Cherry tree ???

[desertcat]

Sorry guys, I'm too tired tonight to google and my kitties are being waaaaay to helpful , so my question of the evening is about cherry pollinators. Specifically, I want a sour pie cherry and DH would like a sweet cherry, do I need 2 or 4 trees?
Thanks!

 

[Greenthumb18]

Yes, 2 trees would be fine 1 sour cherry and 1 sweet cherry. All sour cherries are self pollinating but most sweet cherries need a pollinator so if you plant a sour cherry nearby, the sweet cherry will bear fruit.

Hope this helps!

 

[Hattie the Hen]

Yes, 2 trees would be fine 1 sour cherry and 1 sweet cherry. All sour cherries are self pollinating but most sweet cherries need a pollinator so if you plant a sour cherry nearby, the sweet cherry will bear fruit.

Hope this helps!

Greenthumb is absolutely right BUT in my experience Morello Cherries (the sour ones) tend to have a lot less fruit on them that the sweet ones & anyway one looses so much to the birds anyway that you need more trees.

By the way be careful of what rootstock they are grown on as the cheaper ones always grow into giant trees very fast & all your lovely fruit will be way up in the air just where all the birds can get it & you can't net it. Pay out a bit more & buy from a reputable fruit nursery & purchase trees grown on dwarf stock so you can cover when necessary (in cold weather & when the fruit is ripening.

I tell you this because I have learned from bitter experience over the years --- one day you have a tree packed with luscious fruit & you turn away to do something else & the next day there is nothing but leaves & dark red bird poo on your washing hung out to dry......!!

Good luck with your cherry project, they are so good for you, as well as being delicious.


:rose Hattie :rose

 

[desertcat]

Hattie, I know what you mean about the almost ready crop followed by the bird poo! Although it used to be the marauding racoons that got everything just before it was ripe enough for humans.

Thanks so much for the help. I totally overdid yesterday and was beyond thinking last night. Today is tree day, so Mom & I are off to go get some.

 

[ducks4you]

Hattie, give me some advice--I already have three 5-8 foot tall Montmorency Cherry trees, that I planted a year ago and 2 years ago. Is there a way and a time of year that I should prune them so they don't tower over me, and I can get the fruit? Right now, all I get from them is a snackfull of fruit.

 

[Hattie the Hen]

Hattie, give me some advice--I already have three 5-8 foot tall Montmorency Cherry trees, that I planted a year ago and 2 years ago. Is there a way and a time of year that I should prune them so they don't tower over me, and I can get the fruit? Right now, all I get from them is a snackfull of fruit.

Hi ducks4you,

I hate pruning cherry trees but I understand your problem. I understand that in the US you have to be very careful as the trees are very prone to getting 'Silver Leaf' so it is sensible to prune in the summer on a calm day. You must paint all the cuts with sealing compound to keep the disease out & the sap in.

Here are some useful pages that will explain how to do it:

http://www.answerbag.com/pruning-cherry-trees

http://www.ehow.com/way_5577094_prune-cherry-trees.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/26/AR2010012603457.html

***** I LIKE THE ADVICE IN THIS LAST ARTICLE as I think cutting too much off at any one time is a huge shock for the tree.

I hope this helps!


:rose Hattie :rose

 

[ducks4you]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/26/AR2010012603457.html

***** I LIKE THE ADVICE IN THIS LAST ARTICLE as I think cutting too much off at any one time is a huge shock for the tree.

I hope this helps!


:rose Hattie :rose

"Remove no more than 10 percent of the branch mass in your annual pruning."
I have a gardening book that suggests no more than 10% at a time when pruning ANY tree. I agree, the last article has good advice, put the others were worth reading, too.
Thanks!!