Need 3 in 1 Cherry Tree info

I just moved into a new home and am now the proud owner of a 3 in 1 cherry tree. I can't find a whole lot of info on this type of tree. Anyone know where I can look?

A 3 in 1 cherry is just three different types of cherries grafted on to one tree. It can be any three varieties of cherry so there is no way for you to know the three types until you get fruit. If you go on the internet, you will see lots of 3 or 4 in 1 trees. They dont even have to be of the same kind of fruit. You can have a tree with Peaches, Apricots, Plums and Nectarines on the same tree.

You need to be careful when pruning that you do not prune out any of the 3 varieties on the tree. See if you can find the graft locations for the varieties on the tree to help with that.

Concur, One of the problems with multiple graft trees, is that the grafts do not usually grow at the same rate. Unless you pay careful attention, dominate grafts can take over.

So frustrating! :-)

MGCrystal,

I bought one of these 3-in-1 cherry trees, bare root, by mail last spring from Gardner's Choice, Hartford, MI (Item N80010). The two types that were grafted on to the main tree did not grow this year. I am hoping they will next year, but I am concerned that they will not. Of course the main part of the tree is growing well, so I am keeping my fingers crossed. The thing I don't care for is that the two grafts are one right above the other! If I am fortunate enough for the grafts to grow next year, I will probably have to do additional grafts on it to ever have a tree with multiple varieties of any value.

Good luck with yours....

We have four 3-in-1 fruit trees: a combo apple, combo peach, combo pear, and combo cherry. I contacted the guy at Forest Farm Nursery when we first started our search. He said that they don't sell 3-in-1s any more because one graft usually takes over the entire tree. I can vouch for that - look what happened to our 3-in-1 cherry. Bing is far outpacing the rest of the tree. I'm guessing it will eventually get so heavy that it will fall off. :-O

Wow SnowlineRose, that looks like the Bing should have been the main trunk with the other varieties grafted on to it! I think that the ones doing the grafting would have taken this into consideration, but I guess not. Well good luck with your others and hopefully they don't do the same.

I will take a picture of mine tomorrow if I can remember...I have no idea types of grafts these are or how old the tree is.

Multiple grafted trees with the grafts 2 or 3 feet off the ground will always have low branches. As they grow you cannot cut off the lower branches to create a beautiful canopy. The branch that starts at 2 feet off the ground will always be 2 feet off the ground. My love of trees is about the canopy they eventually form so I am no fan of these grafted multi trees.

patti47...that is exactly the case. I want to cut the lower branches so bad but then will lose the fruit. The previous owner said it has not fruited for him yet so I am looking at way to beef up it's fertilizer this Winter/Spring to see if that helps. I told my husband if nothing happens it's outahere!

You could take up grafting yourself and graft some of the varieties further up as a longer term strategy to shape the tree the way you want it and still retain the varieties.

Krowten, at first glance your suggestion seems plausible. As I think further on it, though, I think there are some difficulties with this. I am not an experienced grafter (have never done it) but I'm thinking that the vigor of a more mature tree would reject the graft of a young branch of another type. Maybe not, just a thought. If that is not the case then I like your idea. The idea I have been tossing around is to plant 2 to 4 different young sapling trees together in one planting hole and let them twist and grow together to form that canopy that I love. I wonder.......

patti47...that's an interesting idea.

As long as the types of trees are compatible, there should be no problem. Maturity of the tree is not an issue, as long as it is healthy. Older graft stock is routinely grafted onto younger root stock as a way of preserving older types of trees, like for heirloom apples. It works the other way, however.

Cherries are a bit fussier than some other types of trees. I have heard that "budding" is the preferred method with them. However, I do not do much grafting myself and have not tried to graft cherries.

Planting multiple trees in the same hole presents its own challenges. Cherries are frequently grafts on rootstock and different root stocks, as well as different varieties of cherries, will also grow at different rates.

Grafting allows you to "bank" those varieties that you have, so that if there is a problem with one graft, you have another graft to use as a source.

In the case I am thinking of it is a 30 year old apple tree that I would like to graft onto with other apple varieties. This tree has branches that are 6 inches in diameter-quite large. I realize I would have to do some indepth study before I attempt this, but just off the top of your head, what do you think? Young branches onto old tree

It's done all the time and apple is one of the easier to graft. Google "grafting apple" or "apple grafting" for more info. Grafting onto an older tree is called "top working" or "reworking" as technical terms, so look for "apple rework grafting" as a search term.

Thanks krowten