I was given a seedling cherry eight years ago. This year it blossomed beautifully but didn't set any fruit. Could have been the weather, but the blossom is a start!

Most cherry varieties are grafted....a named variety is grafted onto a suitable rootstock.

if you grew them from seed, they would take years to flower...if they flowered at all, and they probably wouldn't produce any fruit.

Andy's dead right, cherries are grafted on Giesela 5 or Colt rootstock so a straight cutting would be very variable and you could be drawing your pension by the time it was a decent size. As to grow from seed, it would take ages to fruit and if the stone was from a continental variety it might never be viable in our climate.

However, on the positive side my parents garden had four cherries all grown from pips and all fruited well - a red, a black and a whiteheart - can't remember the other as it was removed before I was very old.

The best way to propagate cherry trees is by taking a cutting from an established tree. This will develop into an exact clone of the donor tree.

Take several cuttings from the new growth of the plant not the older woody growth. Make sure that you don't do this until the plant comes out of dormancy and already has leaves on it. Dip the ends into a root Hormone and put them into a good potting medium. Keep it out of direct sunlight but make sure it gets plenty of indirect light. Keep it moist but not wet.

I use 2 litre clear plastic coke bottles placed over the cuttings to keep them moist. Just remove the labels and cut the tops of the bottles just below the necks.

It should take from 4 to 8 weeks to develop a root system big enough to transplant.