There are a lot of points to make here - do a lot of research:

1. DO NOT get Bing or Rainer - they are not suited for our climate (they will split/crack and the fruit will be ruined).
2. Instead, the following are great self-fertile sweet cherries appropriate for NJ -
Black Gold; White Gold (substitute for Rainer); and Benton (earlier ripening - in case you get the others).
3. Many online nurseries (mail-order) will ship them 4-6'.
You want to look and see if you can still get them mailed - Schlabach, Adams County Nursery, etc. Raintree and One Green World.

I recommend getting them on Gisella-6 rootstocks (dwarfing rootstocks); the issue of best rootstocks to get is highly controversial. Do a lot of keyword searching, etc.

Good luck.

Thanks for the reply. Everything I've read shows that bing and rainier grow well in zones 4 to 8. I'll have to do more research, I guess. I'll take a look at some of the other varieties you mentioned. I just key in on Bing and Rainier because of their size. I need smaller dwarf variety.

The issue with Bing and Rainier is our wetter weather, not the temps. Both varieties supposedly will crack and split in our NJ weather.

Andrew

I have a 40 year old Rainier Cherry Tree in my back yard that blooms and sets fruit every year but has only produced good quality cherries once in the last 15 years. This year the fruit are growing well but are small, no cracking yet and no browning. I am assuming that cross polination is from another Rainier close by or possible by the wild cherry growing in the woods next to our driveway. Anyone have any ideas as to why we cannot get good quality cherries consistantely?

I have a Bing Cherry tree and it has hardly grown anything over the past 3-4 years. It puts out beautiful flowers, but the bugs really like the few fruits the tree tries to grow. We harvestd no more than 10 cheeries thus far :-(

I have only harvested once in all the years living in this home (26) and the tree was planted by my husband's grandparents some time in the 1960's. I am beginning to think that I do not have a Rainier as this year we had a lot of rain and the tree did produce beautiful fruit! Alas, I cannot reach most of it without a scaffold or cherry picker