In my smallish Vancouver backyard, I would like to plant a dwarf cherry tree. Is there such a thing? I had a standard-size Stella until last year which gave fabulous fruit, but it grew so huge I had to have it removed. If anyone can provide information, including name of root stock and possible source, I'd be grateful. Thanks.
When I was working at a nursery we had two smaller types, compact Stella and compact Lambert. I havent seen them at maturity but they are supposedly a manageable size for the average homeowner. I dont think a cherry can ever be REALLY dwarf but these two may be as close as you get.
is that fairly available Ron? I have never really been able to get a complete list of common rootstocks for grafted fruit trees available for BC. I know of some of the names M9, Mazzard etc but I just cant find a good source of info. Any thoughts?
"Cherry trees are usually grown on Mazzard or Mahaleb seedlings, or clonal selection Mazzard F 12/1 which gives vigorous, standard sized trees. Recently some new rootstocks such as colt and the Gisela series produce fruit trees from standard size down to 45% of normal. These new root stocks are not yet widely tested in B.C. Semi-dwarf cherry trees may be kept at 12 ft high (3.6 meters)." http://www.agf.gov.bc.ca/treefrt/homegdn/cherries.htm
Quoting from: http://www.agf.gov.bc.ca/treefrt/homegdn/cherries.htm These new root stocks are not yet widely tested in B.C. Semi-dwarf cherry trees may be kept at 12 ft high (3.6 meters). Any idea if the Stella or Lambert variety can be kept in a 30"x30" or larger container?
Art's Tree farm in Richmond had both dwarf varieties when I was last there. They will deliver and plant for you too!!! We grew a stella dwarf, it was a marvelous producer, but lost it during the cold snap. Yes even in Ladner it was -13.0 one night early this year. (was 5 years old and only grew to a height of 4-1/2 Feet tall.)
You probably can buy cherries on Gisela 5 rootstock in BC- a wholesale grower in the Skagit valley- Biringer's - grafts many varieties of cherries on this and does ship to Canandian garden centers. Your best bet for finding a good selection of fruit trees is late winter or early spring when they are dormant and bareroot. Cherries grafted on Gisela 5 can easily be kept to 10' and are quite precocious. Lapins is probably the best self-fertile selection that Biringer grafts.
Stella is also self fertile. There are probably a lot of places that you can source these but I have purchased trees from Art's and they do guarantee their stock, if that is any consideration. (The stella and our poor maple came from there but died many years after we planted them?. Our deodora and Canadian Maple are still going strong.
"The main problems with cherry culture in western Washington are fruit cracking, bacterial canker, and damage to the crop by birds. The introduction recently of new dwarfing rootstocks such as Gisela 5 makes it possible for home growers and orchardists to grow a small, manageable tree that can be netted for bird protection." http://mtvernon.wsu.edu/frt_hort/about_us.htm#Stonefruit
