How much space does a cherry tree need

[simon12]

I was going to get 1 or 2 Cherry trees to plant this winter but I am worried how much of my veg growing space it will take up. So how close to a cherry tree on a Giesla 5 root stock can I plant?
Thank you in advance for any replies.

[FB.]

Gisela 5 is quite dwarf.
It should be fairly easy to keep it quite small - if it gets a bit feisty plant some grass around it, stop watering, stop feeding; dwarfs soon stop growing if they come under a bit of stress.

The official size for Gisela 5 is about 3m in in ideal conditions of clear ground (no competing plants), regular feeding, regular watering and spraying. So if left to fend for itself against aphids and competing plants it could probably be kept to half that size.

The variety chosen will have some influence n the mature size, and so will the quality of your soil.

My soil is awful and I can't generally get the really vigorous rootstocks to exceed 3m unless grafted with a monster variety.
A few people near to me have cherries on Colt (normally considered to reach 4.5m in 10years) but they have only reached 2.5m in about 15 years under grass cover and with no spraying. Gisela 5 does not survive in my soil if left unattended.

[simon12]

Could I plant it about 1m away from a huge according to my neighbour over 35 year old black currant plant that I intend to cut right back this October?

[simon12]

I forgot to say my soil has a layer of dark soil that varies between a few cm and 50cm over heavy clay. I also already have a 3m tall pear and a 3m plum tree bin the heavy clay only part again both according to next door over 35 years old and they are both fruiting OK at the moment though have half as much fruit as someone else's under 2m trees I saw last week.

[FB.]

The plum and the pear are probably on the common "medium vigour" St.Julien A (plum) and Quince A (pear) - similar to Colt (cherry) and MM106 (apple).

Those four rootstocks are medium vigour (roughly size class 3 out of 5) and somewhat more vigorous than the dwarf Gisela 5 (size class 2 out of 5).

If you plan to intensively manage the Gisela it might match the existing trees. If the Gisela is mostly left to do its thing it'll probably be two-thirds their size, perhaps a bit less.
So a spacing of 2m is probably all you need, and you might get away with 1.5m.

For interest:

Apple MM111, plum Brompton and pear Pyrodwarf would be size class 4. Cherry Colt may fall into this class rather than size class 3.

Apple M25, plum Myrobalan, pear P.communis/seedling and cherry F12/1 would be size class 5 or possibly even larger.

[simon12]

Thank you very much for the info I will have a closer look and decide how much space I need and go from there.

[Rushton2010]

I'm afraid I'm not an expert of cherries as those who've answered before seem to be, but I just wanted to give a little warning based on my experience.
We had a cherry tree in our front garden for many years. It was a good 3-4 meters from the house but its roots began to damage the house's foundations. It had to be ripped out very quickly before the damage got more expensive to repair.
I'm afraid I couldn't tell you the variety of cherry. But I'd just say do you're research or place well away from any buildings.

[FB.]

The problem with cherries is that they are extremely vigorous - a seedling cherry would be at least twice as vigorous as, say, a seedling apple tree.
Seedling cherries need no excuse to survive in the poorest soils; they spring up all over the place around here (soil is horrible; shallow, dry, sandy, chalky), while seedling apples are difficult to keep alive.
Almost any tree can be a problem if it gets large - and for fruit trees to get large it often takes a lifetime. Cherries just happen to be among the largest of fruit trees.
But a horse chestnut or a willow are far more likely to be troublesome because they dwarf even the biggest cherry trees. A willow is especially water-hungry and will suck the ground dry very quickly (causing subsidence).

Older houses (pre-war) tend to have poor quality foundations and the combination of poor foundations, crumbling old bricks and a tree causing subsidence is often too much for an old property.
To some extent the soil the house stands on can be a problem too; clays are very bad for subsidence because of the swelling then cracking which result form fluctuating moisture levels. Sandy soils don't tend to suffer much ground movement because they hold less water to begin with.

But with a suitable rootstock (such as Gisela or Colt) a cherry (or any other fruit tree) can be kept to a manageable size.
Gisela doesn't usually exceed 2m here, while Colt doesn't usually exceed 4m. Seedling cherry or F12/1 are about twice the vigour of Colt.
I actually have two M25 rootstock apples and a grapevine along the side wall of my house. My house sits on a sandy-gravelly soil, and was built on a 6ft thick concrete base.

[Whitney]

I'm glad I found this, we also have a cherry tree planted a long time ago by my father and it’s quite close to an additional room we built later on. I guess I should start researching how to replant this somewhere farther.

[orangepippin]

I'm afraid I'm not an expert of cherries as those who've answered before seem to be, but I just wanted to give a little warning based on my experience.
We had a cherry tree in our front garden for many years. It was a good 3-4 meters from the house but its roots began to damage the house's foundations. It had to be ripped out very quickly before the damage got more expensive to repair.
I'm afraid I couldn't tell you the variety of cherry. But I'd just say do you're research or place well away from any buildings.

Ornamental cherries are definitely a threat to nearby houses. However cherry trees on Colt or Gisela 5 rootstocks are a completely different animal (sorry) and have much smaller and weaker roots systems. If you are using Gisela 5 you will probably need a permanent stake, because the roots are not big enough to fully support the tree.