Bing Cherry

The classic dark-red sweet cherry variety, producing large, firm, deeply flavored fruits that are the standard for fresh eating. Bing cherries require a compatible pollinizer variety nearby such as Rainier or Lapins for fruit set. The trees need 700-800 chill hours and well-drained soil, and benefit from rain covers during ripening to prevent splitting.

Bing cherries are propagated by grafting onto rootstock rather than from seed, as seedlings do not come true to type. If growing from pit for rootstock, collect pits from ripe fruit, clean thoroughly, and stratify in moist sand at 33-40°F for 90-120 days. Sow stratified seeds one inch deep in spring. Seedlings emerge in 2-3 weeks and should be grown for one year before grafting. Gisela 5 or Mazzard rootstocks are preferred for grafting Bing scions.

The Season Plate

Your Bing Cherry Year

Composed for Zone 7 · typical seasons · frost passes Apr 2, returns Nov 1

Sow Bing Cherry Feb – Mar, pick Jun – Jul. Set your climate below and every date on this plate re-times itself.

Sowing window

Feb – Mar

re-timed to your frost dates

Plant out

after Apr 2

once frost risk has passed

First picking

around Feb 14

≈ 1460 days from sowing · 1–3 kg per plant

Composed for —ColdTemperateMildWarmUse my locationUsed once to set your season · only the zone is kept

Week-by-week Bing Cherry reminders watering, feeding and pruning, timed to your dates

In the app

Frost alerts for your garden a warning before a cold night costs you the crop

In the app

Succession sowing dates so the picking never gaps mid-season

In the app

Keep my dates — free for 7 daysWe nudge you as each window opens · cancel anytime

Bing cherry trees thrive in deep, well-drained loamy soil with a pH of 6.0-7.0. Plant bare-root trees in late winter while dormant, spacing them 20-25 feet apart for standard trees or 10-12 feet on dwarfing rootstocks like Gisela 5. Because Bing is self-sterile, you must plant a compatible pollinizer such as Rainier, Lapins, or Van within 50 feet for adequate cross-pollination.

Water deeply once per week during the growing season, reducing frequency as fruits approach maturity to minimize splitting. Bing cherries require 700-800 chill hours below 45°F to break dormancy properly. Train young trees to an open-center or modified central leader system, making structural cuts in late winter. Avoid heavy summer pruning, which can invite bacterial canker.

Fertilize in early spring with a balanced fertilizer before bud break. Protect ripening fruit from birds with netting, and consider rain covers or plastic canopies to prevent rain-induced fruit cracking. Monitor for brown rot during wet springs and apply preventive fungicide sprays at bloom and petal fall.

Plant chives, garlic, or alliums nearby to deter aphids and borers with their strong scent. Marigolds attract beneficial insects while repelling nematodes. Comfrey planted at the drip line serves as a dynamic nutrient accumulator and mulch crop. Avoid planting near walnuts due to juglone toxicity. Nasturtiums can serve as trap crops for aphids, drawing them away from cherry foliage.

The Society Table

Chives belongs beside it. Walnut Tree doesn't.

Old growers' knowledge, checked against Bing Cherry's real companion table below — test any plant you're growing.

Grows well in the company of · 3

ChivesGarlicMarigold

Keep apart · 1

Walnut Tree

Plant Bing Cherry with good neighboursThe planner flags conflicts before they're in the ground

Bing cherries demand well-drained soil and will not tolerate waterlogged conditions, which cause root rot. Ideal soil is deep sandy loam with pH 6.0-7.0. Apply a balanced 10-10-10 fertilizer in early spring at a rate of one pound per inch of trunk diameter. Supplement with calcium to promote firm fruit and reduce cracking. Mulch with 3-4 inches of wood chips keeping it away from the trunk to retain moisture and suppress weeds.

Ideal Temperature

Hardiness Zone Compatibility

Bing cherries ripen in late June to early July, turning deep mahogany-red when fully mature. Harvest by picking with stems attached to extend shelf life and prevent wound entry for rot. Taste-test for sweetness, as color alone can be misleading. Pick in the cool morning hours and refrigerate immediately. A mature standard tree can produce 50-100 pounds of fruit annually. Handle gently to avoid bruising the tender skin.

Storage & Preservation

Fresh Bing cherries store for 7-10 days refrigerated at 32-34°F with high humidity. Do not wash until ready to eat. For freezing, pit cherries and spread on a baking sheet to freeze individually before transferring to freezer bags, where they keep for 12 months. Bing cherries are excellent for canning in light syrup, making preserves, and drying. They also make outstanding cherry wine and cherry bounce liqueur.

Troubleshooting Common Problems

Fruit cracking from rain during ripening is the most common issue with Bing cherries. Bird damage can devastate an unprotected crop within days. Double fruit or spurs that produce no fruit often indicate insufficient chill hours or poor pollination. Bacterial canker tends to be worse in wet, cool climates and on young trees. Over-watering near harvest increases splitting, while drought stress causes small, bitter fruit.

Growing Tips

1. Never plant a Bing cherry tree without a compatible polliniser variety flowering simultaneously within 15–30 metres — Bing is self-infertile and will produce abundant blossom but almost no fruit when grown alone. Reliable pollinisers include Lapins, Black Tartarian, Rainier, Van, and Sweetheart. Confirm compatibility before purchasing, as not all cherry varieties are mutually compatible pollen donors.
2. Choose a semi-dwarfing rootstock such as Gisela 5 or Gisela 6 to keep your Bing tree at a manageable height of 3–5 metres. This is not merely a matter of convenience — a smaller tree is dramatically easier to net against birds (which are the single greatest threat to a Bing harvest), to prune correctly, and to harvest safely and completely. Standard-rootstock Bing trees can eventually reach 8–12 metres, making effective bird netting essentially impossible.
3. Select your planting site with great care. Bing demands full sun — at least 6–8 hours of direct sunlight per day — excellent soil drainage, and shelter from strong prevailing winds during flowering. It is intolerant of waterlogged conditions, which cause crown rot and rapid decline. A gentle south-facing slope in the northern hemisphere provides cold-air drainage away from the blossom during spring frosts and maximises heat accumulation for fruit ripening.
4. Begin netting the tree against birds at least two weeks before you expect colour change in the fruit — not when you first notice colour. By the time fruit shows any red, birds in your area will already have located the tree. Use fine-mesh netting of 15–20 mm, draped over and secured tightly at the base of the canopy. A permanent walk-in fruit cage built around a dwarf tree is the most practical long-term solution and pays for itself within one or two protected harvests.
5. Prevent fruit splitting — Bing's principal quality weakness — by maintaining absolutely consistent soil moisture throughout the growing season using drip irrigation or soaker hoses at the root zone. The trigger for splitting is rapid water uptake after a dry period, which causes the flesh to expand faster than the skin can accommodate. Avoid overhead irrigation once fruit is developing, and do not allow the soil to dry out significantly between waterings. Raised or mounded planting beds in areas with heavy clay soil help prevent waterlogging that also triggers splitting.
6. Always prune Bing in late summer — immediately after harvest, in July or early August — rather than in autumn or winter. Bing is highly susceptible to silver leaf disease (Chondrostereum purpureum) and bacterial canker (Pseudomonas syringae), both of which enter through pruning wounds during the cool, wet conditions of autumn and winter. Summer wounds in warm, dry weather heal rapidly and are far less prone to infection. Use sharp, sterilised tools and make clean cuts to a bud or branch junction — never leave stubs.
7. Train young Bing trees to an open-vase or modified central-leader form during the first three to four years. Bing produces vigorous, upright growth and without early structural training will develop a congested, poorly lit canopy that is prone to disease, difficult to prune, and far less productive than an open, well-spaced framework. Make all formative pruning cuts in summer, removing inward-growing and crossing branches cleanly to build a scaffold of four to six well-spaced main limbs.
8. Feed Bing trees with a balanced fertiliser in late winter or very early spring before bud break, and apply a potassium-rich feed (sulphate of potash) around the drip line in late summer after harvest to support fruit bud formation and winter hardiness. Bing is a heavy cropper and depletes soil nutrients more than lighter-bearing varieties. Avoid high-nitrogen applications after midsummer, which produce soft, sappy growth susceptible to disease and autumn frost damage. An annual mulch of well-rotted compost provides both nutrients and moisture retention.
9. Harvest Bing cherries in the cool of early morning when fruit temperatures are at their lowest — this significantly extends post-harvest storage life compared to fruit picked during afternoon heat. Always pick with stems attached by gently rolling the fruit from the spur rather than pulling the stem away from the spur itself. Damaging the fruiting spurs reduces next year's crop. Refrigerate immediately after picking — Bing cherries at room temperature deteriorate within 24–48 hours, but will keep 5–7 days under refrigeration.
10. If you have experienced poor fruit set despite having a compatible polliniser nearby, investigate whether the two trees are actually flowering simultaneously — even a few days of overlap between varieties is sufficient for good pollination, but if one variety flowers significantly earlier than the other in your specific microclimate, bee activity may not connect them reliably. Consider placing cut branches of the polliniser variety in water buckets near the Bing tree during bloom, or hand-pollinate with a soft brush on dry, warm mornings when both varieties have open flowers.