If you’re getting two trees, choose one early/early-mid ripening variety and one mid-late/late ripening variety (as long as they’re pollination compatible). Cherry season is short and extending it helps.
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yes, this is what I have in mind, Tehranivee(late) and Craig’s Crimson(early) should do it.
Can somebody share first hand information on Craig’s Crimson productivity?
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My neighbor grew BT at her old house before and like it a lot. When she move to our neighborhood, she finally bought two trees. She does not know what rootstocks they are on and does not keep a record. They have grown quite vigorously.
She did not prune, either until I pointed out that it’d be difficult to net or pick any fruit. I would not call that she " pruned" them. She cut off several limbs.
Hopefully they will set more fruit next year. I don’t know if pollinators from my yard would go over to her trees. We are only about 150 ft only.
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I have a Craig’s Crimson. I just planted it last year. The reason I bought it was for the patent New Root 1 rootstock they sell it on. I can’t say anything about the fruit yet. New Root 1 is supposed to be the first dwarfing rootstock for cherries.
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What about G3, isn’t it dwarfing too?
I grow Lapins in Ohio. Flavor is very good. Not as firm as Bing, but I would still consider it firm. Planted in 2014 and was productive this year. It has been through at least on brutal winter. (appx minus 15 degrees). It was from Schlabachs. They say their semi-dwarf cherries are on Krymsk and are 60% of standard size. Raintree has Lapins on Gisela 3. I think that might be worth a try. I would guess that good drainage might be even more important for such a dwarfing rootstock. I recieved a Surefire tart cherry from them on Gisela 3 this spring, but all I can say is that it looks good so far.
Here are some actual pictures of my Lapins this year:
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I seriously regret planting any sweet cherries. They are a pain in the butt. Today I bought a 3lb pack of sweet cherries from Sam’s Club that were labeled “Black Sweet Cherries”. They are phenomenal and I’d be hard pressed to grow anything as good or better. Better than any fruit I’ve eaten
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I am relatively new, but maybe able to share some experience.
Below is White gold and Black gold on Gi 5 in large containers. The pruning method is SSA however without using promalin. Planted spring 2015, this year I got only about 1-1.5lb each tree. Cherries are good size and taste very good. I picked SSA pruning method is because most of the fruits are from the basal buds, basal fruit will have bigger fruit size.
Also have Vandalay and Tehranivee (Canadian varieties) are on Gi 3, planted Spring 2016. One fruit got stolen by birds 
We will see how Gi 3 is doing next year.
(Zone 7b)
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Oh, your Lapins look really nice and dark… What I saw on pictures online was more like bright red. What color is the flesh and juice?
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I just ate some from the market last night too that were nice and dark, sweet, and firm. I was thinking how easy it was to buy them and how much work it is to fail at growing them, lol! These were on sale for $3.99 lb. I was thinking how cheep that was. I would hate to add up how much a cherry mine cost.
@galinas NEWROOT-1
Zaiger dwarfing rootstock for cherries. Dwarfs cherry trees to 8-12 ft. unpruned. Promotes early bearing. Ideal for container growing. More versatile than Mazzard and Mahaleb. Better adapted to clay soils than Mazzard and Mahaleb.
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Why do rock climbers climb mountains? Surely not for the point of being at a certain height above sea level… For that they can use helicopters 
. But for the process, for the sweat and blisters followed by the joy of the view and saying “I did it!” .
I am talking about cherries here
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Where did you find cherries on Gi3?
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Raintree has them.
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Interesting. I think until recently Gi3 was considered “experimental”. Not sure if they’re done experimenting, or if homeowners are just lucky guinea pigs.
Please let us know how the cherries on Gi3 turn out.
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Both are maroon.
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Galina,
I have only one tree of Vandalay and several grafted varieties on it. I figured out that if I graft many, I would definitely have some pollen compatible. The grafts are White gold, Utah giant, Lapins, Stella, Benton, Kristin and maybe something else that I missed. They all had 2-3 fruits this year. I found that grafting sweet cherries is easy so this is the way I would recommend to do it.
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That’s me again… Still choosing cherry variety for UFO-Y training on G5(trees planted in a row on 45 degree angle and trained on horizontal wire 20’’ from the ground. From there vertical shoots are trained on sets of two parallel wires making Y shaped structure if you look from the end of the row.) This source, page 50 directs planting them on 3-4’ distance if they are on dwarfing rootstock, like G5. For me it is to choose between 3 or 4 trees on 12’ row. Do you think 4 trees will be too aggressive? My thoughts are - they will be planted in good fertile garden soil, so a little root competition shouldn’t be a bad thing to keep grow habits at bay and also can help with cracking, as less water per tree will be available from the ground(top will be covered) And for foliage perspective, it is still opposite semi-vertical shoots every 4 inches, so it shouldn’t be any difference if it is 3 or 4 trees. I may actually benefit from 4 trees, as it is almost impossible to get long whips from nursery, and shorter distance between trees is easier to fill with short whips. Do I miss anything?
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OK, I decided to plant 4 cherry trees on G5 on 12’ long raised bed. I am going to build a structure around them to be able to cover it with net against bugs and birds, cover with tarp for emergency freeze protection or have a plastic cover on top of them against the rain. Now I need to choose 4 trees. Help is appreciated!
So far I have chosen Raintree nursery as source of my trees. I only want dark red cherry - no bright red, no yellow.
I selected 5 trees from “disease resistant” category(though I am not sure how much difference it makes, as most of the trees in that category listed as crack resistant, but other sources tell me they are not.)
This is what I ended up with:
Hartland
Tehranivee
Lapins
Vandalay
Black Gold
Can you help me to choose 4 trees? (from that list of make your own!)
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I can’t help much, fruitnut more, but soft cherries are not as good, and Black Gold is soft I believe?