Prunus avium
Sweet cherry
Common names: Wild cherry
At a glance
- Light
- Full sun
- Hardiness
- Hardy down to −24 °C
- Pruning
- Jul–Aug
- Harvest
- Jun–Jul
- Spacing
- 500 cm, rows 600 cm
- Water need
- Medium
- Origin
- Native to Germany
Description
The sweet cherry gives you plump, sweet fruits straight from the tree in high summer, a pleasure no bought cherry matches. Most cultivars need a suitable pollinator nearby; self-fertile cultivars such as ‘Lapins’ bear on their own too. On a weakly growing rootstock the tree stays harvestable even in a small garden.
Care instructions
Plant it in autumn or spring in a sunny, airy spot with deep, well-drained soil. Prune exclusively in summer directly after the harvest (July, week 28), because winter pruning raises the risk of the dreaded monilia and of gummosis. Stretch a net over smaller trees before ripening, otherwise the birds get there first.
The care notes were machine-translated from German.
Garden year
HarvestJun–Jul
Soil & site
Soil pH
Soil type
loamy, humus-rich, well-drained, nutrient-rich
The sweet cherry wants a deep, loose, humus-rich soil, preferably loamy-sandy and free-draining. It even tolerates calcareous soils well. Be sure to avoid waterlogging and heavy, compacted clay soils, as gummosis and root damage are a risk there.
Feeding
Medium feeder
Months
Mar, Apr, Jun
Feed in early spring (end of March to beginning of April, before flowering): put compost on the tree circle and work it in shallowly with horn shavings. On light sandy soils, rather a little later; on heavy loam soils, earlier. A second, light organic application from end of May to beginning of June supports fruit set and the end of shoot growth. From July, stop feeding nitrogen-heavy fertiliser, otherwise the wood does not ripen in time and frost hardiness drops.
Pruning
Prune the sweet cherry in summer, straight after harvest (July to August), in dry weather; the wounds then heal quickly. Avoid winter pruning in the dormant season, because open cuts otherwise encourage disease and gummosis.
Overwintering
The sweet cherry is hardy and comes through the Central European lowland winter without trouble outdoors. The tree itself needs no protection; only very young trees welcome a mulch layer of leaves or bark mulch over the root zone in their first winter. The real danger is late frost at flowering time (often March to April): open blossoms are damaged from about -2 °C, so loosely wrap the crown in horticultural fleece on frosty nights (over a frame of stakes so it does not touch the blossoms) and take it off again during the day so bees can pollinate again.
Propagation
Methods
- Grafting
- Cuttings
In the home garden, you propagate the sweet cherry almost exclusively by grafting onto a suitable rootstock. Only this keeps the variety true to type and retains the desired fruit characteristics. For weak-growing, small trees (for example espalier or a small garden), the rootstock GiSelA 5 is the first choice; it keeps the tree compact and brings earlier yields. For more vigorous sites, strong-growing rootstocks such as seedling/Mazzard (F 12/1) or Colt are suitable. Cut the scion in winter (December to January) from one-year-old, healthy shoots of the desired variety and store it cool and frost-free until grafting. Do the grafting itself in late winter (February to March) by whip-and-tongue grafting on the dormant scion; alternatively, in July to August by budding (shield budding) with a freshly harvested bud. In summer the bark lifts easily because the tree is in sap. Cuttings are considerably more difficult with cherry than with soft fruit: semi-ripe summer cuttings (around August) can be grown on in moist, free-draining medium at high humidity, but the rooting rate stays low. This method is more something to try out. Sowing is unsuitable for propagating a variety, as sweet cherries do not come true to type from the stone.
Companion planting
Companion planting is partly traditional gardening lore. Where the reason is known, it is given.
Some of these explanations were machine-translated.
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Grow Sweet cherry yourself
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Varieties
10 varieties‘Büttners Rote Knorpelkirsche’
You will find ‚Büttners Rote Knorpelkirsche’ to be a very old German variety with bright red to yellow‑red, firm…
‘Burlat’
With ‚Burlat’ you start the cherry season, it is one of the earliest varieties and usually ripe by early June.
‘Hedelfinger Riesenkirsche’
The Hedelfinger Riesenkirsche is an old Swabian classic and a robust, vigorously growing tree that still crops reliably in harsh locations.
‘Kordia’
Kordia is one of the best late dessert cherries, with dark, heart shaped, very firm fruits and a strong, full aroma.
‘Lapins’
Lapins is a self fertile late cultivar and therefore perfect if you only want to plant a single cherry tree.
‘Regina’
Regina is the late market variety par excellence and a very dependable choice for the home garden: large, firm, dark…
‘Schneiders Späte Knorpelkirsche’
Schneiders Späte Knorpelkirsche is one of the best known old German dessert cherries, with large, glossy dark red, firm fruits and a fine aroma.
‘Summit’
Summit is a mid early ripening variety with strikingly large, heart shaped fruits and a very sweet, juicy flavour.
‘Sunburst’
Sunburst is a self fertile sweet cherry, so you do not need a second tree as a pollinator, which makes it ideal for small gardens.
‘Sweetheart’
Sweetheart is one of the latest sweet cherries and stretches the season far into July.
Notes from real gardens
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From the magazine
Planting a sweet cherry: rootstock, pollinator and spot
GiSelA rootstocks finally make the sweet cherry pickable, and with the right pollinator it bears early. How to plan rootstock, pollination group and spot.
Pruning the sour cherry: renewal instead of going bare
The sour cherry bears on one-year-old wood and goes bare without pruning. How to divert the spent whips onto young shoots after the harvest, and why it differs from the sweet cherry.
Pruning stone fruit: sweet cherry, apricot, and mirabelle after harvest
Why cherry, apricot, and mirabelle are pruned in summer, which wood they fruit on, and how you avoid gummosis and silver leaf.
Cherry Harvest and Summer Pruning
In early July, CW 27, the late sweet cherries are ripe, and right after the last picking comes the best moment for summer pruning. Why stone fruit is pruned now and not in winter, how to harvest gently and prune step by step.
Cherry fruit fly: maggot-free cherries with the variety trick
Maggots in cherries need not be. Why early varieties out-ripen the cherry fruit fly, how yellow traps and a net help, and how to break the cycle in the soil.
Pruning Fruit Trees by Type: Pome Fruit, Stone Fruit, and Nut Trees
Apple in February, cherry after harvest, walnut in late summer: why every fruit tree has its own pruning time, and which wood it bears on.
Where to get this plant
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