Tree · Rosaceae
Cherry
Prunus avium
Give it full sun, deep soil, and good airflow, and a cherry tree rewards you with fruit for decades.
Full sun
Every 7–14 days
USDA 4–8
20–36 ft · 6–11 m
Overview
Few trees give a yard two seasons of pleasure the way a cherry does, first with a haze of white blossom in early spring, then with bowls of fruit by midsummer. It sits within the rose family and arrives in two distinct characters: the sweet cherry, Prunus avium, picked and eaten straight from the branch, and the sour cherry, Prunus cerasus, destined for the pie dish. Each asks for sun, space, and ground that drains well.
Plan for a full-size tree rather than something for a corner patio. A standard sweet cherry can climb to 20 to 36 feet (6 to 11 m), though a graft onto a dwarfing rootstock holds the tree to a size you can net and reach. The sour types keep a tidier frame and take cold in stride, which is what carries them further north.
Pollination is where many first-time growers come unstuck. A good number of sweet cherries want a second, compatible tree before they will set fruit, while self-fertile types crop on their own. Settle that question before planting, because a solitary Bing with no partner will flower gloriously and leave you with next to nothing in the basket.
Care
The short version: full sun, deep ground that drains, and a steady drink through the growing months. Prune in dormancy for an open, breathable frame, pair a pollinizer with any sweet cherry that asks for one, and have netting up before the birds arrive.
Light
Cherries fruit at their finest in full sun, with 6 or more hours a day to draw on. A touch of shade will not stop the tree growing, but you forfeit fruit and welcome the damp that disease thrives in.
Water
Give a deep, even drink, most of all while a young tree finds its feet and again as the fruit swells. Target around 1 inch (2.5 cm) a week, then taper off once the tree turns dormant. It is uneven moisture and a heavy soak close to harvest that crack the skins.
Soil
Set the tree in deep, fertile, well-drained loam. Cherries cannot abide wet feet, so keep away from low pockets and heavy clay that traps water. A pH held between 6.0 and 7.0 keeps the roots content.
Temperature
These are hardy trees, at ease across a broad span from roughly -22°F to 86°F (-30°C to 30°C). Sour cherries weather the cold more comfortably, while a late frost on open blossom is the true peril to a crop.
Humidity
Ordinary outdoor humidity in the 40% to 60% range suits them well, so there is no figure to chase. Airflow counts for far more, since still, damp air sitting in the canopy is the opening brown rot and canker look for.
Feeding
Feed in early spring ahead of new growth, choosing a balanced fertilizer guided by a soil test. Keep a light hand with nitrogen, since a surge of soft growth invites disease and yields foliage where you wanted fruit.
Pruning
Prune while the tree rests, dormant in late winter, to shape an open frame that lets light and air pass through. Where bacterial canker is a concern, move that work to dry summer weather instead, and cut out any dead, diseased, or crossing wood as you go.
Size & spacing
A cherry is a true tree, rising 20 to 36 feet (6 to 11 m) tall and reaching 15 to 30 feet (4.5 to 9 m) wide, though dwarfing rootstocks hold that in check. Allow a standard tree generous open ground so air drifts through the canopy and disease finds no foothold.
When to plant
A cherry lives by the calendar of the seasons. Set a bare-root or potted tree in the ground in early spring while it still sleeps, enjoy the bloom as the days warm, and gather sweet cherries in early to midsummer with the sour types arriving just behind.
Northern hemisphere
Southern hemisphere
Typical months for a temperate climate: start earlier in warm zones, later where spring frosts linger.
- Plant: early spring while trees are still dormant
- Harvest: blooms in early spring; sweet cherries harvest in early to midsummer (June to July) and sour cherries shortly after, in the northern hemisphere
Hardiness
USDA hardiness zones: 4–8
Temperature: down to -34°C
Troubleshooting
Most of what goes wrong with a cherry shows up on the fruit, from disease to insects to birds, while canker works away at the wood. Learn to spot the first signs and you can act before a whole season's crop slips away. Find the match below, then move while there is still time to help.
Spoiled blossoms and fruit going soft under tan fuzz
What you are seeing is brown rot, a fungus that ruins the spring flowers first and later turns the ripening fruit to a soft, tan-tufted mess just as you were counting on the harvest. Warm, humid spells let it travel quickly through the tree. Clear away every shriveled fruit and keep the canopy pruned to an open shape so it dries out promptly after a rain.
Weeping, sunken sores along the limbs and trunk
Bacterial canker settles into the limbs and trunk, seeping gum and starving the wood above it of life, and a cool, wet spring is when it does the most harm. No spray will turn it back. Make your cut well past the canker into healthy wood, and save your pruning for a dry stretch of summer when the bacteria have gone quiet.
Hidden maggots burrowing through cherries near picking time
The cherry fruit fly slips its eggs into the ripening fruit, and the maggots work quietly inside until the day you find one. Set out sticky traps as the cherries begin to take on color, which gives you the window to act ahead of the harvest. Any fruit already carrying a maggot is past saving.
A ripening crop disappearing to the local flock
Birds can empty a tree of ripe cherries before you have a chance to gather them. Lay netting over the canopy ahead of the color change, since the fruit turning is the moment they arrive. Noisemakers buy you a little time, but a determined flock soon learns to pay them no mind.
Cherries splitting open just before the pick
Fruit cracking sets in when a ripe cherry takes on water faster than its skin can give, most often after a downpour or a careless late soak. Those splits become an open door for rot. Hold the soil moisture steady all season, ease back as picking time approaches, and gather the fruit ahead of a coming storm.
Toxicity
The ripe fruit is a pleasure to eat, but the rest of the tree is truly hazardous. Leaves, stems, bark, and pits all carry cyanogenic glycosides that release cyanide, and wilted leaves from a snapped or pruned branch are the most lethal part of all. Keep prunings and fallen leaves clear of pets and grazing animals, and let no one swallow the pits.
Toxic to
Cats · Dogs · Horses · Rabbits · Livestock · Birds
Safe for
People
Cats Toxic
Because the leaves, stems, and pits hold cyanide-releasing compounds, a cat that nibbles on them faces a genuine hazard. Look first for drooling and a queasy stomach, and in a grave case dilated pupils, panting, and labored breathing that can give way to shock.
Dogs Toxic
A dog that chews fallen limbs or cracks open pits may absorb enough cyanide to do harm. It starts looking like an ordinary stomach upset, yet a heavier dose brings hard panting, bright red gums, and weakness. A swallowed pit can also wedge in the gut and cause a blockage.
Horses Toxic
Horses rank among the most vulnerable here, and the wilted leaves from a snapped or trimmed limb pose the greatest threat. The poisoning moves fast: bright red gums, gasping breath, an unsteady gait, collapse, and at times a sudden death with no warning.
Rabbits Toxic
Cherry foliage and bark have no place in a rabbit's diet. The cyanogenic glycosides can fell a small grazer in short order, so keep all prunings and clippings far from reach.
Livestock Toxic
Cattle, sheep, and goats face a steep risk, and wilted leaves after a storm or a pruning session are the familiar source of loss. A grazing animal can pass from red gums and labored breath to collapse in minutes, so fence the herd away from cherry trees and never throw trimmings into a pasture.
Birds Toxic
Birds take ripe cherries and drop the pit whole, but the leaves, twigs, and crushed pits give off cyanide and belong well away from caged or backyard birds.
People Ripe fruit safe
The ripe flesh is the familiar, safe fruit everyone knows. Leave the pits unchewed and unswallowed, and keep children clear of the leaves and twigs, since those parts carry the cyanide-releasing compounds.
Keep pets and livestock away from prunings, fallen leaves, and pits; wilting leaves from broken or trimmed branches are especially dangerous to grazing animals. Do not let children swallow pits.
Helpline numbers
United States
ASPCA Animal Poison Control: (888) 426-4435 (fee applies)
Poison Control: (800) 222-1222
Canada
Poison Centres: 1-844-764-7669
Varieties
Cherries divide neatly into sweet kinds for eating out of hand and sour kinds for the kitchen. These are the names you will run into most, and whether each fruits alone is the detail worth weighing before you plant.
Bing
The classic large, dark-red sweet cherry, prized for fresh eating, though it will not fruit alone and wants a compatible pollinizer planted near it.
Rainier
A yellow sweet cherry blushed with red, equally dependent on a cross-pollination partner to bear a crop.
Stella
A self-fertile sweet cherry that fruits on its own, the natural choice when the yard has space for just one tree.
Montmorency
The go-to sour cherry, self-fertile and cold-hardy, the one most home bakers turn to for pies.
Morello
A dark-fleshed, self-fertile sour cherry that copes with shade and cold more readily than the sweet kinds.
How to propagate
A cherry is not a tree you raise from a saved stone and expect the same fruit again. To grow a known variety you begin with a grafted tree, and the rootstock beneath it determines just how large that tree will become.
GraftingModerate
Nearly every named cherry arrives grafted or budded onto a chosen rootstock, the one reliable way to hold a cultivar true to type. That rootstock also decides the tree's eventual scale, from a towering Mazzard standard to a dwarfing clonal root that keeps the canopy at picking height.
SeedModerate
A cherry will sprout from a stratified pit, but the seedling will not echo its parent, so this path suits rootstock or breeding stock rather than a named variety. Look for a wild or rootstock tree from it, never another Bing or Montmorency.
Myths
The whole cherry, every part of it, is good to eat.
Only the ripe flesh is. The leaves, stems, blossoms, and pits carry cyanogenic compounds that release cyanide, which makes those parts toxic to people and animals alike. Savor the fruit and set the pit aside.
A cherry tree always needs a second tree before it will fruit.
Many sweet cherries do call for a partner to cross-pollinate, yet self-fertile types bear fruit on their own. Sweet cultivars such as Stella, along with most sour cherries like Montmorency, will crop as a lone tree.
Sour cherries are nothing more than sweet cherries picked before they were ready.
They belong to a separate species, Prunus cerasus, not an early-picked version of something else. Sour cherries are naturally tart, smaller, hardier, and self-fertile, ripening into that sharpness by design.