My guess would be the pear. But I'm not sure what root my pears are on. It never seemed that important. My pears this year were severely drought stressed but this was the year from he11.

I've tried many years to fruit Benton on Mazzard and dwarf roots. It has been mission impossible so far. It's still on Gisela 5 and failed to set again last year. I've heard the quality is very good but without fruit that's not much help.

My best cherries last year from best to worst: Sandra Rose, Selah, Van, Lapins, Bing, and Rainier. They all set big crops and tested 24-32 brix. Lapins is self fertile and a better bet than Benton in my book.

Pear roots can function in wetter soils so probably would go deeper for water, but the soil would have to be deeper to begin with for this to be an issue. I've no idea which species requires the most water to survive or produce.

I would think this would be a secondary issue when comparing these two species as cherries are so much less likely to provide a harvest in your region.

Fruitnuts list has very little relavence when you're growing cherries in the humid region where crack resistance is everything and what they call crack resistance on the west seems meaningless in the east. Here I find Ranier more productive than Lapins and Lapins bears fruit that is too small. Probably neither are nearly as good to grow here as varieties specifically bred for eastern conditions. I still don't have enough experience with these newer varieties to be sure.

Of course my experience is in the northeast and probably not very useful further south.

I can't offhand recall ever seeing notable drought stress on well-established pears in SC, even no matter how sandy the soil.

I'd agree with harvestman that the best candidates for cherries are probably those bred in the NE. But Lapins does have a longer track record and has a low chilling requirement. It does have a tendency to overset fruit partly because it is self fertile. But oversetting, even on dwarf rootstocks, can be managed with aggressive pruning. If you manage the crop load, fruit size and quality are good.

All that said cherries are still a very poorly adapted fruit in the SE. Fire blight resistant pears are a vastly better adapted fruit.

Of the 8 cherries I planted this year, totally disregarding suitability for area, there is one survivor & it's Stella. Both Lapins, Minnie Royal, and Royal Lee bit the dust. I've read (Dave Wilson) that Rainier has produced in Galveston, so it's on my list.

Every European pear I have planted has succumbed to fireblight, so I moved to Asian oears.

Too soon to tell about drought resistence on the Stella since I have watered it & mulched it. No rain in a year here but for a few sprinkles--just a teaser.

I just changed the order to Van Cherries on Gisele 6. I kind of feel like based on the recommendations here I might should have picked Ranier and I suppose I still could have and still might. Any more thoughts on Van versus Ranier? More info is we have 59 inches of rain a year, around 440 chill hours, and the soil will be a clay based loam that grows grass well and is very well drained.

Andrew:

Two issues, both Van and Rainier are listed as needing 700 hrs chilling. They also both need another variety for pollination. Lapins is listed as 400-500 hrs and is self fertile.

The only positive I see for your situation is well draining soil. Cherries are very poorly adapted to warm humid conditions. They are prone to die young even in a dry climate. I lost some to bacterial canker with 15 inches rain a year.

As far as Van vs Rainier. Van is very precocious. On one of the Gisela rootstocks you might get some fruit even in the second leaf and a few pounds the 3rd leaf. It's probably crack prone most are.

If you have to get a Rainier and/or Van at least get a Lapins for pollination and lower chilling requirement.

Sigh....well maybe I need to completely change direction and just go with Lapins. What do you think? We are not going to get close to 700 chilling hours so it would seem to be an error to go with either of those Rainier/Van when they need more than we have. I am getting about 15 trees spaced on 20 foot rows with 15 feet between trees. This is more or less to continue a spacing I used for some M111 apples next to the cherries. Do you think just switching to 15 lapins would be a good course of action? and what rootstock would get them above deer browse line, be more precocious than mazzard and be well rooted and somewhat drought resistant?

andrew:

Just get one Lapins on Gisela 6 and see how it goes. The only alternative is Minnie Royal and Royal Lee which are very low chilling but will bloom very early.

You'll likely make more cherries if you put all three in pots and protect them from the rain, freezes, and birds. That's a lot of work but a few pounds are likely more than you'll ever make on 15 trees planted in ground.