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I would love to grow a sweet cherry tree but it would need to be of compact growth for the limited space available. I don't have a wall or fence it can be trained against so it needs to be free-standing. Looking through nursery catalogues the two which seem most appropriate are Sunburst grown on Colt rootstock and Stella on Gisela 5 rootstock. I'm in the north east, can anyone suggest which would be best, or do you reckon I should forget it? If you've grown either how compact is 'compact' in height and spread? Any advice would be welcome.
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Hi Northmaid, as you can see, I'm also in the north & bought a Stella Cherry last year from one of my favourite gardening shops, Lidl.......
.....It's about 4' tall at the moment & showing new shoots so it looks like it has survived the frosts.
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I'm also in the north, though probably not as far as you. I have both Stella and Sunburst (and a Morello for cooking). All fine after the last couple of weeks. The size of course is a matter of the rootstock and for that FB is the expert. If he doesn't spot this and come in then if you are not sure you could PM him.Why didn't Noah just swat those 2 greenflies?
Why are they called apartments when they are all stuck together?
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>If flying is so safe, why do they call the airport the terminal?
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I'll be honest and say that I regard cherries as more trouble than they're worth. I'm not particularly clued-up on cherry trees because they can be a lot of trouble.
Most of the time, the fruits just end up as bird food.
Your garden, washing, house roof, car and pathways get showered with pips and dark-stained bird poo - often you can't even enjoy time in the garden without birds dropping things from your house roof.
Yes, I used to have a couple of cherries out the front of a previous house and it was far too much trouble.
Many cherries are also vulnerable to bacterial canker.
Many require very specific pollination partners.
I would only grow a cherry where I could cover it with netting.
A dwarf rootstock would keep it small enough to net (or small enough to build a cage around it).
Look at Gisela or Colt rootstock, for a small-ish tree/bush.
The size and growth rate depend greatly on the soil. The same tree can be twice the size in one part of the country as another. Size also depends on variety......and how you prune it..Comment
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Many thanks for your comments. FB I didn't realise they could be so much trouble. Looks like it will either have to be a tree for the lotty where it wouldn't cause too much bother and I could net it or I'll stick to buying cherries from the greengrocer.Comment
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Get a plum tree instead.....you're much more likely to get some fruit off it. My experience is the same as FB. We inherited a mature cherry when we moved here and it crops profusely and every single fruit ends up inside a bird. It'll be coming down next winter to be replaced with another plum. Cherry wood burns nicely so they do have some uses
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Definitely start with some easy fruits and then gradually move up to more demanding fruits as you get experience. If the effort/inconvenience required is very high, why not just buy some from the supermarket?
If the required effort is small, then growing your own is worthwhile..Comment
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