Grandma grew the tree from a cherry stone at least 30 years ago. It still fruits well but is a little worse for wear from canker, so I thought I would see if I can grow an other tree – sort of succession planning!
Having not grown a tree from seed/stone before I’ve been looking for advice, but that has turned out to be a little limited.
The family view is pop the stones in a pot and see what happens – after all that’s all Grandma would have done! So five stones are in some JI No 1 and have been mostly left to face the elements.
The other five I’m looking after a little more – am following the mix of instructions below which have been gathered from various people/places:
1. Extract the stones, wash off all fruit and let the stones dry for a couple of days.
2. Selected the best stones (ie undamaged, “plump”, etc), seal them in an airtight container and store in a cool place. Continue to store until January (apparently they can be stored for longer ie up to a year).
3. Fill small flower pots (eg 7cm) with seed compost and sow the stones at a depth of twice their size. Keep the pots somewhere very cool ie in the refrigerator for 2 – 3 months.
4. In March remove the pots from the refrigerator; moisten the soil, and then place them on a window sil to germinate.
5. Gradually move the pots to brighter and warmer places as the seedlings emerge. Keep the soil moist.
6. Transplant the seedlings when they have their first true leaves and are robust enough to be handled. Pot on, harden off and move in to a coldframe or outside, etc until the sapling can be planted.
So we will see what happens.
Now all I have to do is try to identify exactly what type of Sweet Cheery the tree is – Grandma forgot to label and of course there’s cross fertilisation to take in to account!
Useful sites if you are looking for information on selecting and growing Cherry Trees:
http://www.ehow.com/how_5320649_grow-cherry-tree-seed-pit.html
http://homeguides.sfgate.com/plant-cherry-trees-seed-35173.html
http://www.orangepippintrees.co.uk/cherry-trees
https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/grow-your-own/fruit/cherries
http://homeguides.sfgate.com/long-cherry-trees-produce-55503.html