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”.