With a Cherry on Top!
A horticulturist take on the loveable pitted fruit.
Contributed by Matt Bunch, Giving Grove Horticulturist and Progam Director of Kansas City Community Garden’s Giving Grove Program.
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The long-anticipated first harvest of late spring and early summer is now upon us! In the fruit world, I speak of cherry season. Yes, serviceberry, strawberry, and goumi have been ripe for a couple weeks, but these are considered minor crops compared to cherries. Cherries are plentiful, sweet and tart; they demand your harvesting attention! Notice I use the word tart-this implies a brightness, puck and zing, whereas sour (as some people refer to cherries) connotes fermentation and a fuller mouth feel. So let’s get to the pit of cherries.
Unlike any other rose…
In the Rose family, cherries belong to the genus Prunus. The rose family is large and contains other well-known edibles like blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, pears, apples, and more. The genus Prunus, also known as stone fruits for their one large seed, contains plums, peaches, apricots, almonds, pluots, plucotums, and more.
To make things more confusing (or clarifying), we do have some native species of cherry: the black cherry (Prunus serotina), a taller shade tree that provides small tasty fruits mainly eaten by birds; chokecherry (Prunus virginiana), a multi-trunked large shrub yielding small edible fruits; pin cherry (Prunus pennsylvanica) a multi-trunked large shrub yielding small edible fruits; and the toxic to humans, edible to birds Carolina cherry (Prunus caroliniana). Many of these cherry species also serve as food plants for many native butterfly and moth species.
Most Commonly Grown Cherries
The cherries that most of us grow for production are the two species P. avium, sweet cherries, and P. cerasus, tart cherries. P. cerasus is thought to be a naturally occurring hybrid of P. avium and the P. fruticosa, the Mongolian Cherry. These species originated throughout the Caucasus mountains to Mongolia. Cherry trees made their way to the Americas in the 17th century. However, many of these original varieties have been lost to history. Heirloom 18th-century varieties, such as the standard tart pie cherry Montmorency and the sweet Black Tartarian, can be readily found in cultivation and for sale.
Not all cherry trees are created equally, and not all will grow in your climate zone. Generally, tart cherries can tolerate colder temperatures (USDA zones 4-7 and sometimes as low as zone 2), while sweet cherries can tolerate warmer temperatures (zone 5-8 or 9). What you decide to grow will depend upon your zone, chill hours (the amount of hours below 45 degrees in the winter. This becomes an issue in the southern climate zones), and specific site and soil conditions. All cherries like well-drained, sandy loam soils and tend to be shallow-rooted.
Pollination & Pests
In regards to pollination, tart cherries are self-fertile, and you do not need a pollination partner. On the other hand, sweet cherries are complicated and need an adequate pollination partner (another variety); some self-fertile varieties like BlackGold exist.
Sweet cherries can be prone to cracking, a problem associated with irregular moisture and too much water at ripening. All cherries have pest issues like cherry fruit fly, spotted wing drosophila, greater peach tree borer, and oriental fruit moth, just to name a few. Timely sprays and trap monitoring can help keep populations manageable. Cherries can also succumb to brown rot, cherry leaf-spot, and bacterial canker, the latter affecting sweet cherries more. Sweet cherries are more prone to bird predation, although no cherry is safe from birds.
Matt’s Cherry Picks
With all of this, what are some favorite varieties?
For those in zones 2-6, I strongly suggest:
Some varieties bred through the University of Saskatchewan cherry program. These are grown as multi-trunked shrubs that produce copious amounts of tart juicy fruits. Similar to a standard pie (Montmorency) cherry taste, the fruits have deep red juice, unlike the clear yellow of Montmorency. It is not uncommon to harvest 40 lbs of fruits on a single 7x7 shrub (you don’t have to get on a ladder!).
Varieties like Carmine Jewel and Juliet have proven worthy in our Kansas City zone 6 climate.
Jubileum, a hybrid between sweet and tart, is a large, almost purple ripening fruit. While still tart, it does not have the same edge and has good sweetness. Jubileum is ideal for dehydrating with no sugar needed!
As for sweet cherries, I like the self-fertile BlackGold. It is not as prone to cracking and does well for our area.
Well, time to get out and harvest… and pit, and pit, and pit. It is worth it: the jams, jellies, pies, dried fruit, and the conversations, community and smiles that this simple fruit brings.