self sterile equals (no pollinator needed)?

16 years ago

On the Greenwood nursery website they are offering bare root, 'Viva' Sweet Cherry trees. They list this tree with the following bulleted facts

Harvest: Early

Pollination: Self sterile (no pollinator needed)

Mature Height: 30'

Chill Requirement:700

Uses: Fresh

I am confused though, because I found lots of information indicating that a cherry tree classified as being self sterile to mean that it does need a companion planting of a different class of sweet cherry tree cultivar before, once pollinated by bees, it could bare fruit.

Farther down on the Greenwood nursery site there is listed a general statement; indicating that the sweet cherry trees need a different cherry tree as pollinator. They also stated that tart cherry trees were self fertile. As a result I ignorantly also ordered a 'NorthStar' tart cherry tree, because I also wanted to grow a tart cherry tree and thought it could be the needed pollinator of the sweet cherry 'Viva' that I ordered. A little later though, I did further research and found specific information that the tart cherry 'NorthStar' ripens on July 26th in one area of the country, and that was way to late for the bees to have pollinated the July 4th ripening 'Viva' cherry tree.

I emailed Greenwood nursery in an effort to clear up my confusion. Their response to me was that the 'Viva' cherry tree does not need a different cherry tree for pollination.

After getting that response, I did more research today and have found lists of the different classes of sweet Cherry trees. Those lists indicated that 'Viva' cherry trees are not incompatable with other sweet cherry cultivars. Some of the sites even listed that 'Viva' cherry is only incompatable with itself.

I also found sites which state that the 'Stella' cherry tree is the only, commonly sold, self fruitful sweet cherry tree.

Now I am even more confused. Is Geenwood's claim correct or not when they claim that a 'Viva' cultivar cherry tree needs no additonal pollinator sweet cherry tree?

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Comments (8)

Embothrium
16 years ago
Probably a typo. Likely it was supposed to say self-fertile.
katrina1
Original Author
16 years ago
bboy, Do you know for a fact that the 'Viva' sweet cherry tree is self-fertile?
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gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
16 years ago
I know for a fact that it isn't self-fertile :-)) It does require another cultivar (outside of its incompatability group) for cross pollination. Despite numerous sources that state otherwise, tart or sour cherries can serve as cross pollination sources for sweet cherries as long as bloom times (not expected harvest dates) are compatible. And there are a growing number of self-fertile sweet cherries on the market and more being developed every year - three that are very popular in this area are 'Stella', 'Lapins' and 'Sweetheart' but they may not be well-suited for all areas.
Embothrium
16 years ago
Since hybrids have been grown for a long time we know that sweet and sour cherries do cross or can be crossed.
sam_md
16 years ago
Katrina,
Did you misread the info for 'Viva'? It looks accurate to me.
Sam

Here is a link that might be useful: Greenwood Nursery, McMinnville TN
katrina1
Original Author
16 years ago
After reading Bboy's response on Jan. 29th, I emailed Greenwood Nursery to ask if the (no pollinator needed) comment was a mistake. Then they emailed me back and said yes it was a mistake and that the Viva cherry does need a pollinator.

Sam, you must have check their site after they updated their website and corrected the information for that tree.

I'm going to start a new post and share more about how impressively they worked with me, in a effort for me to be sure that, from them, I did not end up ordering the wrong trees.

In the past I ordered a Dawn redwood 'Gold Rush' tree from Greenwood Nursery, and they sent me a very good looking tree.

Now, once again I am very happy with them and their customer service. Even when my order seemed to, at first, turn out so stressful.

Gardengal48, In all the research I did to get my Greenwood Nursery order right, I have found some very good information concerning the 'Lapins' cherry, which is self-fertile. That is the tree I am currently trying to find. Thanks for confirming as to how others have been pleased with this and the other cultivars you listed.

I found that Nature Hills Nursery has an over 3 feet tall, bare root Lapins cherry for sale, but it is on standard size root stock. Hopefully with a little more research, I can find one on dwarf or at the most, semi-dwarf root stock.
gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
16 years ago
Katrina, Raintree Nursery sells a number of self-fertile sweet cherries, Lapins included. All of their cherries are grafted on Gisela 5 (Giessen 148-2) dwarf rootstock, which should result in the trees being able to be maintained at around 15' in height. In this area, most reputable nurseries do not sell full sized cherries as the bulk of the crop is lost to birds or inaccessibility.

Raintree Nursery is located here in the PNW, but it does extensive mail order across the country. Its Garden Watchdog reviews are overwhelmingly positive.

Here is a link that might be useful: Raintree Nursery
katrina1
Original Author
16 years ago
Thanks for the link gardengal.

self sterile equals (no pollinator needed)?

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Embothrium

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self sterile equals (no pollinator needed)?

Comments (8)

Embothrium

katrina1Original Author

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gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)

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gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)

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katrina1
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