Growing Cherries in Las Vegas

Q. Since I had NO luck with mango
seeds and very minimal luck getting avocado to sprout (I get roots but no
sprouts) I thought I could use more frustration in my life and will try cherry
pits. Is this possible to get them to sprout and what is the best way to do it?

Growing cherries in Las Vegas was disappointing unless you have a high humidity backyard. Cherry pollination may be susceptible to a low humidity.

A. I have not grown cherry trees
from seed. I have grown both sweet and sour cherry trees in our desert, but
they were purchased already grafted to a rootstock. Cherry trees are usually purchased
grafted, not sprouted from seed. This is because grafted trees are oftentimes “different”
from a tree which has been grown on its own roots.

            In
any case, have fun sprouting the seed but use it as a flowering ornamental
tree. Sour cherries are somewhat tart (traditional pie cherry), a smaller tree
(10 to 15 feet tall, think ‘Montmorency’ and ‘North Star’ varieties) and
produce a small amount of fruit in four or five years in the desert. Sweet
cherries are more “temperamental” and may or may not produce fruit. I believe
it is due to our low humidity.

‘Hachiya’ persimmon produces fruit that is probably some of the best I have tasted in the world including the sweet flavor of the Philippine mango variety called ‘Guimaras’. But that variety of persimmon may be susceptible to the low humidity of the desert.

            The
seed is in a hard pit produced at the center of the cherry fruit. Select seed
from ripe fruit that you want to grow (sweet vs sour, good ripe color, free
from deformities, and good size). The cherry “pits”, or seed, are put in the
refrigerator, moistened, and kept there for at least one month. The moist seed “sprouts”
in about one month or longer at refrigerator temperatures and is then ready to
plant. Place sprouted seed in a one-gallon container or smaller peat pot first
before moving it to a larger container. Larger containers are okay to use when
the plant is bigger.

This is the sour cherry called ‘Montmorency’ growing in Las Vegas.

            Cherries,
both sweet and sour, are “hit and miss” at fruit production in Las Vegas. It
seems if you have higher humidity in the landscape (nondesert areas or lawns
and pools in the desert) have the best chance of producing fruit. They will always
produce flowers that attract bees when they are sexually mature, but actual pollination
of the flowers may be sensitive to humidity. Unexpectedly, the same is true in
the desert of the ‘Hachiya’ variety of persimmon. An abundance of fruit of both
cherries and ‘Hachiya’ persimmon sometimes occurs after a rain.

Green or immature ‘Hachiya’ persimmon in Las Vegas.

            You
realize, I hope, that the resultant seedling is sexual in nature. That means
that the seedling is “combined” from two different parents or two different
varieties or types of cherry trees. Buying a grafted tree makes sure the fruit
is “true to the variety”.