Won't grow because not enough chilling hours. Move about 1000 miles north and you won't have any problems. You are closer to zone 9 than zone 8.

"Totalitarian"

Is this name correct? I am interested but can find nothing on this variety. Thanks.

gonebananas:

I think Karpes may have meant Tartarian, aka Black Tartarian. Totalitarian is a more of a political than agricultural term.

I tend to agree with Karpes that it should not be impossible to grow certain varieties of sweet cherry in Louisiana, but it won't be easy. Diseases and fruit cracking are likely to be major problems, and I would not try to grow Bing in that climate. Full-cover dormant sprays with copper might be required to delay the onset of diseases like bacterial canker on any sweet cherry tree.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Sorry about the spelling and it is the Black Tartarian. It is a very adaptable tree. The Stella requires only 500 chill hours and in most years you will get that.
They also grow them in Zone 9 south California and they do well there.

Thanks to all for the information and for Karpes a big ol' hug! We're going to Abbeville to get our trees as soon as we can!

Again, thanks y'all

Thanks. I figured out the name about a half hour later. I would like to try these myself but proabaly in a year, so I have plenty of time to get them.

I'm near Abbeville and would like to find the Fruit Ranch, but they're not listed in the phone book. How do I find them?

Thanks,
Donna

I planted a Stella cherry tree in my back yard at phoenix AZ. It is 3 feet tall bare root from TN. It is experimental see what happens. Will I be able to see any fruit in couple of years?

I bought a bing, a tartarian as a pollinator and a montmorcy. We planted them 3 yrs ago they were small and we were doubtful. The place we mail ordered from that yr sells junk. We reported them to GA BBB. BUT although almost everything else died the cherries are now lookin good. It still remains to be seen if we ever get fruit just 40 north of the beach in MS.
We are experienced growers and try to stick between 250 & 500 chill hours. Bracys in Louisiana is a good wholesaler. Find someone who does business with them.
Baton Rouge has about same temp as us.

I, too, would like to try growing cherries, even though I've never seen a cherry tree in this area. I live in the Shreveport, Louisiana area (zone 8) and our winters are generally above freezing most of the time except for a few cold snaps when night time temps can dip into the 30's or even the 20's. Summers are hot and pretty humid! How chilly do the "chill hours" have to be? Would our summers be too hot? It gets into the 90's in summer...and even in the 100's in August!

You get enough chilling for Stella and probably Lapins. Also the summers aren't too hot but the heat and humidity together are deadly to cherry trees. The reason you haven't seen cherries is that on average trees will live maybe 5 years. Also the rain and humidity crack and rot any fruit you might get.

Can you give me adress for cherry trees

i couldnt find it online

Heat and humidity, as is found in the South, typically mean a short lifespan for cherry trees, they are more likely to succumb to fungal diseases and insect pests. You will probably have to closely watch the tree and spray it.

Another big problem is that, despite being in an area that has climate zone 8 winters, that part of Louisiana still sporadically gets some very warm days sometimes in the winter which greatly detracts from chill accumulation; you don't get a high amount of "chill hours". You are first probably going to need to find a lower chill variety of cherry, like Lapins.