Growing A Cherry Tree From Seed?

[wild]

Hey guys,

I have some questions:

How successful is a cherry tree going to be if planted from seed?

Which type of cherry seed am I going to need? I am purely looking for an absolutely delicious cherry regardless of size/look of tree. Large, dark, sweet cherries is my ideal.

Lastly... Anyone got any ideas where I could buy these online?

[Invicta]

You will have no problem growing a Cherry tree from a cherry stone. But you will have no control over what fruit of the tree will be like no matter how nice the fruit of the parent tree is. To get guaranteed fruit you need to purchase a variety of Cherry you like which has been propagated vegetatively - effectively cloned - with cherries the usual method is grafting. The size of the tree is determined by the rootstock on to which the desired variety has been grafted. A sweet cherry grown from a stone will probably be a very big tree by the way.

[FB.]

Predicting what a seed will become when it's mature is as difficult as predicting what an unborn baby will be like when they're grown up.

It's possible to make some guesses by looking at the parents' characteristics (assuming you know who the father was) but there will be a lot of randomness and luck involved. If the cherry pip's father was a sour/acid cooker, or a small-fruited ornamental cherry then it's going to take a lot of luck for the mother's genes to offset that.
Unfortunately, only the bee that delivered the pollen can tell you who the father was.....

Seedling cherries will usually be very vigorous - far more vigorous than other fruit trees - with thick, spreading, invasive roots which can cause damage to nearby structures and suck the nearby soil of most of the water an nutrients making it difficult for other plants to survive nearby.

The other problem with cherries is that birds like them. Birds find cherries plenty tasty enough long before humans can stomach them., so until the tree is huge the birds will probably get most of the fruit - and poop on your washing after showering you with regurgitated pips from your rooftop.

[Bigmallly]

For 3-4 squid, you're best picking up a Stella from many of the cheap shops.

[veggiechicken]

If you just want to grow a pip/stone for fun and you don't mind what it grows into, whether the fruit is edible and what size the tree is - and you have plenty of space and don't want to eat any fruit for several years, that's fine, go ahead and do it.
However, if you want a specific type of fruit you need to buy a tree. There is no free option.

[boatsman]

Bigmally, could you use a large octopus instead of 3-4 squid?

[Bigmallly]

Bigmally, could you use a large octopus instead of 3-4 squid?

Of course you could but it would cost twice as much...............

[wild]

Thanks guys, I'll definitely try it out. I love experimenting

[FB.]

Thanks guys, I'll definitely try it out. I love experimenting

If you're going to try, plant lots of pips and let drought, starvation, cold, wet, pests and diseases kill off those least suited to your location. Basically just plant the pips and don't do anything to help them.

Then you'll be left with the toughest ones which have the best chance of reaching a good age and size.

By careful pruning, in the right way and at the right time, and by not giving them much TLC, you may be able to encourage the trees to produce small amounts of fruit by the age of five.

By judging the tree size and how early it fruits (relative to others in the same batch of seedlings), after several years you may be able to select a few seedlings which are relatively compact and which produce good fruit relatively early in life compared to the others.

[FB.]

....By careful pruning, in the right way and at the right time, and by not giving them much TLC, you may be able to encourage the trees to produce small amounts of fruit by the age of five.....

Expanding on that comment, although talking of pears rather than cherries.......

According to the books we should only 'Plant pears for your heirs' (because they take so long to fruit).

But I have successfully persuaded grafted pears on seedling rootstocks to produce several fruits in their third year, a dozen in their fourth year and a couple of dozen in their fifth year.

With seedlings (or seedlings used as rootstock) neglect and cruelty is a good way to 'manage' them. After all: seedlings in a hedgerow, woodland or forest don't get a helping hand; they're designed to survive a hard life.