British Columbia: Planting Rainier and Bing cherry trees

Discussion in 'Outdoor Gardening in the Pacific Northwest' started by blueberrykeeper, May 28, 2012.

  1. blueberrykeeper

    blueberrykeeper Member

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    I bought Rainier and Bing cherry trees this year, and they're both about 6ft tall and have been pruned in a vase shape (open center). The nursery got the trees bare root and planted them in containers in early spring, they recommended I plant the trees in the fall once the plant falls into dormancy. The blooms on both the cherries were picked off as to not stress the tree. I currently have them in the large containers that they came from in the nursery. I water the plants daily when it doesn't rain. My question is would it harm the plants if I planted them in the ground now? I don't see the harm in it and it must be better than leaving them in the containers where the roots will begin to web. And should I again pinch the blooms next spring or will the plants be stable enough to produce fruit?

    Also one more final question, the planting location gets full sun from sunrise till about 5:00pm, after that the neighbors sparsely leafed tree causes light to fargment the leaves of my cherries, is this a location that will hinder the growth of the trees?
     
  2. David Payne Terra Nova

    David Payne Terra Nova Active Member

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    I believe you should plant your trees immediately. It's not going to be warm here for a few days. You wouldn't want to plant them in the heat of July or August of course.

    As for pinching the blooms, there seems to be two schools of thought there.

    I would plant them now and care for them in the soil as they were intended.
     
  3. Sea Witch

    Sea Witch Active Member

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    What David said +1.

    Others here will correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think there's any guarantee when the tree will start bearing fruit.

    And I don't think there's any problem with some dappled sun after 5PM. Your trees will be getting more than 9 hours of sun daily including morning sun which seems to have some special importance--I can't remember why.
     
  4. Tree Nut

    Tree Nut Active Member

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    I would be extremely careful planting these trees, as the soil is liable to fall away from the root ball due to lack of smaller roots when the pot is removed. That is likely the reason the nursery advised to wait until fall. It will allow the hair type roots more time to develop.

    If they are in large containers they will not become root bound over summer. My advice is to plant the trees in the soil within their containers. This will prevent the roots from overheating, allow for less frequent watering, and allow the roots to fill the pot. In the fall, remove the pots and plant the trees permanently.
     
  5. blueberrykeeper

    blueberrykeeper Member

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    How about picking off the blooms next year? Do you think that would be a wise thing to do?
     
  6. Ron B

    Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

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    Place them for the summer in whichever situation you will be best able to keep them moist in, either still in the pots, near a faucet or out of the pots and in the ground, with mulching. Do not plant them in the ground but still in pots, or worry about pinching the flowers off. If they were large-fruited types like apples, that start to bear numbers of fruits in small sizes, to an extent that top development can be affected it would be a different story.
     
  7. blueberrykeeper

    blueberrykeeper Member

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    So flower pinching is useless on cherry trees?
     
  8. Ron B

    Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

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    I guess I've never seen it mentioned. And I don't see sweet cherry trees in this area covering their branches with fruits, doubt there is enough production on young trees to be concerned about it slowing their development markedly. Between the birds and the climate getting much fruit out of them will probably become your main concern. All the more so because you did not choose the best cultivars for here.
     
  9. blueberrykeeper

    blueberrykeeper Member

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    Bing and Rainier aren't good cultivars for here? I thought this was the ideal climate for them, I remember seeing the mother rainier tree at UW. And these trees also require 1000 chill hours, I don't know what other climate you could grow them in.
     
  10. Sea Witch

    Sea Witch Active Member

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    I'm interested to hear this too. I don't see why Bing and Rainier aren't fine for the Vancouver area. Bing aren't grown commercially west of the Cascades because they're prone to cracking if they get a lot of rain late in their development, but they should grow fine.

    I planted Rainier, Lapins, and Montmorency.
     
  11. Ron B

    Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

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    >Bing aren't grown commercially west of the Cascades because they're prone to cracking if they get a lot of rain late in their development<

    Thereby answering the question.

    • Bing—Ripe mid July. Commercial standard
    for dark sweet cherries and still top rated
    for quality; can crack badly with rain at the
    wrong time, but sets well on Gisela 5 in our
    western coastal climate.
    • Rainier—Ripe mid July. Commercial market
    high quality white flesh cherry. Sometimes
    sets poorly in a maritime climate, but has
    done well on Gisela 5 and 7 in Mount
    Vernon trials. Skin color is a bright red blush
    over yellow


    http://cru.cahe.wsu.edu/CEPublications/eb0937/eb0937.pdf
     
  12. Tree Nut

    Tree Nut Active Member

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    I have never had great yields from cherries, and I have 13 cherry trees of different varieties, with some with having four or five different varieties grafted on each tree. Some years are better than others, but our wet springs hurt overall yields. I had a late frost in early May that wiped out quite a few blossoms this year as well. My largest tree, a 25 foot Rainier seemed to do the best, and most of the fruit survived.

    My best performing "traditional" fruit trees (after blueberries) are the oriental pears. For some reason they seem to love this climate. Following them mulberries, plum trees then apples, then european pears with cherries last. I have at least 10 varieties of each except for the mulberries..
     
  13. vitog

    vitog Contributor 10 Years

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    From my experience, Stella (and Compact Stella) is the most reliable producer in the Vancouver area, although their fruits still do get some cracking from the late June and early July rains. The cracked fruit is still usable; it just has to be picked before it rots. If anyone knows of a variety that doesn't ripen until mid-July or later, that would be ideal, since rain is much less likely then.
     
  14. Ron B

    Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

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    Recommended cultivars are listed and described at the above link.
     
  15. blueberrykeeper

    blueberrykeeper Member

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    I just took a look at the guide (which is great by the way, will be using this in future considerations of what trees I should plant, thanks) But these are recommended cultivars, on page 10 it lists rainier and bing as "other varieties that require a pollinizer, but also that do well". So is this not a recommended cultivar?
     

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