microclimates in East Central Mississippi

I just bought a cherry tree. It is still alive, and I still plan to plant it. After I bought it my husband told me that cherries do not produce fruit in Mississippi. This is East Central Mississippi where there are many small rolling hills. We are also pretty close to sea level although we are not on the coast. My property is no different. I have low places, but most of it is sunny hillsides with no valleys. I have the option of planting this thing on my mother's property which is also a sunny hillside with some few trees. I have also heard of microclimates and hope that I can make the most of my situation from that. Which would be better? To plant on a North side of a house which has a slightly higher elevation or the south side which has the lowest spot and is also sunny and as far from the house as possible, but in a neighborhood with a closer house across the street. This lot is on the North side of the street, and that closer house is on the south side of the street. I don't know how many acres the lot is but it might be about six. So I am not in an extremely tight space. Can anyone tell me how to measure the value of microclamates on the land that I have?

The trick with cherries is that you need a certain number of chill hours. If your area in general is right on the edge of having enough chill hours, then a microclimate that gets a little bit colder in the winter will help you out a little bit, but if your area is way off from the number of hours required, then getting a few extra hours from a slightly colder microclimate likely won't be enough to make it produce fruit for you. Here's a site with a map showing the number of chill hours in different parts of the country, and if you know what cultivar your cherry is you can probably look it up on their site and see how many chill hours it requires (they also give a general range of chill hours for cherries if you don't know your particular variety). http://www.raintreenursery.com/chill_hours.htm

As far as where to plant--here's a site that talks about frost pockets. They are talking about it so that people can avoid them, but your best bet would be to seek them out. http://www.islandnet.com/~see/weather/elements/frostpock.htm Hopefully looking at their drawings and then thinking about your lot layout with the hills, location of the house, etc you will be able to figure out the areas where cold air would be most likely to collect.

According to the map on the sites that you recommended that I visit, I am on the edge of the edge of the edge of the cherry growing territory. Apart from walking around the yard with a thermometer on different days to see what the temperature is in different spots, I could watch to see where the puddles form to see where the lowest spots are, and I could wait for a frosty morning to see where the thickest frosts form. Then the best I could ever hope for is some years that have cherries and some years that don't, but that is what we get from our other fruit trees anyway.

Annette, I lived in Meridian (20 minutes away from you) for 5 years and my cherry tree not only didn't fruit it didn't even flower. It was there when I moved in so don't know what type it was. Neither did my Hagan Weeping Cherry bloom, but was a beautiful accent tree tho. A neighbor did have a Kawazan Cherry that was awsome in bloom. So as ecrane said... it depends on the type. Good luck in your search.

If you're that borderline, your tree will probably fruit poorly even if you do manage find the coldest microclimate in your yard. Your best bet if you really want fruit would be to look for a low-chill cherry variety. This site lists a few cultivars that can get by with 300-500 chill hours vs the 700-800 for most cherries, so one of those could work for you. http://www.baylaurelnursery.com/order/clicksite.cgi?cart_id=&xm=on&ftr=Cherries&p=Cherries

Note: I have no experience with this nursery and am not recommending them--they just came up in a quick search for low chill cherries so you can get some cultivar names. I always recommend researching nurseries in the Garden Watchdog before purchasing. There are undoubtedly other places that also sell these cultivars and other low-chill cherry varieties if this nursery doesn't have a good rating

For anyone who sees this in the future, I have an update. The cherry still has the tag as I write this, and it is a Montmorency cherry. I told a friend from Kemper county who got excited and proclaimed, "That's the kind that grows here! I know because I once discussed cherries with a county agent who told me to get that kind!" The problem with learning about cherries on the internet is that most cherry growers in this country are in the colder climates and advising each other on how to grow cherries in their climates. The advise can be very confusing when one says to grow them in a low spot because it is cold there, and cold air sinks to places where water can be found, but the same one says cherries need a sunny spot because they need to avoid standing in water. Mississippi's problem is probably not the absence of chill hours in the winter, but the hot afternoons that reduce the value of the chill hours that are available. Above 60 degrees Farenheit is considered negative hours and subtracts from the positive chill hours. I say plant behind a big road sign to hide the sun from about one o'clock to four o'clock if that is a possible option in your location, but I don't have such a thing in mine. There is very little advice to be found for southern gardeners regarding cherries, but there are more varieties grown for the south than there used to be.