You need another sweet Cherry.
Here's one paragraph that discusses this:

"Two trees are usually needed to produce fruit, and second tree must be chosen with care. No combination of these will produce fruit: 'Bing', 'Lambert', Royal Ann'. These varieties will pollinate any other cherry: 'Black Tartarian', 'Corum', 'Deacon', Republican', 'Sam', 'Stella', and 'Van'. However, because 'Lambert' blooms late, it is pollinated best by 'Republican'. 'Glacier', 'Lapins', 'Stella', and 'Sunburst are self-fertile (a lone tree will bear)."

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Any other Sweet cherry varieties chosen (info for others) will also need a pollinator. Furthermore, there are varieties that only do well when pollinated by select other cherries. Here is one more example...

"'Utah Giant'. Ripens with 'Bing' but is larger, sweeter; develops sweetness even before fully ripe. Holds color when processed. Pollinate with 'Van' or 'Stella'."

So, as advised above, it isn't a complete free for all. I know for a fact (however) that 'Bing' is usually selected as a pollinator, but of course, there are many, many, choices. It's just easy for nurseries to carry a "generic" pollinator. It saves time and the trees are in the customers hands and they're on their way.

Sunset Western Garden Book (Fifth Printing June 1997); Sunset Books Inc, Menlo Park, CA; ISBN: 0376038519.

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Dax

So do two tartarian cherries produce fruit? And when we say pollinator, does it mean these have to be frown next to each other, or can they be like 15' apart?

Cross pollination is best achieved when you have two different clones or cultivars of the same plant. So two Tartarian cherries will not pollinate each other - you need a Tartarian and another sweet cherry, as Dax notes......Bing, Van, Stella, Lapin, etc. Even with self-fertile cultivars, like the Lapin or Stella, you tend to get better cropping if another cultivar is available to offer cross pollination. And they do not need to be planted next to each other......just within flying distance of the pollinizers, so another sweet cherry variety in the same neighborhood will work.

Here is a link that might be useful: cherry pollination chart

Thanx a lot. Now I just have to dig out one of the trees, return it and get another one.

Wait a minute, I have 3 flowering cherry trees (kwanzah) within "flying" distance. Do the cross pollinators have to be fruit bearing or would this be ok?

Sorry for pestering you, but I am totally new with fruit trees. Got 100 evergreen and deciduous trees, but this was my first attempt with fruit trees...

I have a question on Pollination of Apple tree. I have one apple tree. During flowering season Can I go to an Orchard and buy few branches and Graft it on my tree. Would this Pollinate the tress. I guess I need Bees to do the job but I think wind can help too.

bitooli - look at the link. You need two different cultivars of the same species, fruiting sweet cherries. An ornamental or flowering cherry will not work.

foolishpleasure, grafting a second variety onto an existing tree should work, provided you get the graft to take (a big "if" when working with existing trees of any size or maturity) and it is a compatible cultivar. And you do need bees or other appropriate flying insect pollinizers to effect the pollen transfer - wind will not do it.

But you may not need to go to the trouble of grafting. Another apple or crabapple tree in your immediate neighborhood will work. Or you can select multiple graft trees - trees that have been grafted with several different apple cultivars at a very young age to exclude the need for more than one apple tree type.

Hi,I got a question,I just got a 4-in-1 cherry tree,it has van,lapins,bing,stella cherries all in one tree.Do I need another tree for pollination? or will this tree pollinate it self?

Jaime,

Your 4-in-1 tree is totally self-fertile. You will not need another cultivar as long as all four cultivars are present on the tree.

As easy as it is to grow a tree I still need help what tree will go good with my "BING" to produce fruit I did not under stand the answer above!!! thank you!!!

Jeff, I think you'll have to be more specific about what you don't understand. Is there a word you need defined, or what?

As far as a cultivar to cross-pollinate 'Bing', most other sweet cherries work well and there are many lists of potential pollenizers online. A few examples that will work both ways with 'Bing' (as a pollen donor and pollen recipient) are 'Angela', 'Black Gold', 'Black Republican', 'Black Tartarian', 'Early Burlat', 'Glacier', 'Gold', 'Hardy Giant', 'Hartland', 'Hudson', 'Lapins', 'Stella', 'Sweetheart', 'Ranier', 'Royalton', 'Van', and 'White Gold'.

I have just bought two bing cherry trees. I was wondering if they will pollinate themselves and if not I have lots of wild cherry trees around will they pollinate them

Laura,

Two 'Bing' cherry trees are the same as one 'Bing' when it comes to cross-pollenization. The wild cherries may indeed act as pollenizers, but without knowing what type they are (or even where you are at) and more specifics about their relative location, etc it's hard to say for sure.

i have been looking up trees to cross polinate with my tartarian cherry tree and i have come across information about pollinaters as being : flower group 5 and bloom 5 (for my tartarian , but other pollinators have different flower and group numbers... my tree flowers in early spring in zone 5 how do i know which tree would be the right one to plant near my own tree?

hey wasu ...

the fruit forum peeps would sure know this answer better than the tree peeps ...

ken

Ken Benedict Arnold Adrian is selling us out again. LOL

Wasutonwi, the biggest majority of other sweet cherries and even some sour cherries can be used successfully to pollenize Tartarian. Some that are especially ideal, as well as easy to find, are Bing, Rainier, Royal Ann, Stella, and Van. These cultivars can also be successfully pollenized by Tartarian, so the combination will work well both ways.

i suppose...

what i was intending to do.. is give them another resource ...

what does it matter.. this isnt their post.. who knows if they will ever get the answers we are providing ... on a 2 year old post ...

i am delighted they used the search to find old posts.. but i dont get why a new post is not started .. and wasu is not alone in this.. so dont take it personally ...

all that said.. of all the dabbling i have done with fruit .. cherry is one of the hardest.. in that ... pollinator aside.. bad winter can kill buds .... late frost can kill the flower .. or set so few fruit it isnt worth it .... and then the birds usually beat you to the harvest ...

sour cherry is never a problem .. its just the foo foo cherries.. that are not really reliable in MY z5 .... [depending of course.. on how proactive you are willing to be .. as in spraying.. netting.. etc]

its probably the same reason those fancy wash DC cherry blossoms.. kwasan or something.. are not reliable in z5 MI ... i get a show like DC once every 3rd to 5th year ....

if you have time.. i would call local orchards.. and ask if they have trees.. and if they have few or none.. that might be your best answer .. and if they do.. ask them what varieties they grow.. and what they may use for pollinators ... in z5.. i think local info would rule ...

i am just wondering.. making a presumption on your name.. how hardy cherry will be in WI ..???? .. not that the tree wont live.. but whether you will ever get a decent crop in your area ...

ken

"i am delighted they used the search to find old posts.. but i dont get why a new post is not started .. "

I didn't know that this particular thread about cherry pollination existed.

I suppose I could have visited here first, done a GardenWeb search or scrolled through the numerous pages of this particular forum....

Googling 'cherry pollination' lead me right here. Yeah! And it appears that the info is still useful. Yeah again! ;)

Thanks to all who posted. ;)

Is 1 bing, and 1 tatarian cherry tree good enough for cross pollination?

Perfect pollinators. You're good to go.

---------------

"Two trees are usually needed to produce fruit, and second tree must be
chosen with care. No combination of these will produce fruit: 'Bing',
'Lambert', 'Royal Ann'. These varieties will pollinate any other cherry:
'Black Tartarian', 'Corum', 'Deacon', 'Republican', 'Sam', 'Stella',
and 'Van'. However, because 'Lambert' blooms late, it is pollinated
best by 'Republican'.

'Glacier', 'Lapins', 'Stella', and 'Sunburst' are self-fertile (a lone tree will bear.)"

Sunset Western Garden Book (Fifth Printing June 1997); Sunset Books Inc, Menlo Park, CA; ISBN: 0376038519.

----------------

Dax

I have a van dwarf cherry tree.What other cherry tree is the best pollinator.

quote by gardengal48:

" You need
two different cultivars of the same species, fruiting sweet cherries. An
ornamental or flowering cherry will not work. "

Actually that may not absolutely be true. I came across a published reference to Prunus campanulata being crossbred with sweet cherries.

(Temperate Fruit Crops in Warm Climates, edited by Amnon Erez, p216)

Another example with a different species, the ornamental Bradford pear is capable of pollinating fruiting Asian pears.

quote by bitooli:

" I have 3 flowering cherry trees (kwanzah) within "flying" distance. Do the cross pollinators have to be fruit bearing or would this be ok? "

Unfortunately this would not work. The kanzan variety, like other double-petaled varieties of cherry blossom, is sterile due to extra chromosomes resulting from hybridization. The other common cherry blossom variety, Yoshino, is a terrible pollinator, and not really a 'natural' cherry blossom variety either, they are all clonally propagated through cuttings.

I am somewhat of an expert on ornamental cherries, and generally the commercial variety and availability of different cherry blossom cultivars is extremely limited outside of Japan. Even in Japan the situation is not much better, most of the cherries now planted in Japan are Yoshino or kanzan, and many Japanese botanists are very concerned about this.

But yes, theoretically if you were able to get hold of something like an Oshima cherry blossom tree, which is an older, more 'natural' cultivar, I believe that could pollinate a fruiting cherry tree.

One member in this forum got some Prunus jamasakura (wild mountain cherry) seeds from one of her friends in Japan. That is considered one of the original native cherry blossom types in Japan, and grows wild in the mountain forests. These trees do produce "cherries", but they are more like tiny little drupes only fit for the birds.

The general rule is that it is possible for any cherry variety to pollinate any different cherry variety. However, in some cases there are varieties of cherry that are too genetically similar to be able to pollinate each other, such as the group Bing, Lambert, and Royal Ann. There are a small number of sweet cherry varieties that are capable of pollinating themselves, such as Stella or Lapin, but which still set more fruit if pollinated by a different variety. Then there are some cases where a certain variety is genetically capable of pollinating a different variety, but is just a terrible pollinator itself. So the pollination only goes one way. It will set fruit, assuming there is another pollinator around, but that other cherry tree used to pollinate it will not set fruit itself, unless there is a third variety around.

Lastly, different cherry varieties may flower at different times, and it is difficult for them to naturally pollinate each other if their bloom times do not overlap. This is a very big consideration, and is why cherry varieties often have very specific recommendations for pollination partners.

In general, sour cherries are self-fruitful and do not need a separate pollinator. It is also possible for sour cherries to pollinate sweet cherries, if anyone was curious.

you might also learn a lot more.. in the fruit forum ... with your own post ...

just another source of info ...

ken

hi everyone,

I was wondering if anyone can help me explaining if sweet cherry can be pollinated by sour cherry

I have this question because I own garden with sweet cherry planted and I do not know the specific variety name of it and some people claimed that since these sweet cherry shoots are already grafted into sour cherries `roots` and they are currently giving shoots from original root which sweet cherry was grafted `upon`, these sweet cherry will be in really close proximity to `shooted` sour cherries and will be cross pollinated

my question is ,again, can sour cheery pollinate sweet cherry and if yes will fruit resemble that of sweet cherry ?

and please do provide references if possible (I am comfortable with scientific articles)

sorry my English

"...can sour che(r)ry poll(enize) sweet cherry..."

As mentioned above, yes they can, as long as bloom-time is compatible.

"...and if yes will fruit resemble that of sweet cherry"

Yes, the fruit of a sweet cherry would still be sweet cherries!

re: sprouts from rootstock

Be careful about letting rootstock sprouts develop. You may loose your scion (grafted cultivar).

As long as the bloom periods overlap, a sour cherry can pollinate a sweet cherry. Montmorency, one of the most commonly grown sour/tart cherries is a recommended pollination partner for sweet cherries. And the cross pollination will not affect the fruit - it will be what it should be for whatever type of sweet cherry you are growing.

I would certainly not rely on a flowering or ornamental cherry to provide reliable pollination services for a fruiting cherry. They are just too dissimilar genetically and the bloom periods are not very compatible either.

Is it just me or do others think that basic biology/botany is just not being taught in schools any more??? Some of the questions previously in this thread are just so basic............

appreciate the responses

is my question is included to being `basic` ?

I am suspicious about arguments about being able to (cross-) pollinate or not, because these types of gardens I assume usually are located with `crowded` fruit trees (within a reach distance of pollinators), so people can think (maybe falsely) that some particular tree can pollinate another one

I would be grateful if anyone could provide scientific reference.

I would like to add that we have planted several tart (not ornamental) cherries besides the ones coming from original rootstock, and couple of (yellow with blush) cherries (I assume they are Rainier, and currently I am trying to get some Stark Gold to have planted in my garden) anyway to make sure there is a universal pollinator for sweet cherry

My confusion(/anger) is about unsupported arguments in my region (most probably elsewhere too) and confusions even the rootstock sellers can have about exact name of the cherry variety they are providing

dear brandon7

can you please provide more information about developing sprouts, because some people suggested to leave them as they are, because they can by being really close to the grafted `shoot` increase the pollination rate and hence the fruit number

I am not sure I fully understand your concerns. Cherry pollination charts are all over the Internet and some are more detailed than others but any should provide suggestions for what are considered "universal" pollinators, usually any of those varieties that are considered self-fertile, as long as the bloom periods overlap/coincide. As to rootstock issues or identification, I'm not sure I follow how they have any bearing on pollination issues. Their focus is typically on controlling size, encouraging preciousness and sometimes disease resistance and hardiness (and therefore productivity) but they really have no impact on or facilitate with cross pollination.

Bitel_12, I don't have a particular reference to point you to, regarding the loss of grafts occurring due to rootstock sprout, but this is what I would consider a widely known phenomenon. I'll bet if you did a little poking around on Google, you'd find hundreds of reports/discussions/studies concerning this.

If you maintain a small number of small sprouts (keep them trimmed and under control) the chances of having problems would be minimized, but the more rootstock sproutage you have the more likely you are to loose your scion.

Those concerned with having the "pollenizer sprouts" that close to the fruiting scion are overestimating the need for close proximity. Another tree, at a distance of a number of meters, would likely provide an almost identical (practically speaking) degree of pollination potential.

BTW, when it comes to cherries, bees are about as close as it gets to a "universal pollinator".

Generally 2 trees only need to be within 50 feet (15 meters) of each other to cross pollinate. Pollination does usually require insects (most commonly bees), but can also be done by hand. Even if you do not commonly see bees in your yard, it is usually nothing to worry about. The bees will appear when the tree is covered in blossoms. In many parts of the country people only need to plant one apple tree in their yard, because there are usually a few other apple trees (or crabapples) growing somewhere in the neighborhood and the local bees are likely to be carrying pollen.

The only reason I could see to ever want to plant the trees closer together is if they are very young trees with only a handful of blossoms that are unlikely to attract many bees. But in that case why not just pollinate by hand?

The quality of the fruit is entirely dependent on the tree it is growing on; the variety that was used to pollinize it does not affect the fruit, though it does take a pollinizer for fruit to be able to form in the first place.

Sweet cherries have a different number of chromosomes from sour cherries, and a cross between the two results in a triploid hybrid. Such a hybrid can still produce fruit, but the seeds are sterile.

Sweet cherries have 16 chromosomes, while sour cherries have 32. Somewhat interestingly, wild Japanese cherry blossom trees have the same number of chromosomes as sweet cherries, while wild cherry varieties native to America (these include Black Cherry and Capulin) have the same number as sour cherries. This has implications for cross-breeding potential. Many cultivated cherry blossom varieties, including most in the serrulata group, are sterile triploid hybrids (with 24 chromosomes), and can only be propagated from cuttings.

Can an apple tree pollinate a sweet cherry tree? I have a golden delicious and an Ida red and am looking into getting an emperor francis sweet cherry tree....

Sorry - cross pollination has to be at least within the same genus if not the same species. Apples trees are Malus, cherries are Prunus......and never the twain shall meet :-) You will need another cherry to get fruit from your Emperor Francis.

Remember, even with the right cross pollinator, your next cherry tree will need a few good years to mature.

I have a Black York and a Rainier cherry trees. Will they cross pollinate?

you might want to try the fruit forum ...

and starting your own post ...

ken