UOS bush cherries show higher brix then any other sour cherries.

http://www.hrt.msu.edu/faculty/langg/Sweet_Cherry_Photosynthesis_Research.html

Fruitnut's results are typical here

http://curezone.org/forums/am.asp?i=1148632

.

I guess it depends what farm you get you cherries at!
http://fruitsmart.com/PDFs/TechnicalForms/SSBrixChart.pdf

I agree the averages they show are low, but as I said I have just not ever seen any cherries that low. I can't imagine how bad a sweet is at 10.

This is the first year that I've got a really good fruit load on my CJ's that were planted in '11 & '12. Two are kinda loaded, and three are maybe half as much.

Yesterday I picked about a gallon and I froze some, kept some out for a pie.

My out-of-hand taste observations aren't a lot different from what I thought last year (There weren't enough for cooking anything last year, so all I could do was eat them...) But I thought they were not nearly as sweet as my Early Richmond tart. I made the comment that they left a slight aftertaste in my mouth like a dry wine.

I wondered why everyone was saying it’s so sweet compared to other tarts, when I wasn’t getting that. Well, I assumed that it had to do with actual brix numbers and not what my taste buds were telling me out of hand. (And besides my wife DID think they were pretty sweet).

I have the brix meter that Fruitnut recommended on the way, but not here yet…

But anyway I reasoned that the complexity of this tart cherry must be such that it must really shine in the kitchen with all the talk about it being a “gourmet” cherry.

The cherries are small (about like the green seedless grapes I buy in the store) but the pits are so small that there’s probably more actual cherry than there is say on an average Early Richmond or Montmorency. And I fully agree with Don555, they are “meatier” and I also doubt they’d be mistaken for a sweet.

But it’s all in how different folks like things.

The pie was out of this world! And I might add, that my wife used less sugar than she generally does, because she thought they were in fact sweeter, so…

I still don’t know how to do multiple pictures in one shot, so here's one and I’ll send a couple more as well.

Here's one of the cherries and pits after pitting. The Juice running down my hand to my wrist looked like I just butchered the fatted calf...

Noogy; I planted two Crimson Passion this year and they've tripled in size already. I'm real happy with how they've adapted because Bernis at Honeyberry USA told me that the CP's were a tad harder to get going than CJ's. I can't hardly wait to taste one, they're supposed to be bigger and sweeter.

But I must say, I can't say enough about the size and shape the plants from Honeyberry USA come in at.

All the ones I've gotten from them are real nice, and the ones from Michigan Bulb that were like really small are just not doing anything. It's like they're alive but nothing beyond that - neither the pair I bought, nor the ones my BIL bought.

So I think for a few dollars more it's worth it to me to get a little bigger plantings. I wish all mine would have been bigger from the start.

A guy could justify having a batch around all potted up that way.

But with my relation only wanting a couple at a time at each place, it just made sense to go bigger for that small number.

My wife has been raving about that pie, says she truly believes they ARE a gourmet cherry!