Fruit trees zone 6B or 7 can't decide

CrealCritter

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Zone 6B or 7 can't decide
There are two basic types of cherry trees.

1) Sweet cherries. Sweet Cherries can be eaten immediately after picked off the tree. Most sweet cherries need another sweet cherry pollinitor.

2) Sour cherries -or baking cherries. This type of cherry tree is predominantly self-fruiting (need no pollinitor).

Common Sweet Cherry types that do well in my USDA zone
Chelan has an upright, vigorous habit with fruit that matures two weeks ahead of Bing cherries and are resistant to cracking.

Coral champagne has large, firm fruit with excellent flavor and low susceptibility to cracking.

Critalin bears early and is an excellent pollinitor and bears dark, red, juicy fruit.

Rainier is a mid-season cherry that is yellow with a red blush.

Early Robin matures a week earlier than Rainier. It is mild in flavor with a semi-free stone and a heart shape.

Bing cherries are large, dark and one of the most common commercially sold cherries.

Black Tartarian is a terrific bearer of large purple-black, sweet, juicy fruit.

Tulare is similar to Bing and stores well for a long time.

Glenare (need link) has very large, sweet, clingstone type fruit of dark red.

Utah Gold (need link) has larger, firmer fruit than Bing and is partially freestone.

Van has reddish black, sweet cherries and is an excellent pollinator.

Attika is a late-blooming cherry tree with large, dark fruit.

Regina has fruit that is mild and sweet and tolerant to cracking.

Emperor Francis is a white- or yellow-fleshed cherry that is sweet and often used as maraschino cherries.

Ulster (need link) is another sweet cherry, black in color, firm and moderately resistant to rain cracking.

Sweetheart Matures late with large fruit. Sweetheart types of cherry trees are prolific fruiters with dark-red, medium to large cherries but they need pruning to keep them from getting out of hand.

Common Sour Cherry types that do well in my zone
English Morello is a sour type of cherry prized by pie makers and for commercial juices.

Montmorency is the most popular variety of sour cherry, making up 96% of the total production for commercial pie fillings and toppings

Cherry Tree Planting Requirements:
Most cherry trees do well in USDA zones 4 through 7 as they require a minimum 700 hours below 45 degrees to produce fruit.

Cherry Trees also need full sun. Ensure trees receive a minimum of six hours of sunlight per day to promote healthy blooming and fruit development.

They also need room to grow without being crowded. Space sweet cherries 35 to 40 feet apart; dwarfs, 5 to 10 feet apart. Space sour cherries 20 to 25 feet apart; dwarfs, 8 to 10 feet apart.

Cherry trees can thrive in soil that is not very rich or fertile, loamy to sandy soil is ideal. However the soil needs to be well drained. Do not plant cherry trees where water stands on the soil.

It’s a good idea to mulch to surpress weed growth and water newly planted Cherry Trees regularly, at least for the first growing season so that roots can become established.

Care and Maintenance:
Maintenance of your cherry tree should include yearly late winter pruning during the dormant season. This will help maintain a good shape for the tree, and it will promote good fruit production and air flow for disease prevention.

Van Cherries (Sweet) Good Pollinator
van-cherries.jpg


Bing Cherries (Sweet) most widely grown

bing.jpg


Sweetheart Cherry (Sweet) like the shape.
sweetheat-cherry.jpg


Montmorency Cherries (Sour) most widely grown
Montmorency.jpg
 
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Hinotori

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Sour cherries don't store or ship well. Best to pick and process immediately.

I like sour cherries best. Growing up the mutt cherry tree Mom had was halfway between a sweet and sour cherry. My Great Aunt has always grown sweet cherries that we'd always get some of.

Chelan, Rainier, Bing, and Van do fine over the wet, soggy winters here. I just can't grow any until I fully high fence an orchard. Deer and elk really like cherry trees. They've eaten every tree I planted no matter what I tried.
 

CrealCritter

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Ordered cherry trees yesterday evening from Arbor Day Foundation. Ended up with Bing, Montmorency and Black Tartarian. That's what they had for my USDA hardiness zone.

Here is a pruning video for years 1 trough 4. Instead of snipping and let lay, I'm going to try air layering to increase root stock. Maybe air layering will work, maybe it won't, but it ain't gonna hurt nothing to give air layering a try.

 

Chic Rustler

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I like smaller trees like peaches and dwarf apple. how large do cherry trees get?
 

CrealCritter

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Bing (sweet) being the biggest of the three I ordered. Grows to a height of about 35' and a spread about 25' at maturity. Montmorency (tart) being the smallest height of about 18' and a spread about 20' at maturity.

You might be able to find some dwarf or grafted cherry trees for your USDA Zone. Just check and see if it's self fertile or needs another type of cherry tree type for a pollinator. For example Bing needs a pollinator, arbor day foundation recommends Black Tartarian. Montmorency on the other hand is self fertile, as most tart cherry tree species are.

As long as I was there anyways (for my reference) info from arbor day foundation.

Fruit Tree Spacing Guide​

MATURE HEIGHTSPACE NEEDED
Apple20' - 25'35' x 35'
Peach20'20' x 20'
Sweet Cherry30'20' x 25'
Sour Cherry20'20' x 20'
Pear20'20' x 20'
Apricot20'20' x 20'
Plum20'20' x 20'
 
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