If it makes you feel better, I went through the exact same thing a few years ago. When I was just starting my orchard there was a small black wild cherry seedling in my orchard and let it grow thinking I’d have a big head start on a cherry tree once I top worked it…but to my great disappointment I learned (thanks to some of the people here who were on another site at that time) that it wouldn’t work.
The good news is that I just planted some real cherries and they grew pretty quickly and are producing quite well these days. So don’t waste too much time on your seedling…just get a “real” cherry tree in the ground and before you know it you’ll be picking some good fruit. I’ve found sour cherries to be one of my easiest fruits.
That’s definitely a cherry. It appears to be 50/50 if it’s graftable or not. Hope it works out ok. The wild cherries that cannot be grafted here have red colored bark so the bark on yours is promising. . I would say it’s a bird cherry or sour cherry.
I decided to just buy a cherry instead of moving this one. This is so close to the house and AC unit, my husband thought it’s a bad idea to use tools so close to the AC unit. Don’t want it to end up costing much more to fix the AC, better to buy a fruit tree.
Will you remove the seedling cherry? Like someone said earlier, cherry tree could grow to 30-40 ft. I have one in my backyard.
You may want to learn grafting techniques this winter. Pears usually needs cross pollination. Many pears take a long time (like 6-8 years + to fruit). That’s why I like the Harrow series. They are precocious. I like Harrow Sweet pear. Set fruit 12 months after planting.
I may have stunted it. Have I done it again. I would not let it fruit the 2nd year :
Yes definitely have to kill it somehow. Not the place for it.
I’m spending a lot of time reading about grafting. It’s been a lot of reading about spraying and grafting, grafting and spraying. Will try sweet hallow for sure.
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