The message
from Rod contains these words:

Janet Galpin and Oliver Patterson wrote:

I apologise if this comes up twice but I sent a mail and it seems to
have disappeared.

I am thinking of planting a cherry tree but wondered whether any
cherries are so likely to be stripped by birds that there is little
point.


We've got Stella and another variety whose name I've forgotten both
on Colt and
after over 20yrs they are still small enough to fit in a specially made high
fruit cage. The bad news is we're having to fortify the cage because
the birds
will get through just about anything if there's ripening cherries the other
side. As for Dwayne's wimpy merkin birds that don't care for unripe
cherries -
well ours are made of sterner stuff - just the first flush of yellow and
they're down a blackbird's (or jay's neck). It was years before we realised
Stella was supposed to be red. I have no experience of newer stocks but they
should be small enough to cage relatively easily. I would forget
cherries as a
fruit crop if you can't cage them, but don't let that put you off
growing them:
they will hold their own with the best ornamental varieties, the trees will
stay compact and the roots won't overrun the garden (if they *are* an
dwarfing
stocks)
--
Thanks for this and all the other helpful replies.
It had occurred to me that just to have one for bird food might not be a
bad idea - and if we attracted a jay or two (not at all common round
here) that would be reward enough.

Janet G.