Can a Bing Cherry Tree Cross Pollinate With Another Bing Tree?
In late spring to midsummer, supermarkets in the United States are flooded with the year's fresh crop of sweet cherries (Prunus avium). Developed in Washington State, Bing is one variety of sweet cherry tree. It is self-incompatible and self-unfruitful, meaning a different, dissimilar sweet cherry tree variety must provide the pollen to fertilize the flowers that then yield fruit. Honeybees play a vital role in widespread cherry blossom pollination among various trees in any orchard. Does this Spark an idea?
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Tree Compatibility
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Bing cherry trees cannot cross-pollinate other Bing trees in the orchard. Moreover, some other sweet cherries fail to cross-pollinate Bing trees. Lambert and Royal Ann/Napoleon fail to induce fruit-set on Bing cherry trees. Therefore, plant Angela, Black Tartarian, Republican, Sam, Van or Stella sweet cherry trees nearby to facilitate the necessary pollination of flowers on Bing cherry trees. In regions with mild winters, Stella isn't a reliable cross-pollinator of Bing. Sonata, Stella, Symphony and Sunburst are other cherry tree varieties suitable for cross-pollinating Bing according to Colorado State University Extension.
Using Sour Cherries
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Sour cherries (Prunus cerasus) are sometimes used as cross-pollinators for sweet cherries like Bing. The key issue is having the later blooming sour cherry in flower at the same time as the earlier blooming sweet cherry. Although Washington State University Extension mentions sour cherries, such as Montmorency, as a cross-pollinator for Bing sweet cherry, it's not a good match. "Sunset Western Garden Book" advises that sour cherry trees make poor pollinators of sweet cherries.
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Cherry Orchard Insight
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Since an orchard full of Bing sweet cherry trees will not yield fruit from its own flowers, organize an orchard to house two or more sweet cherry varieties. Alternating rows of Bing trees with those of Black Tartarian or Angela ensures the Bing trees yield fruits. Even in the backyard garden, plant one compatible sweet cherry tree pollinator for one to three Bing cherry trees. These pollinating trees do not have grow immediately next to the Bing tree, but within 50 to 100 feet so foraging honeybees readily travel among the flowers.
Growing Bing Cherry Trees
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For best flowering and potential for fruit set, Bing cherry trees require full sun exposure and fertile, moist but well-drained soil. Grow them in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 5 through 8. The climate must provide 1,000 to 1,500 hours of chilling temperatures below 45 degrees Fahrenheit for flowers to form and open in early spring. Bing cherries ripen best in regions where summers aren't wet, as that leads to fruits absorbing moisture and splitting open on the trees before harvest.
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- Photo Credit cherries image by rvvelde from Fotolia.com
