I recently was gifted about 180 BF of beautiful rough cut 5/4 cherry with varying board widths.
A few board widths are 18" +.
I am looking for insight for stacking ( with dry stickers ) the boards. Should the wide boards be located somewhere ? It was rough sawn two weeks ago, I will be trimming the ends and using AnchorSeal to seal the ends.
This will be stored in a shed with abundant sun shine exposure.
I used to sticker mine and leave it outside for 6 months then move it inside.
So @wayneswoodworking said sticker the wood and stack it up. With boards 6’ I would put about 4 stickers per layer. I use pine 1x2 cut long enough to stick out the side of each layer about an 1" or 2" . If the boards are uniform then you can stack them in two rows with stickers long enough to cover both sides of the rows. However if the boards are varying in height then only stack into one column.
It takes about a year per inch for air drying. Recommend you write the date on the end of the boards (at least the top one) to remind you when it was stacked. I have a covered overhang on my shop that is 15’ wide. I recently cut down a water oak and had mine cut into 2" slabs. The tree was standing dead from last year’s drought.
Some of the boards are 24" wide and some smaller. That was a 50’ tree and the left overs is currently being cut into firewood for my grandson.
the problem will be when dry. Some people tie the bundles up with strapping to help keep warping down. I dont recommend that. Put the biggest pieces at the bottom and the weight of the stack will help keep it straight (or as straight as the wood will be). I have a 20 inch planner and will run it through a couple of times to knock the high spots down. You should start with a jointer but not many people do not have a jointer that wide. I start with cutting the bark off with my bandsaw and then through the planner. Mark up your boards and cut them out on the bandsaw and if you have a jointer big enough flatten one side. Then through a planner on the other side.
You can use a flattening jig to get oneside flat but the one I have is 5’ x 10’ and takes up a lot of space. I bought the Veritas hardware and you use 2" EMP conduit for your rails. The kit is relatively cheap but takes up a lot of rooom. I have a Porter Cable 7519 3.25 HP router and a Frued 3HP router I can put on the flattening jig
I have bought linear rails to replace the EMT but have not put them on yet. There are lots of videos on youtube about making a temporary flattening jig. I am not suggesting this particular one but make a search and see what your shop will make handy.
If you store these stacks outside they will rained on. So at least make a small shed to keep the majority of the rain off of them. If you can put them inside to avoid rain. However it requires air flow to dry the boards so if there is no air circulating around the boards then it will take longer to air dry.
Big boards on the bottom, I thought so but wanted to confirm. My son-inlaw has a Router sled.
You have way too much room to play with !
Thanks !
Space if very tight but if you are going to process logs and boards it takes room. A once and a while thing can poor boy it but I do this all the time. Wood has gotten so expensive and there is wood just laying all around me in my rural home town. I do occasionally buy wood but not very often. I am in a woodworking club that meets at Stephen F. Austin University and we are affiliated with the forestry department. So we get wood that students cut up and even some exotics that are used in their studies.
So a lot of sweat equity has great benefits.
One last thing is for you to keep an eye on your stacked wood. The cherry is dead wood and bugs like to infest it. Just look for sawdust and do something about it before your wood is eaten up.
If you are in a hurry there are USDA plans on the net for making a solar kiln. Kiln dried wood is not as good as air dried but is much faster. You need some fans and a dehumidifier and mother nature will take care of t he rest. You dont need to make the full size one like in the USDA plans but a scaled down one would work.
I was lucky to help the right person, so I just had to receive the planks.
I found this Solar kiln design from Virginia Tech
https://sbio.vt.edu/for-the-community/vt-solar-kiln.html
I finished trimming/squaring the ends, applying the AnchorSeal and stacking.
I put it in an extension to my shed that has 4" of gravel for a floor and old pool covers for a roof.
Plenty of air passing through, but no sun and limited direct water contact.
Also remember to let the wood acclimate to your shop before you start to mill it. There’s nothing quite like letting wood dry for a year and then bringing it indoors and cutting it too soon 
