Sweet Cherries

I would like to have some cherrie trees.If anyone has any sprouts they would like to trade or for postage, please let me know. Most varieties will grow in zone 8. I would appreciate any advice about them if anyone has it to offer. Thanks

Doesn`t anyone have cherry trees? Do they come up from seed, need to be grafted or grow from sprouts?

busybee, I think you will have to buy your cherry trees. They are grafted to hardy rootstock. I have two cherry trees, A Rainier, which is wonderful, and a Lapins, which is a dark fruited excellent cherry and resists cracking. Donna

Thank you, Donna
I have found a place to order from but I don`t know enough about their needs and how they reproduce. Would I just plant them then treat them like a plum or pear? I appreciate any information I can get before I jump into ordering them. We have wild cherries here and they will come up where seeds are dispersed by birds and opossums.

Dwarf or semi-dwarf trees are probably a better choice than full sized, if for no other reason than the crop is easier to protect from birds. Heavy, wet clay soils are not good. Some varieties are self-fertile.

Some good information can be found here: http://www.aboutcherrytrees.com

This message was edited Jan 23, 2005 11:45 AM

We got our Montmorrency cherry trees from Stark Bros.... actually, we get all our fruit trees from them, and we think they're a great company. If you've grown plum or pear trees, I don't think cherries would be much different. I agree about getting the smaller, more manageable sizes.

The Stark Bros catalog has good culture information; as with all fruit trees, pay attention to which varieties are self fertile if you only get one tree. Note that self-fertile just means that they will produce at least some fruit by themselves, but many fruit tree varieties will increase their production with a little cross-pollination. Also, I've received excellent advice over the phone from them, so give them a call.

Good luck!

Thanks, That makes a lot of sense. I like the idea of the dwarf trees. Gurney`s has only three varieties of the dwarf. surefire, North Star and Meteor. These are all on the tart side and for pies and preserves. I will look and see what Stark Bros. has. Thanks for all of the help.

FYI, Gurney's got some really bad ratings last year on Garden Watchdog, especially for plants and trees. I'm planning to order seeds and strawberry plants from them this year, hoping they're past their rough patch, but I'd be cautious about ordering something like a tree....

Thank you critterologist. I didn`t realise that. I did find a good one on Stark Bros. web catalog that I am serious about.

Busybee, Check with your agricultural extension agent for sweet cherry cultivars that will produce in the south. Some of them won't, not enough chill hours. Johnson, a Georgia nursery only lists two sweet cherries with low chill hours to go into zone 8. http://www.johnsonnursery.com/ There are others but remember you have even less chill hours than Georgia.

Farmerdill, you are so right.I have been stressing out over trying to find a good variety that will produce here and the Agriculture Extention Office is where I should have started instead of seed and plant catalogs. I did go to a nursery today and they carried a bush variety a few years ago but after sparse blooms and even fewer fruit they died. I am thinking that I should give up and haunt the fruit markets when they are in season.

Busybee, your extension agent will provide you with an approximation. The number of chill hours your area gets can vary widely from year to year.

I can sympathize with you in wanting to grow cherry trees. I love them also. Having come from the San Francisco Bay Area where there used to be cherry orchards everywhere, one of the first things I did was look into planting a few here. I live in zone 8b now and get about 600 chill hours. I've abandoned the idea, at least for now until or if trees will lower chill hours are developed.

Growing sweet cherries is very, very iffy here as we don't get 600 chill hours every year. As most cherries have a high chill hour requirement, the few low chill sweet cherry varieties I found need at least 600 hours. Planting cherries in an area that doesn't get the minimum number of chill hours every year will eventually kill the trees. They don't go into complete dormancy, don't bloom well or not at all. The damage done to the trees is cumulative. The decline may be slow or faster, it's hard to tell.

You might want to try fruit trees that will grow well in you area. Start by knowing how many chill hours to expect in your area, choose trees with requirements you can provide most years and enjoy the cherries you harvest, but be prepared to have years without fruit and maybe an early loss of the tree itself. Hope this helps.

BettyDee

Thanks BettyDee, I think I should give up on the idea for now. If one does come along that will do well here then I will surely be willing to try it.

Hello everybody:
I have been thinking about buying some fruit trees and have been unsure of which ones to get. I do know that I want to grow dwarfs or semi-dwarfs. The suggestions and your experience will help point me in a better direction than just the catalogs.
And thanks for the hyperlink Farmerdill.

Mary

Hi Mary, Mary here too. Try the cherries, I can`t. I just don`t think we have enough cold for them but you do being in zone 5a. Good luck.

Thanks, Mary. I'll let you know how things turn out.

The first thing I wanted to do when we got this house was to plant cherry trees - I've dreamed of having a cherry tree in my backyard since I was little, and this is the very first place I've ever lived that I expected to stay long enough to considering growing trees. Pretty disapointed to learn that sweet cherries just don't grow well or at all in middle Georgia, though I do still want to try to find the varieties most likely to at least occasionally produce fruit to plant, without getting my hopes up about them producing.

I haven't gotten in touch with the local extension agent (easily intimidated by strangers & doing brand new things...especially in such a brand new location) is much easier to look up things online. :)

Christina Cat

I received a catalog from Stark Bro`s today and it has cherry trees that are supposed to grow in zone 8 but I still don`t trust our weather enough to plant them.

Busybee,

I received my Stark Bro's catalog weeks ago and noticed that, too. The number of chill hours required was not listed. Zone 8 is divided into two subzones: a & b. For me, here in central Texas, Zone 8 starts 10 to 12 counties north of Fayette. I noticed in the USDA plant Zone website that Zone 8 starts north of Louisiana.

Call them first and ask about chill hour requirements. I've bought from Stark Bro's before and was satisfied with my purchase, but I knew what the chill hour requirement was before I ordered.

I'm still waiting for a low chill hour cherry.

BettyDee

Thanks BettyDee, I just get my hopes up.

While searching for information on another subtropical fruit tree (lacuma), I came across information on a no-chill (!!!) subtropical cherry variety called Capulin Cherry! Check out this link to Tradewinds Fruit: http://www.tradewindsfruit.com/capulin_cherry.htm

I've never ordered from Tradewinds, so I can neither recommend nor dis them, but I thought busy & betty & others in warmer zones would be interested in learning of the existence of such a cherry!

critterologist,
Thanks for thinking of those of us that can't grow a regular cherry tree. I was so excited that I went to the link you provided. Not knowing anything about Capulin Cherry, I did a quick search.

The Capulin Cherry is cold hardy to 19ºF. Unfortunately, winters here in Zone 8b can go down to 10º F and there are records of -0ºF. Desert-tropicals recommends Zones 9b - 10. The cherry may have some heat issues. I found the following links giving more information about Capulin Cherry.

http://www.desert-tropicals.com/Plants/Rosaceae/Prunus_salicifolia.html

http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/capulin-cherry.html

This last link indicates that the leaves and seeds produce hydrogen cyanide. That makes me leery. I live on a cattle ranch. Our yard is protected by an electric fence, but if we forget to close the gate, our heifers rush in to feed on the watered Burmuda and frequently nibble on other things. I'm afraid they might get sick or, if they eat enough leaves and fruit, die.

http://www.ibiblio.org/pfaf/cgi-bin/arr_html?Prunus+salicifolia&CAN=LATIND

BettyDee

With regard to the H cyanide, I believe it's found in all cherry leaves. I looked into this once when a pickling book recommended adding cherry leaves to keep dill pickles crisp, and from what the extension agent found, it seems to be present in only trace amounts. So, either it's not a problem, or it will be a problem with any cherry tree you plant.

I'm giving a try at Early Ruby and Royal Rainer with claims of around 500 chill hours, just got on sale from bay laurel (end of season sale) so I feel a little better about planting something unlikely to grow well here. :)

Going to try that Capulin Cherry probably too...though my winters can get too cold for it...too hot for one, too cold for another...

Christina Cat

I have two Bing cherrries that I planted last summer. I'm in zone 8. I haven't quite figured if it's 8a or 8b yet. My Mother had bing cherries at her old house which was a few miles up the road and she got cherries every summer. You do need to have two trees of Bing cherries though to polinate. One of her trees died and she got nothing for two years and then somebody in the neighborhood must have planted some cuz all of a sudden she started getting loads of cherries again clear up til she sold the house. When we bought ours the guy at the nursery told us we needed two. I have hopes for cherries this year since we planted last summer. That's my little tidbit added.
-Juli

Bings are supposed to deliver in zone 8.

The website for Dave Wilson Nursery, the UC Research and Information Center and Texas A & M have excellent information on chill hour requirements. Dave Wilson Nursery lists the chill hours for Bing as 700 and 600 - 700 for Royal Rainier. I couldn't find anything on Early Ruby. I've been to so many websites tonight I'm slightly confused, but either UC or TAMU states that the number of chill hours required increased dramatically when low temperatures are interruped by warm days. We have a lot of those in Zone 8 especially in 8b. A UC Davis publication claims there are no low chill sweet cherries available. Early Ruby and Royal Rainier are being sold as 'experimental only.' Fruit is not guaranteed. Every book I've read on growing fruit in Texas says that sweet cherries will not produce here. The Panhandle may be able, on some years, to grow sour cherries, but not sweet cherries. Some nurseries may not be entirely truthful. I'll go with the research information given by the universities.

BettyDee

Bing cherries seem to need another type of cherry to pollinate well. See the chart linked:

http://www.raintreenursery.com/pollin_cherry.html

I have planted several of the trees from Raintree. They have grown well in Alaska.


This message was edited Mar 18, 2005 10:47 PM

I always thought so, too, but my mother bought a Dwarf 'Bing' Cherry that was self-fruitful. There were no other cherry trees in the neighborhood. That tree produced gobs of cherries for 25 years. Last year, she had the tree cut down after 2 years of fighting bad aphid infestations. It rained every time she sprayed it. It had lost 2 of its 3 main branches.

As you eat fresh cherries this spring, think of us poor southerners who have to make do with what pass as cherries at the grocery store.

BerryDee

You know what is really something is that my DH was just mentioning to me the other day that the foliage on both cherry trees is coming out different. The Bing has little round balls of tightly compacted leaves and the other one is straight pointed leave sheafs. There isn't a tag on the straight one but the Bing still has it's tag on it. DH says he remembers the nursery guy saying something to him about having two trees. I thought he said two Bings trees. He spoke very broken English. So he must have sold us what we needed but not what we thought we got. Now I wonder what the heck we've got out there. Disturbing.

Julie64,

Take a look at the underside of the leaves. If you leaves are deformed with the area between the veins extending out, what you describe sounds like an aphid infestation. Aphids come in a number of colors. San Bernardino is where your UC Cooperative Extension Service is located. They could verify this or tell you what it is. My mother, who lives in Fremont, CA, lost most of a 25 year old Bing cherry tree to aphids within 2 years of the first aphid assault. The tree will put out a new set of leaves, but if you don't get rid of the insect that is causing the problem, the new leaves will suffer the same fate.

BettyDee

I love cherries to the point of needing therapy. They are my favorite thing to eat in the universe. In fact, I hold a grudge against George Washington for chopping down that tree. Getting the picture? Well I finally bought a house with plenty of land, and of course, you guessed it, I want to plant (a) cherry tree(s). Then I come to find out that they do not do well in soil with a lot of clay, and as fate would have it I bought my house in Clayton, NC (zone 7). They named to town CLAYton for a very good reason, the soil has a lots of clay. However I never say die, so I was hoping there is a way I can make it work. Will replacing the soil in the area I plan to put the tree(s) work? Is there a variety of sweet cherry tree that is more tolerant of this kind of environment? Of course another factor is taste, since this is what it is all about for me, so a good tasting cherry is a must. Please Help!!!

ElapheG

Some the bests cherries I ever ate, Bings, BlackHearts and Redhearts grew in Albemarle county (Virginia) red clay. There were lots of cherry trees in that area and its all piedmont redclay.

Stark Bros advised us on how to deal with the clay the builder left us. Biggest problem is drainage. Be sure not to dig your hole when the clay is too wet, or it will compact and then dry out again, leaving you with a large, in-ground "clay pot" for planting (with no drainage hole). Of couse, digging in dry clay is like chipping at a rock. Pick up a handful of dirt. If it compacts into a ball that sort of holds its shape but crumbles easily, it's perfect!

You can amend the planting hole with 1/4 to 1/3 part topsoil, peatmoss, compost, perlite, etc. Dig a wide, shallow hole. The rootball of the tree can be elevated up to 1/3 its height above the soil line. Just mound the dirt up over the rootball, but be careful not to cover more than an inch or two of the trunk above the roots. You don't want to plant the tree more deeply than it was growing..... our trees came with a mark for proper planting depth.

We dug holes for some holly trees in another part of the yard, put a little water in the hole to check the drainage situation, and the water stayed for days.... finally trenched the holes before putting in the trees!

We ended up tilling several inches of compost into the soil in the orchard area and amended more deeply where we put in the trees. Trees have been in 2 years now and are starting to put on some growth. Our cherry trees (Montmorency sour cherries) have actually been in 3 years, and they are looking pretty good. Perhaps we will harvest more than a couple dozen cherries this year!

Good luck dealing with your clay.

The fact the they grew in an area with piedmont redclay is encourging. If I do deside to trench the hole and mix the soil, as precaution, then how much area needs to be trenched to insure the health of the tree?

ElapheG

With a nice wide, fairly shallow hole, there may be no need to trench. The hollies that we trenched were on a slope along one side of the house where the "topsoil" looked more like clay subsoil. If you want to test, pour some water into your hole and see if it is still there the next day. The "trench" that we dug was simply a slit, about 3-4" wide, that started at the hole (dug down as deep as the deepest part of the hole) and extended in a more or less straight line several feet down the slope, so that water would be carried away from the rootball. I filled the trench with small pieces of rock (easy to come by in our garden) so it wouldn't be at tripping hazard.

In case it wasn't clear, it seems to be fairly important not to dig the hole deeper than necessary. You want the bottom of the rootball to pretty much be resting on undisturbed soil. Not the way I learned when growing up, but apparently that's the current wisdom, to dig a wide, shallow hole. (Twice the width of the rootball would be a nice width for your planting hole, given the clay.)

Actually, I think your NC red clay is better stuff for growing than what we have here, so I think your orchard plans should work out fine! Have fun with your new trees!

BTW, I am with you on loving fresh cherries.... I know I've eaten 2 or 3 pounds in an evening!

Thank you that was very helpful. Without being a pest, can you give me an idea about what variety is best with regards to taste. Farmerdill recomended Bings, blackhearts or redhearts. I googled each. Bings sound tasty but everything I've read says that they are prone to splitting. Blackhearts from what I've read, and there wasn't much out there, are suppose to be even better than bings. I could find nothing on Redhearts. The upside to bings is that it seems that a lot of places sell them. I couldn't find anyone who sells blackhearts. And as I said got no results on redhearts.

not a pest! I'm so new at growing fruit trees, I'm delighted if I can be helpful!

Our two cherry trees are both 'Montmorency', sour "pie cherries." We've picked them at a NC orchard, and we love them for jam and (of course) pies. They are actually fine eating fresh, too, the way a tart Granny Smith apple is a tasty even though very different from, say, a golden delicious. A friend who is my local gardening guru swears by Stella sweet cherries for great flavor, little cracking, and general hardiness. One of his trees was split by lightning, but still pumps out tons of cherries each year. They pit them and freeze them in quart bags. Put frozen cherries in a bowl with a little cream, and eat them half thawed with the cream freezing around them.... heavenly!

Oh, shoot, I'm having one of those late night memory glitches.... now am not certain if his favorite was Stella or Starkrimson Sweet Cherry..... I will double check, but I do think it was Stella.... started with an ess! LOL

Regarding the soil. There is more to it than the variety of cherry.
The rootstock is important. Some companies selling cherries note the rootstock and some do not.

http://www.willowdrive.com/WDN%20main/rootstock/CHERROOT.html

Raintree lists some cherries on GS 5.
http://www.raintreenursery.com/catalog/producttype.cfm?producttype=CHER

I have also had good luck with C&O Nursery. They have quite a variety.
http://www.c-onursery.com/index_html.html

I hope that this helps somewhat.

Rick

Actually Rick, Now I am a bit confused again. Rootstock? Is that another word for strain? Boy I'm feeling my ignorance now. What do I need to know about rootstock, to avoid any pitfalls?

ElapheG