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FAQs
Cherry trees produce vivid displays of cloudy white blossom in early spring, followed by a flush of late summer fruit.
Which Cherry Variety Should I Choose?
The most popular varieties for UK growers are Stella, which is the best for drier Eastern parts of the country, and Summer Sun or Sunburst, which are best in more humid Western areas.
The best varieties for the North & Scotland are Lapins Cherokee, Stella, and Colney, because they flower late and so (hopefully) avoid the frosts.
For a spread of cherries that covers the whole cropping season, we recommend:
- June: Early Rivers
- Early July: Amber Heart
- Late July: Stella or Summer Sun
- August: Sweetheart
When it comes to sour cooking cherries, there "is only one": Morello (actually there are several, but it really is the best).
Morello is the only cherry that will crop reasonably well in the shade.
Lapins Cherokee is a sweet cherry, not sour, but is also excellent for cooking.
Do all cherry trees have edible fruit?
No, only the sweet and sour cherry varieties listed in this section have fruit that humans would want to eat.
Most cherry blossom trees, grown ornamentally for their flowers, do not make fruit at all.
The wild cherry and bird cherry do make fruit, but they aren't tasty.
The best place to plant cherry trees is in a sunny spot with well drained, fertile soil that has neutral to mildly acidic pH. They are happy on clay on a hill or slope that does not waterlog in winter.
Shelter from strong winds is also good.
- Sweet cherry trees need plenty of sun to ripen, and grow best in the warmer Southern and Western parts of the UK.
- In the North and Scotland, a sheltered, South facing wall with full sun is best for consistent results, where you can train your cherries as fans, supported by wires.
- Morello sour cherries are unusually shade-tolerant, and will crop well on a North facing wall as long as there is open sky above and in front of them (so an alleyway is probably too shady). You can also grow damsons and bullaces in quite shady sites.
If your soil is poor, dry, or alkaline, you can improve it by digging in well rotted organic matter (such as our Soil Improver), and then mulching well every year.
Remember that because mulch is not dug into the soil, it does not need to be rotted.
When is the best time to plant Cherry trees?
The best time to plant cherry trees is in winter, using bareroot stock.
Pot grown trees can be planted at any time during the rest of the year, as long as you are absolutely certain to water them well.
There are pros and cons to every season, but as long as you water well in dry weather until your tree is established, you can plant at any time.
How to Plant a Cherry Tree
You have two main choices with cherries. Either grow them:
- As a normal freestanding tree in the "bush" form (with a short trunk under 1.2 metres) or half-standard form (with a trunk between 1.2 and 1.5 metres tall)
- As a fan, trained flat using support wires (usually against a wall).
Watch our Fruit Tree Planting video, (we highly recommend using Rootgrow).
Cherry trees must be planted at the same depth in the ground as they were in the pot or ground before being transplanted.
Growing fruit trees requires nutritious soil, with good levels of moisture retention, so improve sandy or poor soils with well rotted organic matter (such as our Soil Improver) before planting.
Clay soil does not need improving.
Cherry trees, like all stone fruit in the Prunus family, should only be pruned when their sap is flowing upwards, from Spring to late Summer.
This reduces the (admittedly quite low) risk of Silver Leaf Disease, because the rising sap physically pushes the spores out of the pruning cut.
However, as always, remove DDD wood at any time: Dead, Diseased, or Damaged wood.
How to Prune Cherry Trees
- Pruning maidens into bushes or half-standards.
- Pruning bushes or half standards (this is year two if you start with a maiden, or year one if you buy ready-made bushes / half standards).