Sour cherry

Sun

Full sun gives the best crops; tolerates partial shade, but fruiting is reduced.

Water

Water deeply during establishment and during dry spells as fruit develops; avoid waterlogged soil.

Soil

Fertile, well-drained loam with a slightly acidic to neutral pH; tolerates heavier soil if drainage is good.

Height

12-25 ft (3.7-7.6 m), depending on cultivar and rootstock

Spread

12-20 ft (3.7-6.1 m), depending on cultivar, rootstock and training

Flowers

White flowers in clusters in mid-spring, usually as the leaves emerge.

Foliage

Oval, pointed, finely toothed green leaves, sometimes turning yellow in autumn.

Growth

Moderate

Care needed

Medium

• Pollinators
• Cold hardy
• Wildlife
• Low allergen
• Edible

Northern hemisphere months. In Australia, shift them by six.

Difficulty

Moderate

Toughness

Fairly tough

Pick your zone, country, light and whether you have pets.

1. Planting day

   7 ft (2 m)

2. After 1 year

   7 ft (2.2 m)

3. After 2 years

   8 ft (2.4 m)

4. After 3 years

   8 ft (2.5 m)

5. After 5 years

   10 ft (2.9 m)

About 20 years to full size.

From a typical nursery size, at an average rate for this kind of plant. A rule of thumb, not a forecast.

Cats and dogs

Toxic

Growth rate

Moderate

• Plant with the graft union above soil level, away from frost pockets and standing winter water.
• Water deeply through the first two growing seasons and during prolonged drought once established.
• Apply a 2-3 in (5-8 cm) organic mulch, keeping it clear of the trunk.
• Feed modestly in early spring if growth is weak; avoid excess nitrogen, which encourages leafy growth rather than fruit.
• Stake young trees if needed for stability, check ties regularly and remove support once roots hold firmly.
• Remove rootstock suckers promptly and use wildlife-safe, taut netting if birds take the crop.

Pruning. Prune in dry weather in summer, usually just after harvest, to reduce the risk of silver leaf and bacterial canker. Keep an open framework, remove dead or crossing branches, and gradually replace older fruited wood with young shoots because much of the crop forms on the previous year's growth.

Pick cherries in early to midsummer when fully coloured for the cultivar, juicy and easily detached; taste a few because sour cherries remain tart when ripe. Pick gently with their stalks attached if storing briefly, and refrigerate or process promptly. Grafted trees usually give their first worthwhile crop about 3-5 years after planting, depending on rootstock and growing conditions.

Late autumn

Collect fallen fruit and leaves, and remove mummified cherries to reduce disease carry-over.

Winter

Plant dormant bare-root trees when the soil is workable and not waterlogged; check stakes and guards.

Early spring

Renew mulch and feed lightly if needed; keep mulch away from the trunk.

Mid-spring

Watch for blossom frost; protect small trees with horticultural fleece overnight and remove it during the day.

Early summer

Water during dry spells and protect colouring fruit from birds with safely secured netting.

Summer

Harvest ripe cherries, then prune in dry weather to renew fruiting shoots.

• Use as a small orchard tree with enough space around the crown for picking and pruning.
• Train as a fan against a wall or fence to make fruit accessible in a narrow garden.
• Choose a suitable dwarfing rootstock for an edible courtyard or small lawn specimen.
• Combine spring blossom with nearby low-growing herbs and bulbs, leaving a clear mulched area around the trunk.

Garden styles it suits: Backyard orchard, Edible landscape, Potager (kitchen garden), Cottage garden, Homestead and Food forest.

Plant it with: Chives, Thyme, Yarrow, Crocus and Calendula.

Wildlife: Blossom supplies nectar and pollen for bees and other insects. Birds readily eat the cherries, and the branches provide perching and nesting cover.

• Brown rot: remove rotting and mummified fruit promptly, prune for airflow and avoid damaging ripening cherries.
• Cherry leaf spot: collect fallen leaves, improve airflow and avoid wetting foliage; seek locally approved treatment if repeated early leaf loss weakens the tree.
• Bacterial canker and silver leaf: prune only in dry summer weather, remove affected wood and disinfect tools between diseased cuts.
• Black cherry aphids: inspect curled shoot tips, encourage natural predators and use an insecticidal soap labelled for edible cherries if necessary.

Ripe cherry flesh is edible for people. Leaves, stems and the kernels inside the stones contain cyanogenic compounds and can cause serious poisoning in people, cats, dogs and horses if chewed and eaten; wilted foliage is especially hazardous to livestock. Stones also pose choking and intestinal blockage risks, so remove them before serving fruit.

• Sweet cherry (Prunus avium)

  Usually a larger tree with larger, more drooping leaves and sweeter ripe fruit; leaf stalks commonly have conspicuous reddish glands. Size alone is unreliable because both species are grafted onto dwarfing rootstocks.

• Duke cherry (Prunus × gondouinii)

  A hybrid between sweet and sour cherry, with intermediate foliage and fruit that is often less acid than sour cherry; a reliable nursery label is the best guide.

• Nanking cherry (Prunus tomentosa)

  A bushy shrub with noticeably hairy leaves and small cherries on very short stalks, rather than the smooth leaves and longer-stalked fruit of sour cherry.

The common name describes the fruit's acidity, while Prunus is the Latin name for plum and cerasus is the Latin word for cherry.

Propagation. Named cultivars are usually budded or grafted onto suitable cherry rootstocks. Seed-grown trees vary in fruit quality and may take considerably longer to crop; suckers from a grafted tree usually belong to the rootstock, not the named cultivar.

Accepted botanical name

Prunus cerasus

In the US and Canada

Introduced in Canada and the lower 48 states.

Native range

North Caucasus.

Measured

Average height 1000 cm.

Sources: GBIF (CC BY 4.0), USDA PLANTS and Trefle (CC BY 4.0). The care and design notes are LandscapeGPT's own.