I am in zone 9b San Jose California.
I am planning to add 2 cherry trees. Which 2 varieties do you vote for?
After calling around locally and looking online, here is what is available.
Van on Gisela5 Bing on Gisela3 Sandra Rose on Krymsk 6 → The brix from 2011 cherry report by fruitnut is amazing, Seen good reviews on this by scottfsmith and others but rootstock sucks
If I was able to find 2 of above with the same rootstock, I would have dropped them in the same hole and wouldn’t have posted this. Since I cant, I need to pick any 2.
I already have a rainier & lapins in 1 hole on z-dwarf in ground 2 years. Had 1 cherry that squirrels stole.
Lapins has some canker or virus or that golden sappy thing in the rootstock but both trees look healthy otherwise. I am happy with these and want to pull it out only if the damage is fatal.
Sandra Rose have been my tastiest cherries. But the tree is particularly canker-prone so I don’t know if I will be keeping it. Fortunately I don’t think canker is bad where you are, but in canker-prone places I would not recommend it now.
I have Sandra Rose on Krymsk 5 that I bought last year from Fowler nurseries and the tree looks very good. Actually, I see much more gummosis on Gisela rootstocks than on Krymsk 5 rootstocks on my young cherry trees, maybe this is related to very hot summers in my location, which Krymsk tolerates better, I’m not sure. Taste wise, in my opinion, Bing is better than Van.
BTW, I’m not a fan of two (or more) trees in one hole, I think it’s just a marketing gimmick for nurseries to sell more trees to land challenged homeowners. I prefer grafting additional varieties onto a tree.
I’m in 9b also, but we’re foggier down here (Santa Cruz) and get less heat in summer. I’d love to grow cherries, but my Lapins is losing a battle with cherry leaf spot or a similar fungal disease without ever having fruited. My parents tried to grow a cherry tree in Berkeley and it only fruited one year. I’m impressed that you’ve got so many options where you are. Hope you get lots of cherries!
I wouldn’t get bing. I just left San Jose and a guy with a orchard off 85/Camden said the past few years he got very little fruit because of low chill hours. He has been growing them for decades. Van always flowered well for me but not my pollinator, Utah giant. Van/rainer would be good lower chill combo or Stella and Lapins which are self fertile too.
Bleedingdirt - Almaden Valley, Gods little acre, Campbell Summer winds, Yamagami
My only worry with Krymsk 6 is the size, not tree size ( I can prune for size control) but the roots close to the building/side walk. Does anyone have size info of this rootstock - no clear info online except its smaller than Krymsk 5.
Data on rootstocks vary as a lot depends on particular conditions (soil, climate, irrigation, etc.). Krymsk 6 is supposed to be similar to Gisela 5, and Krymsk 5 similar to Gisela 12.
Gary who cannot post here due to his computer, asked me to forward this.
Waiting is his handle on the DWN forums. He is working on getting here.
"I live in the San Joaquin Valley and have a 4 year old Sandra Rose on Krymsk 6. I’ve yet to get a single fruit from it. I have a Bing on Krymsk 6 that does fine, so it’s not the rootstock.
