seeking dwarf cherry recommendation

I am wondering if there is a cherry known to be a " no ladder" type that is known to be self fertile. Anyone ?
thanks
Heather

There are many varieties of cherry that can be grown on dwarfing rootstock. This will keep the plant relatively small, more like a giant shrub. Then, correct pruning will do the rest. The plant will look like an open vase shape, but have only a very short trunk, perhaps only a foot or so tall, and several main branches that are all within reach of someone on the ground.

Self fertile is another good question.

I would start by answering the following questions, in this order:

1) What kind of fruit? What is most important to you?
Size? Color? Taste? Time of ripening? Sweet or sour type?

2) What varieties do best in your area? This will be something that you have to research. Your own micro-climate can make the difference between one variety or another succeeding or failing. Look into chilling requirements, local diseases, heat needed to ripen the fruit, time of flowering.

3) When you have narrowed your search to perhaps half a dozen to a dozen varieties THEN ask if they are self fertile. If not, you can plant 2 dwarf trees in one hole, so do not let 'self fertile' be the one criterium that makes the decision for you.

Thanks for you reply. Wow.
I had no idea you could plant 2 dwarf trees in one hole.

What kind of fruit? Edible! I don't mind a sour cherry at all- just don't want bitter.

Color and taste, size and time of ripening I am flexible on - as long as the fruit ripens before the end of
September, end October, latest. (The Autumns around here are warmer, but with more freak storms that affect the temperature for days before and after, not to mention creating havoc.)

My micro climate is Brooklyn New York-there has been some gardening here in this little pocket of the big city almost all of 400 years - used to be real farming. My soil is clay & high Ph but I have remediated the bananas out of that 2 years ago, and I compost compost compost.
Heather

I love the SK "bush" cherries, Carmine Jewel and Crimson Passion are available in the US. St.Lawrence nursery in Potsdam carries both for a good price. They are self fruitful. They are like a sweet pie cherry so between sweet and tart. I also like Evans Bali.

Enjoy!

Very interesting... I didn't know that 'Evans' (my favourite) was sold as 'Bali' in the states.

Hey Flag, I will look up the cherries you mention, just to get a laugh over how tall
"bush" is....!!

Somewhere in between sweet and tart sounds jusy right.

I don't want to add gobs of sugar to a pie, on the other hand I don't want the
cherry to taste like nothing but sugar fresh off the tree, and perhaps the
very sweet fruit might attract more pests - like wasps or the ants I saw on
several terminal branches of one of my beach plums.

Also the Meader cherries, I like "joy", but there are three versions. They are a c cross resulting from sand cherries and one other I can't remember. Nice if you want to avoid birds, they bloom and ripen late, which for my freakish late snows and frosts is perfect. I am in AZ and my frost date is June 15th. So frustrating, we are luck to get bud set one out of three years. ugh. Small fruit but supposedly super hardy (mine have been) and heavy producers of small high flavored fruits (can't speak to that). St.Lawrence carries them too. I am trying to grow an edible hedge with them. First year they languished as sticks, survived being mowed down by grasshoppers and a winter with -17 temps. Better growth the second year, again served as grasshopper foder (until I invested in guinea hens, I went from biblical infestation to none in two weeks) this year they are suckering and starting to bush out (found the secret of fertilizing with alfalfa pellets, everything in my garden has shot up especially the shrubs). If you get either the SK varieties or the Meader ones, plant them DEEP. It promotes quicker suckering and a vigorous bushing habit. I did not do this the first year I bought some second year I did. The second year plants are bigger! Soooooo there is my cherry tirad from the land of full combat gardening! :)

Opps! the Meaders to need to cross pollinate, I forgot that was one of your wants. They are shrubby so it is easy to plant more than one. Oh and get two of the same variety, they bloom at slightly different times.

I got a wonderful little Stella Cherry from Raintree Nursery. It is a self fertile tree on it's own rootstock. grows the most beautiful dark deep red cherries with dark red flesh, Sweet, Sweet, Sweet!

A deer got to Stella one early winter, I let the rootstock "sucker" and two yrs later got blooms and fruit. The tree is now a bushy 4 1/2 feet tall and can be maintained at whatever height works for you.

Raintree has 4-in-1 cherry trees (although not this late in the season). Different varieties of sour and sweet (can cross pollinate) are all grafted onto a dwarfing rootstock. Check with them next spring...

Thank you, A!
You are the first Easterner to post in response - where is Elmsford?
Of course next year is the year.

Raintree seems to be the favorite of folks who answered me - THANKS to everyone for the education in cherries! Now I wonder where they are located?
Heather Y.