Fruit TreesRosaceae
Cherry Trees.
Cool seasonPerennialPollinator magnet
At a glance
The spec sheet.
- Direct sow / out
- Bare-root early April
- Germ
- Purchased trees
- Days to harvest
- Fruit year 3–5
- Spacing
- 20 ft (sweet), 15 ft (sour)
- Depth
- Same as pot
- Square-foot
- Own orchard bed
- Qty target
- 1–2 sour + 2 sweet for full year.
Plant
Sweet cherries need two varieties; sour (pie) cherries are self-pollinating. Sour is often more reliable in NJ due to weather and disease.
Care
Prune to open vase shape. Bird netting is essential as fruit ripens — birds strip a tree overnight.
Harvest
When fully colored and easily released. Sweet: eat fresh. Sour: pit and freeze/can/pie.
Sour cherries: pie filling, jam, canned in syrup, dried. Sweet: fresh, frozen whole.
Companion planting
What cherry trees likes, and doesn’t.
Good neighbors
- Chives
- Nasturtiums
- Comfrey
- Marigolds
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