Beth, cherries can take several years to flower if on full-sized rootstock. I am no expert on the exact number of years but five years to fruit may not be uncommon. The tree does not look all that old based on the trunk diameter. Also it may not be getting enough sun (it is hard to tell from the picture on how much sun it is getting, some of those big trees look pretty close).

Scott

I don't know how long it will take to fruit, but I know I would prune out the leader and that whole second tier of the tree.

You have a beautiful vase shape ready made in the lower half. 1 cut and you have a nicely formed, accessible tree.

Beth:

Agree with both of the above fellows. First, if your tree is on a standard cherry rootstock such as Mahaleb (Where did you buy the tree?) it may take as long as 5-8 years to begin to bloom. After that, it could be several more years before the blooms begin to actually set and hold fruit -- and that is assuming there are no pollination problems. If the tree is not self-pollinating, it will never set fruit unless there is another compatible tree nearby.

I also agree that the presence of the nearby very tall trees cannot help but affect your tree. Sunlight is very important to develop fruiting wood on cherries and most other fruit trees, and those tall trees have to be cutting off either morning or afternoon sunlight. Trees that receive insufficient sunlight will be slower to fruit, and in extreme cases may never fruit.

Finally, I fully agree with Murky that the entire second tier of the tree should be lopped off and you should focus your efforts on the lower part, which has an ideal vase shape for a cherry tree. Pruning the tree down in this way may encourage some fruiting wood to develop in the lower branches.

Finally, you should specify your location when asking a question of this nature. Zone 7 can be a lot of different places, and location can affect tree performance.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Thanks for all the replies -

We are in GA 7A - I will go ahead and prune the top off and the extreme lower weak wood.

Believe it or not the tree gets about 3 hours in the morning and then afternoon. We are on a very heavily wooded lot but they are far enough back with the sun's path it gets more than it looks like.

Thanks again for all the advice - I will prune and wait and see :-)

Beth, one thing you should also know is that sweet cherries tend to get unhappy in hot humid weather like you get in Georgia. I find that in Maryland I sometimes have problems with mildew in July/August on them, and in general they may start looking quite unhappy in that period. There is not a whole lot to do about it other than keeping your eye out for diseases on them. Sweet cherries are native to northern Europe which has a latitude aligning well into Canada.

Scott

I bought two semi-dwarf bare root cherry trees (Tartarian and Rainier) last spring and finally got them in the ground in the fall. Both trees blossomed last month, and I now see many cherries. This is odd to me, because I was expecting several years before they set fruit.
Is a chill necessary, and do you get enough of one in GA?

We do get some pretty good "chills" in Jan/Feb - we are are in the more northern part of GA. It has been in the ground for 4 years and never a flower. I think a big part of my problem is I can not remember what I bought :-)

So, I am pruning it back, adding some sort of citrus boost and mulch and give it another year :-) In the meantime, I may look for additional cherry varieties that work in my zone because we certainly do get hot and humid in the summer.

Most sweet cherries require 700 or more hours of chilling, that is hours below 45 degrees. Warm spells can subtract some of those hours. Call your local county extension service and ask what you should expect as an average number of chilling hours where you live. Al

Most sweet cherries require 700 or more hours of chilling, that is hours below 45 degrees. Warm spells can subtract some of those hours. Call your local county extension service and ask what you should expect as an average number of chilling hours where you live. Al

If U have a dwarfing rootstock-- U should get cherry's in 3-4 years after planting. This spring I'am planting 165 sweet cherries here in Minnesota