Northstar. The largest I've had one get was 8' (before borers killed it) and that one tree alone produces enough cherries in a good year that I'm making pies to take every where I go just to use them up.

But I'm a sucker not only for the pies but the shape of a full sized Montmorency so I have both.

Both bear young and heavy (at least the Montmorency I have now does I think it's a sport they're saying is a "spur type" now).

If I could only have one it would be the Northstar.

Miller has Montmorency trees on sale right now for $18 I think. They'll be on Mahaleb or Mazzard rootstock though, which will make a pretty big tree in a few years. I have two Montmorency trees on Gisela 5 and I think this rootstock is the way to go. I had one Northstar tree that leafed out a little and then died. I still don't know what I did to kill it.

I have one Montmorency, about 3 yrs old (bought it last year mature from the nursery) and it got polinated well. I put bird net over it - last year birds ate all 3 cherries before I got to them :-)
Do I need to feed/fertilize it with anything while the cherries are still green and small to ensure they rippen well and have good taste? Thank you

Jollyrd, nobody over the internet can answer that question for you. They would have to know your soil or at least have some questions answered. If you'd like general opinions on fertilizing fruit trees you would get a better response making a thread with a descriptive title.

I have a Northstar that I'd say has been in the ground for maybe 15 years. It's about 12' tall and maybe 10' wide. I bought it as a container plant at a farm supply type store. It has been a real easy tree to deal with, and last year was the first time I had any issues with this tree at all, when it started to show signs of brown rot on the fruit. I hit it with a fungicide and it stopped it dead in its tracks.

This year I have a loaded tree once again. The thing has been a reliable producer of heavy crops forever. Still, I got nervous about it getting a little long in the tooth so 2 years ago I planted a Montmorency as a back-up. (That's all the local nursery had, but this only served to tick my wife off, 'cuz she thinks we're drowning in cherries already with way too many still in the freezer)

I do have another mature Montmorency at a house we own in town and it is a good producer too, but my Northstar is ready sometimes 2 weeks ahead of my Montmorency.

I am going to try to get another Northstar planted though, and if I were making the choice of only one tree I think I'd choose Northstar, but I doubt you could go wrong with a Montmorency. I think there are probably way more Montmorency trees in service than Northstar.

sorry, thought it would be a general sort of question - "do you or dont you fertilize it as they already fruited but not yet ripe.?"
our soil is clay but I put lots of compost and garden soil in the hole when I planted it, it is very healthy tree so far.

Wow already got some great responses-thanks gentlemen! I saw Gurneys and Millers had the Montgomery on sale and Millers also had the Dwarf North Star Cherry on sale for 16.95 thomis, myk1 and iowajer sounds like you are sold on Northstar though! I think I do live in the right climate now as about an hour to north I go and pick sweet and sour cherries in several orchards Late June and Early July in Eau Claire, MI and had been for years till I moved to TN from 2001-2005. Still would like to grow my own here in N. Indiana. I tried to grow cherry trees while in TN on 3 acres to no avail the climate I finally realized was not condusive for cherries nor the clay soil which didn't drain well...funny the local nurseries sold them though
:-) Will have to admit I am an addict when it comes to cherries I really love them-probably my favorite thing in the world to eat. Still open for suggestions and will have to make a decision soon to get the tree in the ground. I have my 3 sweet cherry trees in a row and room for the sour cherry tree at the end of the row. Have an old shag hickory tree on the corner of the lot wish it would be gone, but I inherited my Dad's propety and used to swing in that tree with my sister so some sentiment involved there. Also tried growing blueberries spent almost $200 in rows along the rhubarb, but something kept nibbling them down to nothing finally found out from a lady at Pertic's blueberry plantation what I already suspected it was the rabbits (she asked if I had rabbits and I said oh yeah lots of them unfortunately). Probably a good thing I don't have any more than an acre or who know's how many trees I would have. Also at 53 I would like to see them mature and enjoy them into retirement. I am appreciating this forum again and the great knowledge and help of others!!

jollyrd; I don't beleive I'd fertilize it if it were me, and it is otherwise looking like a strong tree. But then I'm no expert either. Heck all I did with my tree was to spray it with an insecticide a few times for the first 13-14 years, then when I noticed brown rot showing up last year I had to QUICKLY find out if I could stop it with something, so I searched the web and went to the nursery at that time. Before that I just planted it using upstart and kinda left it alone for the most part.

Nurseries will sell anything if people will buy. I'm amazed at the stuff carried around here thinking a normal winter will kill it.

Could try "Evans" too...seems like a lot of love for that variety. I have two of them, but both were sticks last year.

Jollyrd: Watch your tree's growth to gauge whether you need to fertilize. If you are getting very little new growth each year (like a couple inches or less) and water or disease aren't the reasons, then you could add some fertilizer. However, if you have decent soil and have mulched, you really shouldn't need any fertilizer. I rarely fertilize my cherries, maybe once every 5 to 10 years is all and that is because I get paranoid that they could be doing more and throw some fertilizer on them. It has never made a difference.

Hoosier: Most if not all pie cherries are self fruitful, so you only need one tree. I have both a Northstar and an Evans/Bali tree. I have developed a strong preference for the Evans cherry. It is late to ripen, mid August for me, while the Northstar ripens in July and my Early Richmond cherries ripen in late June/early July.

I really like the Evans for a number of reasons. It sets fruit prolifically. Last year I got about 25 lbs. from the one tree, which is just over 6 feet tall, and because it has so much fruit close together, picking is very efficient. It just seems to be absolutely loaded with cherries every year. The Evans also has a sweeter cherry than the Northstar, and the cherries are quite a bit larger.

The one drawback I've found to the Evans is that the cherries are slightly astringent to my taste until they are dead ripe when it goes away. That means that while they turn bright red about the first of August, I net them and wait a couple weeks before picking. I'm sure this also helps increase the sugar content. When fully ripe, they have a wonderful cherry flavor, and if dried, are really very sweet. Perhaps someone in a more disease prone area can add their experience with Evans regarding diseases such as brown rot. I understand from others on this forum that brown rot hits later maturing fruits much more than early ones, so the later ripening of the Evans might make it more prone to brown rot if it is a problem in your area.

The attached link is a picture I took of the Evans 2 years ago.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:98011}}

I tried my first two cherries yesterday - Montmorency -- delicious! tart! love it! there are more ripening now, I have the tree covered with bird net so I am not sharing! !!!!!

blooming

{{gwi:96977}}

fruiting
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I have a Northstar about 3-4 years old and Iove it. It's about 7' tall and it is very healthy and reliable. Almost no problems with disease except for one year when we had a VERY wet spring. It literally rained every day for about 12 days. It got a little rot but other than that it's been fantastic.

I also have a small Meteor which is very similar. It's only about a year and ahalf old but it's starting to really take off. I actually had 2 or 3 cherries set on this tiny tree already. I think it will do very well.

I reccomend you get a dwarf so you can net it. The other option is to get a very large tree and just let the birds eat half which still leaves a lot for you.

Great Pictures jollyrd hopefully mine will look like that someday :-) Well have to be honest I really kind of wanted a dwarf Northstar after all the great comments and still may add one this fall or next spring, but ended up with a Montmorency for now and also added another sweet cherry tree (a Windsor) to the row that already has a Rainer, Schmidts, and a Lapins in it. Loved all the great posts-thanks so much gentlemen its been great reading and hearing about all your experiences!!!