Edible Landscaping (Afton, VA ) has it

http://www.ediblelandscaping.com/plants.php?func=cats&catID=3&catSubID=59

Remember - it will need pollinator in order to produce fruit

ted- i live in nyc and have ordered many time from raintree and have had no issues with their shipping

If you have any Menards stores in PA, last year they were selling them locally, I almost bought one.. Ended up buying a Stella..

If you buy it locally, I'd expect it to be on Mazzard which is extremely vigorous and Ranier is vigorous as well- so look out!

Where I live, Gisela 5 produces a 20+ foot sweet cherry tree. Your mileage may vary.

Where I live, commercial growers manage to keep even mazzard at 15' routinely. I don't manage a ton of cherries but the ones I do I keep at between 12 and 15', irregardless of rootstock. On the other hand there are neglected cherries on some of the sites I manage that are well over 50'. So my mileage does vary. Keep the pruners sharp.

Thanks for all the input. It really helps. Edible Landscaping sells this tree on a Krymst rootstock. They say it should grow 8-12 feet. It sounds like this might be a bit optimistic for size control. What do you think?
Ted

Ted:

I had a cherry on Mazzard that was kept at 9ft tall and about 10ft wide. The dwarf rootstocks runt out here. My trees on Krymsk 5 died from bacterial cranker. In WA state Giesla 5 runts out but G6 does well. With good soil in Pennsylvania, G5 would probably make a nice tree but heavy pruning might be needed to prevent over-setting and small low-quality fruit.

I probably shouldn't mention this but Rainier isn't the variety I'd chose for your location and cherries aren't the crop I'd try. Perhaps someone closer to your area could speak to that if you care.

I've heard that if you make sure to plant the tree with the graft point 2-3" above ground level - you will get semi-dwarf. If you plant the tree with graft point at or below ground - you will get a larger tree.

True or not?

jolly, you should make a separate post for your question and I'll answer you.

I too am in PA and wanted a Rainier but not sure how it would take in this climate. Instead I purchased a White Gold on Gisela 5 from Raintree last spring as it is a gold cherry with a red blush so I am hoping it is somewhat similar to a Rainier. The taste is supposed to be great. I am container growing my tree in a 20-25 gallon container. It's done very well so far and is a little over 6 ft. I haven't done any pruning yet. I just repotted it in a 5-1-1 mix of pine bark fines, peat, and perlite with Fruit Trees Alive organic fertilizer and pruned half of the roots off (a week ago) and now the leaf buds are all opening beautifully and I think we are going to get some fruit this year. It seemed to take to the new mix and root pruning surprisingly well. I will probably have to top prune it down a little after the end of this growing season.

krok:

I think you made a better choice of cultivar than Rainier. If I were in PA, I'd be planting the cherries bred in NY. I'm pretty sure that's where White Gold was bred.

For me Rainier is a good cherry but not as good as Bing, Selah, or Royal Rainier. But I'd not plant any of those in PA.

I have that same White Gold cherry on Gisela5 here in IL. It just started to fruit two years ago and it's doing well and doesn't seem to be growing out of control.

Ranier does fine here in southeastern NY in open sites although it will crack when it rains as it ripens. I understand why a serious fruit lover would like the taste of good red cherries more, but my customers just love those Raniers- even the cracked ones- as do the squirrels who will tear through woven netting to get them. It's a very large firm cherry. I don't believe any of the current alternative yellows are considered as high quality.

I am now focusing more on the NY bred varieties as Fruitnut wisely suggests, but they still haven't come up with anything crack-free.

Harvestman:

I've only had Royal Rainier two years but for me it is much better eating, smaller but much tastier and sweeter. It's a DWN/Zaiger line. I'd like to try the blushed Skyler Raye. They, C&O Nursery, are claiming 26-30 brix. But trees are not being sold retail.

I thought C+O sold retail. They sell me bundles of 5 wholesale when I only order 10 trees from them. I get my Rainiers from them.

Others on this forum have said they sell individual trees.

You are such a brix junkie! You do keep me thinking of trying difficult varieties so maybe I can approach your sensational results. It'll never happen here though.

They don't sell Skyler Raye retail. It will only be planted in large block at least initially. Maybe down the road it will have commercial flaws and be released retail. Then again it might be nothing but sugar, but I'd like to try it.

To follow up my original post, I ordered the Rainier from edible landscaping. It will come in a one gallon container, likely a very small tree. I am glad to hear the positive aspects of this fruit. I like to focus on the positive. I won't worry about cracked cherries until that's what I have. Actually, all cherries get cracked when you eat them any way.
Ted

The cracking often leads to rot before the cherries are properly ripened on wet seasons. Sometimes it's just a matter of removing cherries that show any rot so it doesn't spread. Spreading is less a problem with Ranier than some other cherries because the clusters don't touch as much.

tedgrowsit, Rainier is a very tasty cherry. I just put in a Ranier this spring. It's my son's favorite cherry. If you get fruit, you will be very happy with it.

I can't recommend it for my zone, yet, because it just went into the ground and I have no experience with how it will do in my climate.