Question:  Hello..
I am interested in growing cherry trees in my orchard in the Dallas area.  My favorites are the Rainier cherry & the Bing cherry.  I am interested in puchasing them from you, but I was wondering if you know how well they will grow in my area.
Please let me know.  Lance

Answer: I wish I could give you a confident "go ahead" but I cannot.  Over the years I have had wholesale growers in your climate have nothing but troubles with cherries.

Here are some of the issues for growing sweet cherries:

1) You need plenty of chill hours (900-1,000) and you have that easily.  One check in your favor.

2) Cherry rootstock is water sensitive and needs well drained soil.  I know that soils in your general area can vary greatly but a lot of what I have seen would not meet this requirement.  If you happen to be in a sandy loam or old riverbed area, you might get by.

3) Cherry fruit will crack and become unsellable if it rains near harvest - probably June in your region.  This is often a problem and can totally ruin a crop.

4) High humidity adds to all sorts of molds and fungus and other fuzzy undesirables on cherries and also affects the foliage and health of the tree.  I believe the heat and high humidity has been the biggest cause of cherry tree losses in your climate.

Texas A&M does not recommend cherries and I suspect it was from others' negative experience.  If you want to try, order a few locally or from mail order and try them on a very small scale first.

Ron L.