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Fig and Cherry Trees

I am here in MIchigan and wanting to plant a fig tree and a cherry tree (BING).
1. Do I need two cherry trees to get fruit?
2. For a fig tree, I have a small 2 ft tree. How quickly do they grow and how long will it take before I get fruit?

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  1. For your fig, depending on the variety it could be this year---I've seen them fruit at around one foot tall. The main problem will be if they ripen in time for you to harvest because they do come late in the year, always a problem in Chicago which is pretty close weather-wise.

    I'm not sure about the bing cherry but my grandma had a sour cherry tree and it did not require a second tree.

    1 Reply
    1. re: Sally599

      Sour cherries are self-pollinating. Almost all sweet cherries require a second tree, usually of a second variety.

    2. Bing cherry trees require cross-pollination in order to produce fruit. Bing cherry trees can cross-pollinate with just about any other sweet cherry. We live in the Pacific NW and the only ripe figs we get are from a Desert King which sets fruit in June.

      1. My Black Mission fig tree growing in SoCal took 4 years to fruit. I was just about to give up on it. Six years later I can't use up the figs I get once or even twice a year.

        2 Replies
        1. re: rainey

          Oh my heck. I would kill for fresh figs. Craigslist those suckers.

          1. re: LauraGrace

            Pretty much anywhere in the country, you could grow them.

        2. The cherry situation is interesting and thought provoking. I will keep reading and hope others will chime in. It has been unusually cold here this year and everything is at least a month behind.

            1. re: itryalot

              I don't know much about this stuff, but my cherry tree (Rainier) is all by its lonesome and fruits every year. I have a lone blueberry bush, same thing. There must be enough pollen in the wind from other plants or something.

              1. re: watercress

                I have a single Bing cherry tree and it fruits very well. (Just ask the robins, blue jays, etc.) As far as I know there are no other cherry trees in the neighborhood.

                1. re: watercress

                  You may have a tree that sports a graft of another variety (usually a sour/wild cherry type) as this is common with sweet cherries. Our family's farm has many old cherry trees where the stronger sour cherry eventually took over from the weaker, disease-prone sweet variety. Watch in spring for a branch or two that blooms differently (color/size/timing).