Van is an old variety, ripening several weeks before Bing here in central California. It was fruitnut's favorite cherry either last year or the year before.

I also ordered an Early Burlat, and a Comice pear on Quince rootstock.

For us Californians who are, for many fruit trees, limited to what we can obtain from California, Oregon, and Washington, I'm glad I found Cloud Mountain Farm Center.

Neither I nor anyone I know has financial interest in this nursery, just pointing it out as having something I couldn't find elsewhere.

gary

My Van ripens near Bing. But it's really hard for me to tell when any of the sweet cherries ripen. All I can do is taste and see if they are sweet enough to start. Then they get sweeter for several weeks before getting overly soft and finally shriveling. Outdoors with birds most people probably harvest weeks before brix peaks.

Van is very precocious and sets heavily. It bore more fruit in 2nd and 3rd leaf than anything else I have. Along with that comes oversetting and small lesser quality fruit as the tree matures. Heavy pruning will cure the oversetting issue if you can keep the tree growing.

It is a very good eating sweet cherry and topped DWN taste testing.

My efforts at open-vase training have yielded less than steller results.

This year I've got 10 new trees and an expensive quart of Promalin. I'm going to try to do a "fruiting wall" with either Tall Spindle or Slender Spindle training.

gary

I have a 2 year old Bing, on Zaiger, in a 30 gallon pot that is really healthy. What size was your container?

I grow peaches, apples, and Mandarins, but cherries are absolutely my favorite fruit.

When I was young my family were migrant workers, they stopped and took other jobs when I hit school age (55 years ago).

We knew lots of farmers and were always welcome to work weekends and during times of unemployment. I've spent a lot of time in cherry orchards. The last time was probably in 1985, when Rainiers were first coming into production. Van, Bing, and Royal Ann were it, save for a few old 40' tall Lambert orchards.

I don't think I've ever had a ripe Van, they were always picked early because the farmers wanted to reap the higher prices for first-to-market.

As fruitnut said, Van sets heavily, even on full-size rootstocks.

Bing cherries can fool you, they may look ripe but still not be at peak. A fully ripe Bing will be nearly black and maybe even have those sugar dots like apples and plums. They will take your breath away.

This year I'm planting 3 Bings (one each on Zaiger, G5, and K6); Rainier (on Zaiger, G5, and K6); Sweetheart on Zaiger; Samba on K6; and the Van and Early Burlat on G5.

When I can get an Attika and a Skeena on a dwarfing rootstock I think I'll have all the varieties I want (until something new comes along).

I lost a large shipment of cherries 2011 due to a very late delivery
Attika & Skeena were 2 I ordered
I tried every trick up my sleeve to coax them out of dormancy
but no luck they got too dry & hot yanked em out that fall
If you ever want to advise me on ANY matter growing cherries
they are my very extraordinary favorite fruit too
go for it

I was going to ask you for tips :-)

gary