abqpalms:

That's an easy one. No. Sour cherries will not pollinate sweet cherries. When you do install another sweet cherry to pollinate your Bing, try to ensure that its blooming window is as close to Bing as possible. Ask the nursery.

The good news is that Montmorency can set fruit on its own, so at least you will soon have some sour cherries.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

One idea (short of planting another sweet cherry and, thus, having a cherry orchard [and a great title for a play]) you could get someone to help you graft on to your bing a different variety that would successfully pollenize your tree. I've never done it, but there is a pretty high success rate with a little guidance. If you were up closer to Taos, I'd know who to refer you to, but I'm sure there are some knowledgeable folks in the Duke city. And on this forum, you might get some advice from JoeReal, who is one serious grafting machine.

The good news is that cherries do really well here in the high desert.

Good luck.

Don

Cherries take grafts very well. I put about 6 graft of Black Tartarian on my Royal Anne and get very good pollination when the weather allows. Al

Cherries are fairly easy to graft. I grafted 20 cherry trees this year and every graft took. I am not a very good grafter either. If I can do it, anyone can.

If you have plenty of room, then I suggest buying another tree. Try to select the same rootstock as the Bing if you know what it is. Varieties used to pollinate Bing include, Van, Black Tartarian, and Rainer. Out of those three, I prefer Rainer the most. I don't care for Vans much except in areas where fruit set is a problem. Vans tend to make huge crops and you can end of with small soft fruit. I see it in my area all the time.

Budding works very well when buds are starting to show green tips. Bark grafting on a limb, tongue and whip when trees are still dormant work very well on cherries. Best time to graft is when the trunks dry out after a heavy rain. Do not graft when it is raining. You can click on My Page and click the link to a pictorial demo of cleft grafting. It works very well for cherrie almost all year round.

Van, Lapins, Rainier are some good choices to graft to your Bing. Check out the bloom dates in your area. Sometimes it is not very consistent which comes first or which ones have bloom time overlap.

Hello,

I also live in Albuquerque (northwest corner) and have recently purchased a Bing cherry tree from a store which only carries that variety. Can anyone recommend a nursery in the area where I can buy a pollinator (Rainier, Van, Stella, Black Tartarian, etc.)? Thank you very much!

lindseylu: check your local Home Depot. Sometimes they carry Van, Self-fertile Bing, and Stella cherrries. The self-fertile types are good pollinators of other varieties. It may be too late now but our HD have just slashed their prices by 50% on their bare root items. If my timing is right, I may find these in their dumpsters soon, and only if I have time will "rescue" them.

Thank you, joereal, for the advice! Much appreciated! Lindsey :)

Ok, Joe. Why shouldn't you graft when its raining?

~Chills

I learn from my own mistakes and hope the same mistake won't be repeated by others. Primarily, there would be fungal spores on the barks of those trees, also some dirt and bacteria. When it is raining, you will be opening up wounds when grafting, and the water that drips along those surfaces are carrying spores, dirt, or bacteria can get inside the wounds and would start to kill off your trees from where you grafted. In our area, it is advised by people from UC Davis pomology department giving us pruning demo that cherry trees are best pruned after the fruiting season to minimize cherry diseases, and never prune during winter or when there is plenty of rain in the forecast. But if you are in an area where you don't have a lot of cherry diseases during that time, of course you can graft during the rain when you so pleases, but you will get wet if you are not properly attired for sure.

Sad to say, rain isn't a problem in Albuquerque right now, nor last month, nor probably next month. They usually get rain in July and August, but I wouldn't bet on it this summer.

Catherine (north of Albuquerque)

lindseylu--

While I'm all for suppoting local nurseries (although the one that only sells one non-self-fruitful variety of cherry doesn't strike me as being particularly helpful), I've become a big fan of the good mail order sources. Not only do they have a wide variety and other helpful information, you can often select the rootstock you want. A nursery apple tree just marked "semi-dwarf" could be on one of half a dozen or so different stocks, some of them varying widely in terms of size, soil preference, anchoring ability, disease resistence, etc. For me, more information is definitely better.

Also, the ex-English teacher in me always kicks in, forcing me to gently remind folks:

pollinator=bees and other agents of carrying pollen
pollenizer=trees

Best make a note of it because it'll be on the test.

Don

My Bing cherry seems to make cherries without a pollinator. The trouble I have is that when the cherries are babies, the wind comes and blows them off. That has happened 2 years in a row. I will give it one more year and, if the same thing happens, I may pull it out for a fruit that can survive our Albuquerque winds. (Now there's a good name for a song!)

frdnicholas,

Young trees often drop their fruit even if it has been properly pollenized. A Bing cherry tree may make baby fruits without a pollenizing variety, but they will fall off before they mature, even without wind, because the blossoms from which they came were not pollinated properly. A strong wind does tend to take the weakened fruits off all at once. One clue that the baby cherries are about to fall off is when some of them start turning a yellowish color.

Next year, try trading a few blooming twigs with a friend who has a different, compatible cherry variety, and set the twigs in a vase fastened in your tree as it blooms. Watch to make sure the bees come out to pollinate your blossoms, or hand-pollinate a few blossoms yourself. If everything goes well, you should get some fruit. Or, you could plant a second compatible variety which ripens at a different time from Bing.

For larger stone fruits in windy country, you might want to consider 'Royalty' apricot, which bears fruit on wind-resistant spurs (blossoms open quite early and may get caught by frost some years). I also have fruit on a plumcot for the first time this year (all the baby fruits fell off last year and the year before). Most of the fruit is held very close to main branches so it would be less likely to whip around in the wind. But I don't know what it tastes like yet.

fr

It's not the wind. Amarillo is way windier and never lost fruit at that stage to the wind. Your cherries are not getting pollinated. The wind will raise havoc with fruit after it gets 3/4 inch or larger, mostly plums and apricots. But wind will not blow off sweet cherries esp when they are small but not much even when they get larger. Unpollinated cherries get about 1/4 inch long and fall off whether the wind blows or not.

Work on getting some pollination for that cherry rather than pulling it out.

The Fruitnut

Initially, I was worried by everyone's agreement that like pollenizes like (sweet-sweet,sour-sour), but according to the arbor day foundation (pretty authoritative source, no?), Montmorency (sour cherry) pollenizes Bing in addition to the sweet cherries.

What's the final judgment here? Just to check... here's the link to verify:

Here is a link that might be useful: Arbor Day on Bing Cherry

The final judgement can be found found very simply, and in one way only: wait till next spring and see if fruits set on your bing with the existing tree as the polinator.

I was always taught that Monty will pollinate Bing somewhat, if it will bloom at the same time. And they seldom do.
I don't know about New Mexico, but in the United States we rely on Black Republican, Rainier and Van to pollinate Bing.
Geraldo

There's really a cherry called "Black Republican"? :)

Fruitnut.....I have two Montmorency cherry trees that DID survive (the Northstars did not)...they're approx. 41/2' tall and I need to know when to fertilize. I'd really appreciate your advice.
Thanks! Margaret
p.s The moths always get my nectarines and I never get to eat not even one. I'm thinking of replacing them with pears which are much easier. What are your thoughts on that??? :):)

I have a 4 year old bing cherry tree that was doing really well until this Spring. It didn't get very many blossoms and one of the branches lost all of it's leaves. Does anyone have any idea what's going on?

I was given a Bing Cherry tree and want to know if the wild Black Cherry trees in my yard will pollinate the Bing Cherry tree.

My experience with the Arbor Tree Foundation leads me to believe that despite their good intentions they often are mostaken. My lovely healthy Bing was not pollinated by my Montmorency, and the Tartarian I planted may not be overlapping sufficiently either- we shall see. Funny story about ATF- I ordered 2 Montmorencies, a hazelnut, and 2 apricots. Well, the Montmorencies had a different looking leaf...hm, and he hazelnut as well- I mean, they are the Arbor Tree Foundation, they know what they are doing, right? Must be a different strain or something. It took me several years for the scales to fall from my eyes. They were Bradford pears!!!, and the hazelnut was some kind of eating pear. I was indignant( and felt stupid) They did refund my money, to be fair. Bottom line, I don't think you can always believe what those folks tell you. Maybe they are eager young volunteers.