3rd year for it. Looking in great shape. One cherry fruit this year.
Mine at 3rd year had 4 cherries last year 
… This year 50 or more, but looks like the birds will get them all.
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Net it.
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Would be difficult, but not impossible. Trying to prune/train it to not get too big and unmanageable.
Good opportunity to ask a related question, do any of you do this? Effective?
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Of my 30 trees, my 5th leaf Montmorency on G5 is my best growing tree. Is has survived our -20f winters, grown the best, has the best shape and has produced the most for me. Last year, I had enough for a pie…this year it is covered with many hundreds of cherries.
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Interesting, but please not another thing to spray! The birds don’t do that much damage as I net the entire tree or a major part of it. Enough for pies and preserves.
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Heh, I hear ya… But, spraying a bit of sugar water sure seems easier than struggling with netting… I’ve not done that before though, maybe it’s not as bad as I imagine.
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I have heard about it but did not remember if anyone did it. Wouldn’t that would cause more ant issue?
One of the first fruit trees I planted was a Montmorency on unknown rootstock about 7 years ago. Unbeknownst to me at the time, I planted it in a spot that was way too wet. Every other tree I planted in that vicinity died in a year, but the Montmorency survived and has given me cherries every year. It has struggled, however, never reaching more than about 5 feet tall. This made it easy to net, but it seemed odd and I didn’t want to lose it, so this year I dug it up and put it in a large root pouch and it is doing fine. Also, I grafted a cutting from it onto a mazzard rootstock that is doing fine as well. Eventually I’ll plant the mazzard in ground in a much better spot.
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Takes two people to do it for a large tree. One person and a large net for a smaller tree. Not bad. Anything to deter squirrels.
A friend of mine has 3 trees and doesn’t do anything and birds are not a problem. He lives in the country where bird density is less. Is this a problem with a mature tree, or just little ones? What about putting flashy tape in a cherry tree as they begin to ripen?
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I adore mine. So easy and super productive. Bloom timing is good and it’s growing like a weed. Taste OK off the tree but if there is a better pie cherry I’ve not tasted it. Mixed with blueberries from my nearby bushes is my favorite. I have many, many pies coming soon from my 6th year tree.
I need to net my tree when my cherries start to ripen or mockingbirds ruin a LOT of fruit. It’s a PITA but well worth it.
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How many years until you get enough to make 1 pie you suppose?
Do you have a large bird waterhole or birdbath near the tree? They will go for water before cherry
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Depends on how well you can resist eating them out of hand the first few years. I started saving enough to be serious about a pie in year 5. Ended up making two pies.
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Cool. I will get pies in a couple years then.
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There’s a creek within ~40’ of the bottom part of my orchard fence. We have lots of birds and every other kind of wildlife 
We’ve had our first one in for 5 (I think?) years. Nothing much until 2017 and then a good haul. 10-15 pies. It would have been better, but I didn’t clean it off fast enough and the bugs got it. (We have to net for the birds)
There was almost nothing last year but there are tons of blooms opening now. The new small one we added in 2017 also looks to have a decent number of flowers too.
It really is a super tasty cooked cherry. The best use for us is that I cook up the fruit as it is picked to make a thick pie filling-type gunk. It’s then frozen in small or large tubs. A large will do a full pie but we mostly just use puff pastry and make hand pies with it.
There is nothing like being snowed or frozen in during February and eating hot and fresh sour cherry hand pies!
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Last year, we pressed 5-1/4 gallons of tart cherry juice from the fruit off our Montmorency. We’ve also picked cherries off and immediately gone inside to make warm compote which we then spooned on top of ice cream. THAT is a treat.
The tree was here when we bought the house. I just planted a second one two days ago. My wife loves the fruit.
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Ron:
Did you get your Montmorency on G5 from Raintree? Just asking. I have grown North star (produced well) in the past. I now have Mesabi and Surecrop. Mesabi has good fruit size and flavor but the yield has been lower than North Star and Surecrop. Surecrop is great but my tree is old and now dying out (shelf fungi on the trunk).
I really want to try Montmorency next but the Montmorency I find in Wisconsin seem to grow up to 18’ tall. All my other cherry varieties I have held at 12’ with pruning so I can net the trees.
Growing Montmorency on G5 would seem to be the answer. Before I order one (mighty expensive) I just was wondering where you got yours from.
Any other growers have experience with Montmorency on G5? Will it stay short? Decent vigor?