The growing cherry trees difficulty rating swings a lot based on the type you pick. Sour cherries are an easy win for most home gardeners. Sweet cherries take more skill, more patience, and a partner tree close by. The choice between these two types matters more than soil or fertilizer ever will.
My first sour cherry was a Montmorency that fruited well by year four with very little fuss. The sweet Bing I planted the same spring took three tries to bear fruit at all. The first two trees died from bacterial canker, and the third one needed a pollinator partner before it would set fruit. Are cherry trees hard to grow? The honest answer is it depends on the variety you bring home from the nursery.
Sour cherries are self-fruitful, which means one tree alone can bear a full crop. They handle cold winters down to USDA zone 4 and shrug off many diseases that flatten sweet cherries. Their roots tolerate heavier soil too. You can plant a Montmorency and walk away for two years with reasonable hope of fruit.
Sweet cherries push you into harder gardening territory fast. Most types need a second sweet cherry within 100 feet (30 m) for cross-pollination. They thrive only in zones 5 through 9 and need well-drained soil that dries fast after rain. Bacterial canker can take a tree down in one wet spring before you even see what hit it.
Birds add the final twist to growing sweet cherries. A flock can strip a small tree in two days flat when the fruit colors up in June. You need netting, scare devices, or just an extra-large harvest to share. Sour cherries face less bird pressure since their tart flavor turns off many species.
Some easy cherry tree varieties give you most of the joy without the headache. Montmorency ranks at the top for beginners since it bears alone and resists disease. North Star is a dwarf sour cherry that fits in small yards and starts bearing in just three years. Both make great pies, jams, and frozen stocks for the winter months.
Stella sits in the middle as a self-fertile sweet cherry that needs no partner. It still wants ideal soil and weather but skips the hardest part of sweet cherry growing. Bing, by contrast, is the demanding advanced choice. It produces the classic sweet dark cherry of the grocery store but punishes any lapse in care with disease and crop failure.
For a true beginner cherry tree start with one Montmorency grafted onto Mahaleb rootstock. This combo handles a wide range of soils and resists root diseases. Plant it in fall or early spring, water through the first two summers, and prune in late winter. Master that one tree before adding a sweet cherry to the mix.
Budget 3 to 7 years from planting to your first real crop. Dwarf trees fruit faster but yield less per season. Standard trees take longer but pay off with 40 to 60 lb (18 to 27 kg) of fruit each year once mature. Most home growers find the wait worthwhile when they bite into that first ripe cherry pulled fresh off the branch.
Cherry growing is not as hard as many think when you pick the right tree for your skill and climate. Start small, learn the basics, and add a sweet variety only after you have nailed sour cherry care. Patience beats every other skill in this part of the orchard.
Read the full article: Cherry Tree Care Made Simple
