This is a wonderful thread and I’ve learned so much reading it over the past couple days!
I know many questions are from the US, but I wonder if you might have any recommendations for the southern UK? (I’m Polish, so I may have access to some more central/eastern European cultivars with my grandfather’s help.)
I’m in a microclimate on the “Sunshine Coast” (according to the English - it’s no Valencia, that’s for sure!!) which is technically zone 10a. I do get plenty of sunshine in the summer months, with a long season for the latitude, and just about enough chill hours to be flexible. I grow on dwarfing rootstock in pots, which of course reduces yield but does mean I can drip irrigate when it gets dry - and down here, the summers are quite dry, so I don’t have to worry much about fruit split.
Currently I only have sour ‘Morello’ which fruits super heavily with deliciously sweet-tart fruit (much sweeter than my grandfather’s on an allotment in Poland) and ripens great for me, as well as ‘Stardust’ - last year that tree didn’t flower much and only set 2 fruit (… yes, 2…) and they were watery and flavorless, not at all like the descriptions I’ve read. It got a good round of compost, and right now is completely covered in fruiting buds, so I hope it’ll be a better season.
Considering those two, I would love to add a nice dark sweet cherry or two (or three…) that may do well down here.
Nearby is Kent, which is the cherry producing region of the UK, so the climate is better than most other places on this island for cherries.
Let’s go with another interesting variety this year.
This variety is from the Californian breeder SMS Unlimited.
SMS-16, or Epik-16
I had the opportunity to try it last year at Mariano Soria nurseries, since I was in the company of my friend Javier (professional fruit grower), to try different varieties.
Javier bought 5,000 trees of this variety, and many others of other varieties.
Characteristics of SMS-16 :
It is a self-fertile variety, with a very good caliber (30-32 mm), high firmness, so it is resistant to manipulation and has a long post-harvest life, its resistance to cracking is medium-good.
The maturity date is:
15 days after Burlat (reference variety in Europe)
4 days before Bing (reference variety in the United States)
But the great characteristic of this variety is its incredible flavor, sweet with balanced acidity and a very powerful cherry flavor.
Your recommendations are pretty good, however, all of them are prohibited from the home grower, and from what I have learned the home grower recommendations are better than commercial offerings for eating by aways, being allowed to try comical varieties. The comecial varieties are sold by color and sight, as the home varieties are sold by taste. After trying both, the home varieties are way better than the commercial, even if they may crack a season or two. There are only a few exceptions, but stick with the best tasting varieties, Utah Giant, Bing, Coral Champange, Van, Royal Raineer, Sweetheart, and Black Pearl. Yes the Royal Eddie And Royal Helan, Royal Lynn, and Roral Tioga are really good, but I will take Utah Giant, Bing, Coral Champagne, Van,Royal Raineer, and Black Pearl always over the commercial varieties!!
The ‘Pearl’ series cherries were bred by Cornell University. Royal Raineer was bred by Zaiger and patented because it was a week earlier and looks prettier. Most or all of the rest are probably the results of breeding programs that don’t care very much about backyard growers whether or not they’re available from retail sources.
Good morning, I wanted information about cherries that have a fairly large caliber, if it can be sweet better than sour haha, my zone is 8b. My area is in Spain if you can tell me about a variety that makes my neighbors envious when I give them a bag of cherries haha my soil is clay and I don’t usually have much rainfall throughout the year, although if it is late, the variety is much better. Thank you and best regards Raul
Hi Jon.
In another fruit genus, such as the apricot, for example, I would agree with you absolutely, since the new varieties of apricots are visually very beautiful, with a large size, but they have no sweetness, flavor or aromas.
I explain it perfectly in this post:
But this is not the case with cherries, since the programs for obtaining new cherry varieties seek in their achievements the improvement of these parameters:
Self-fertility
Cracking resistance
High firmness, which gives two advantages:
Crispy texture in the mouth
High resistance to manipulation, much longer post-harvest life
High calibers
High brix levels, with balanced acidity, and powerful flavor
Some breeders, especially Californians such as IFG, Marvin Niess or Bradford Genetics, are very interested in obtaining good low chill varieties.
Resistance to fungal diseases such as Monilia
It is absolutely true that in the United States, hobbyists are at a disadvantage, since it is not easy to buy , the new varieties that appear year after year, and it’s not easy either to buy the good rootstocks for cherry trees.
In my case (I am Spanish), I have a very good relationship with European nurseries specialized in cherry trees, and many friends who are professional cherry growers, so I have access to many of the recent varieties.
Another very different thing is for me to say that all traditional cherry varieties are of poor quality, that would be totally wrong and in fact I like many traditional varieties.
Some quick examples:
Some traditional varieties.
Canadian Varieties:
-Canada Giant
-Summit
American Varieties:
-Selah
-Tieton
European varieties:
Ambrunes (Spain)
Grace Star (Italy)
On the other hand, and this is extremely important to be successful, not all cherries adapt well to different types of climates, and I am going to give you a very clear example.
Utah Giant, is a magnificent variety for dry climates (large caliber, does not overload, has good texture, very sweet, and a powerful cherry flavor), but if you recommend this variety to fellow forum members who live in humid climates, you will lack space to run in the United States hahahaha, since of all the existing varieties of cherries, it is the most susceptible of all to cracking, and Utah Giant cherry crack with the piss of a sparrow.
I have tested all the varieties you mention in my garden, and some have remained, while others have been replaced by better varieties at the same ripening dates, for example the Sweetheart variety I would not recommend even to my worst enemy hahahahaha.
The idea of this post is to expose the varieties that I am testing in my orchard, and to be objective with the evaluations, that is, to expose both their virtues and their defects, what happens is that the new cherry varieties are usually very perfect
Surely tomorrow I will attach a list of varieties tested in my orchard, so you may be surprised by the number of varieties tested.
For an amateur, I consider that the most important thing in a cherry variety is the flavor and crunchy texture (and varieties that do not overload the harvest), and of all the varieties I have tried, this variety from the Czech Republic has no rival.
-Justyna
But there will be time to talk about the Central European and Eastern European varieties (some really good Ukrainian ones)
Hi Eric .
Of course I will explain to you why the Sweetheart cherry variety is a “disgusting” cherry variety.
Description of the variety Sweetheart
1st: Structurally, it is a variety with a strong tendency to branch (emit excessive lateral branches from the main branches, which are the fruiting branches)
2nd: Sweetheart, is a self-fertile variety with a tremendous tendency to overload fruits
3rd: Sweetheart is a variety whith medium naturally fruit caliber (27-29 mm. )
Consequences of this bad behavior of the Sweetheart variety:
Due to its tendency to emit a lot of lateral branches and overload the harvest, when the time of harvest comes, the cherries will be harvested like chickpeas (literally).
One way to solve this problem is to carry out drastic pruning, with the consequent over-work and this increases the caliber of fruit, but tremendously reduces the volume of the harvest, making it uninteresting.
Real solutions:
Since Sweetheart has a ripening date:
36 days later Burlat (reference variety in Europe)
17 days after Bing (reference variety in the United States)
And since Royal Helen (one of the best late-ripening cherry varieties), ripens only 5 days before Sweetheart, the solution is very simple.
For a professional, 5 days difference in ripening dates is an important period, but 5 days for an amateur is insignificant.
Obviously I have mentioned the Royal Helen variety, because it is a fantastic late-ripening variety, easy to obtain for you , and I omit to talk about the good ultra-late-ripening German varieties such as:
Cerasina Final 12.1
Kir Rosso
Because I know perfectly well that they are varieties that are impossible for you to obtain.
Really listen to me and if you have to put a late cherry tree in your orchard, choose Royal Helen and avoid Sweetheart.
The cherry tree varieties, with a strong tendency to harvest overload, such as:
Nimba
Frisco
Sweetheart
Black Star
Etc…
They are only recommended for professionals in the sector (they know perfectly well the production pruning of the cherry tree, and use fruit fattening treatments with hormonal biostimulants ), or for amateurs with extensive knowledge about the cultivation of this type of varieties.
I purchase what’s available near me. I purchased a Sweetheart and a Bing this year. Guess, I don’t have to worry about anything being overloaded because there’s nothing but leaves this year. Don’t mind a medium size cherry as long as it taste good. If one day the Sweetheart over produce, than I will graft more Bing on it. Problem solved.
Hi frogboi.
An interesting concept to have good cherry trees in the orchard.
Buy the varieties sold in nearby nurseries
I recommend a different criterion, this one:
Choosing the appropriate rootstock for the terrain (the most important thing)
Choice of variety based on the requirement of cold hours
Choice of variety for its resistance to cracking and fungal diseases such as monilia (essential in humid climates)
Choice of the variety for self-fertility, and if the selected variety is self-incompatible, it is necessary to choose the most suitable pollinator variety
Choice of variety by taste quality, and here a high brix level intervenes, along with adequate acidity, and powerful flavor
Choice of variety based on fruit firmness, expressed in Durofel index (a clear example, the Canadian Sumburst variety has a large size, very good flavor, but when you put it in your mouth, is more soft than a turkey shit)
Choice of variety by ripening date
Choice of variety by fruit size
Choice of variety by production (I advise against hyper-productive varieties that overload the harvest)
All of this that I’m telling you is not that difficult, and in the United States you have many very good varieties (to buy in nurseries for hobbyists).
If I had followed your criteria, I would not have bought the Royal Brynn variety (from my point of view the best variety of Zaiger’s Royal series), in this nursery:
The nursery is relatively close to my house (almost 4,000 kilometers away).
But the choice of fruit trees is the decision of the owner of the orchard, who is totally free to buy and plant what he wants.
I’ll add that just because your local nursery carries a certain fruit tree doesn’t mean it should be grown in your location. The only choice you are making is whether you want to buy it or not, if that makes sense.
Maybe local nurseries do a better job, but big box stores regularly sell plants that only suit the local environment for a short period of time, if at all.
The struggle of the hobby grower is no one near you is making a tree for you, they are selling a few choices that they can get a hold of. If you happen to live close to commercial orchards then you are perhaps in luck as the chances of the variety choice and rootstock it’s on has a higher chance of being a decent choice.
The tree is grown in CA because the nursery is in CA. The root stock is Mahaleb and perfect for my back or front yard. It can rain for 3 hours straight and I don’t get mud puddle. I don’t have much rain in the summer, thus cracking is not my concern. My biggest concern is pest and the height of the tree, though it can be control by pruning. I have not taste any of my cherry yet, so taste can be subjective and different depend on the region. The size of the cherry should depend how well you take care of it and what type of growing season I’m in. I should meet the minimum requirement of 700-800 chill hours. I just hope the cherry tree will surprise me with cherry next year. I can’t train the branch yet because it was pruned and the one on the trees is not flexible.
Hello smilemore.
If you are in California, with 700-800 hours of cold and you don’t pick good cherries, it’s to kill you hahahahaha.
We will start with the rootstock, Santa Lucia (Prunus Mahaleb), it is not the saint of my devotion, so of all the cherry rootstocks, it is the preferred one as food for the larvae of xylophagous insects, in my region we have the presence of Capnodis Tenebrionis , which lays its eggs next to the trunk, the larvae descend to the roots, they can remain up to three years sucking food from the root (meanwhile the tree develops perfectly well), but in the third or fourth year, the larvae penetrate into the trunk making galleries and feeding on the wood, until they come out through tiny holes to start their reproductive cycle again, and the tree dies.
This does not happen with other rootstocks
I am sure that there is no presence of this son of a bitch bug in the United States, but I also know that you do have the presence of other xylophagous insects, so prunus Mahaleb has good agronomic behavior, but it is not recommended at all because it is so appetizing for xylophages. .
I would like to know what pests you have on your cherry trees, since it is a fruit genus that is not attacked by many pests.
If you can only afford to have two cherry trees, my recommendation would be two self-fertile varieties, of good quality, and harvest spaced over time, Royal Tioga, and Selah are two perfect candidates.
If your trees do not produce cherries, you should look at the varieties you have in case there is a problem of lack of pollination.
Regarding the size of the cherries there are several aspects.
First: The caliber that each variety naturally offers, for example SMS-280 naturally offers a caliber of 26-28 millimeters, and Giant Red Mariant offers a naturally caliber of 34-36 millimeters , that is, each variety has its own own innate caliber
Second: Cultivation practices, logically the pruning to form the structure of the tree, whatever the system ( Spanish Bush, KGB, etc…) must be well carried out to support an adequate fruit load, and once The tree is adult, the winter pruning of fruiting must be according to each variety (it is not the same to prune a Nimba cherry tree since it needs aggressive pruning, than a Summit cherry tree, which only needs a height reduction pruning)
Third: The fattening of fruits using hormonal biostimulants, the effect is truly incredible and increases the caliber of the fruit tremendously, it only has a slight drawback, and that is that it only minimally increases the acidity of the fruit (only minimally).
If you have bought the trees in a non-specialized nursery, it is very likely that they sold it to you with the primary branches at a very high height (3.2 feet or more), and the cherry tree has a training pruning where the primary branches that begin The tree structure must be 1.3 feet from the ground.
If you show us some photographs, maybe I can guide you.
The major pests I have are grasshopper, sharp shooter, foot leaf hopper, Japanese beetle, aphid, stink bug, and scaly. There could be more bugs, but I’m not aware of them.
The tree is 5 to 6 feet high. 2 leader on top and they are the same size. There are 3 or 4 lateral branches on the both sides. Almost shape like espalier.
I never use biostimulants. I just wood chip and fertilize the tree 3 times a year. Most of the time I use organic fertilizer.
Hello Jose, on the subject of biostimulants, could you tell us what you use and what usually works for you so that we know what to add to improve our crops.
Another question is that there are cherries of quite large caliber like the one you name “Giant Red Mariant”, it works in the Albacete area and if it is also easy to get it in Spain, I am very interested in the “Nadia” variety which says that they are very fat and good, although it is not a cherry if it is not mixed. You will now enlighten us on which cherries have a large caliber.
Hi Raul.
The fattening treatment of cherries is for professional use and is kept a bit secret.
Given that this is a forum for amateurs, I consider that these types of matters should not be discussed in an open forum.
The province of Albacete in Spain is one of the best provinces for cherry cultivation, since we have very cold winters, very warm summers, and little or no rain during the cherry ripening period, so we do not suffer from problems of cracking in our region.
There are quite a few large caliber varieties (they are not easy to obtain for a simple hobbyist), I would highlight these varieties for their enormous caliber.
Royal Bailey ( Royal Ansel )
Royal Brynn
Royal Helen
Royal Edie
SMS-22 Rocket
Giant Red Mariant
Catania
Big Lory
Big Star
Summit
Selah
Tieton
Sweet Lorenz
Sweet Stephany
Sweet Valina
Carmen ( I’ve seen cherries of this variety whit 42-44 mm )
Tamara
Felicita
Horka
Etc…
Nadia is an interspecific hybrid of plum x cherry, I have two trees, it is not a variety to shoot fireworks, since it is necessary to let the fruit fully ripen on the tree, to appreciate minimal notes of cherry flavor ( nothing from another planet ).
I have much more hope with the variety Verry Cherry Plum (from Zaiger), since it is the magician of interspecifics, and no breeder in the world surpasses the flavor of Zaiger’s interspecific varieties.
If you don’t know the Verry Cherryplum variety, this is it
Thank you Jose, for those of you who don’t know him, it is a pleasure to have you in this forum and above all to teach us varieties and advice for your crops. At my young age, according to many, it is often difficult for me to understand or know how some trees work better than others, many times you go to nurseries and they tell you to take this variety that is very good, they never tell you the rootstock, nor do they tell you when it ripens well, or pollination, thanks to Jose I have obtained an apricot variety that promises a lot, Stromboli variety, I am very excited to have it.
Of the varieties that you have given me of cherries, I could get some at an amateur level to buy already grafted, I am crazy about buying varieties of cherries that are plump and can adapt well to our land.
Cherry variety Big Star of the series Star developed in collaboration between the CRPV and the University of Bologna. Big Star® ripens in medium-late period and shows excellent features: self fertile, good-looking fruit and excellent organoleptic qualities .
Tree: Plant is very vigorous, with standard carriage. Medium to high productivity.
Flowering: Medium blossoming period, consistently high. Self-fertile variety.
Maturation: Late ripening time, about 37 days after Burlat in Italy.
Fruit: The Big Star® fruit is heart-shaped and symmetrical, of large size and it has a red skin with bright purple blush. Good shelf life after harvest; susceptible to cracking.
Taste: This cherry has good flesh firmness, good sugar content and low acidity: excellent organoleptic characteristics.
