Tree · Rosaceae
Cherry
Prunus avium
Hand it full sun, deep soil, and good airflow, and a cherry tree pays you back with fruit for decades.
Full sun
Every 7–14 days
USDA 4–8
20–36 ft · 6–11 m
Overview
A cherry tree pulls its weight in the yard twice a year, throwing clouds of white bloom in early spring and dropping bowls of fruit by midsummer. Count it among the rose family, where it splits into two camps: the sweet cherry, Prunus avium, that you pluck and eat right off the branch, and the sour cherry, Prunus cerasus, that you bake into pies. Each one craves sun, elbow room, and soil that drains.
Plan for a full-grown tree, not a patio pot. A standard sweet cherry climbs to 20 to 36 feet (6 to 11 m), yet grafting onto a dwarfing rootstock holds a tree low enough to net and harvest. Sour cherries keep tighter and laugh off the cold, which is exactly how they push so far north.
Pollination is where new growers stumble. Quite a few sweet cherries need a second, compatible tree to fruit, while self-fertile types crop solo. Settle that question before the shovel goes in, because a single Bing with no partner will flower like a dream and hand you next to nothing.
Care
The short version: full sun, deep and well-drained soil, and steady water all season long. Prune while the tree sleeps to shape an open, airy frame, pair a pollinizer with any sweet cherry that needs one, and net the canopy before the birds catch on.
Light
Cherries fruit hardest in full sun, ideally 6 or more hours a day. Hand them a touch of shade and they'll still grow, but you give up fruit and welcome the damp that disease thrives on.
Water
Soak deeply and evenly, above all while a young tree finds its feet and again as the fruit swells. Target roughly 1 inch (2.5 cm) a week, then ease off once dormancy arrives. Patchy moisture and a big drink right before harvest are what crack the skins.
Soil
Set the tree in deep, fertile, well-drained loam. Cherries can't stand wet feet, so dodge low spots and dense clay that traps water. Keep the pH in the sweet zone between 6.0 and 7.0 and the roots stay content.
Temperature
Tough trees, these, easygoing across a broad span from about -22°F to 86°F (-30°C to 30°C). Sour cherries shrug off cold the best, and a late frost on open blossom poses the real threat to your crop.
Humidity
Ordinary outdoor humidity around 40% to 60% suits them just fine, so skip fretting over the gauge. Airflow matters far more, because still, damp air pooling in the canopy is the launchpad for brown rot and canker.
Feeding
Feed in early spring ahead of new growth, reaching for a balanced fertilizer your soil test points to. Keep the nitrogen light, since a surge of soft growth pulls in disease and trades fruit for leaves.
Pruning
Prune while the tree rests, dormant in late winter, to open a frame that ushers light and air straight through. Where bacterial canker lurks, swap to pruning in dry summer weather instead, and always clear out dead, diseased, or crossing wood.
Size & spacing
A cherry grows into a true tree, stretching 20 to 36 feet (6 to 11 m) tall and fanning 15 to 30 feet (4.5 to 9 m) wide, though dwarfing rootstocks pull that back. Hand a standard tree wide-open room so air sweeps through the canopy and disease stays grounded.
When to plant
Cherries march to the calendar. Set a bare-root or potted tree in the ground in early spring while it's still dormant, enjoy the bloom as warmth rolls in, and harvest sweet cherries from early to midsummer with the sour types trailing right 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
Cherry trouble mostly piles onto the fruit, courtesy of disease, insects, or birds, while canker goes for the wood. Spot the opening signs early and you can step in before a whole season slips away. Find the match below, then move while it still counts.
Blossoms scorched and fruit going to fuzzy tan mush
Meet brown rot, a fungus that torches the spring flowers and then turns ripening fruit to rot, dotting the surface with raised tan tufts of spores. Warm, wet spells let it race through a tree. Pull off every shriveled mummy and open the canopy with pruning so it dries out quickly once the rain stops.
Gummy weeping sores sinking into the wood
Bacterial canker burrows into branches and trunk, leaking gum and starving the wood above, and it really takes hold in cool, wet springs. No spray will turn it back. Cut deep into healthy wood well past the canker, and save your pruning for dry summer days when the bacteria run quietest.
Hidden maggots boring through ripening cherries
The cherry fruit fly slips eggs into the swelling fruit, and the maggots munch away out of sight until one turns up between your teeth. Hang sticky traps the moment the fruit starts to color and you can time your control ahead of harvest. After the maggots settle in, write that fruit off.
Birds stripping the ripe crop before you can pick
Birds can empty a tree of ripe cherries quicker than you fill a bowl. Throw netting over the canopy before the fruit colors, because color is the signal that brings them in. Scare gadgets buy a little time, but a hungry flock soon shrugs them off.
Cherries splitting open as harvest nears
Fruit cracking strikes when a ripe cherry gulps water faster than its skin can stretch, often after a downpour or a late, careless soaking. Those splits then roll out the welcome mat for rot. Hold soil moisture steady all season, taper off as harvest closes in, and grab the fruit early when rain is on the way.
Toxicity
The ripe fruit is a treat, yet the rest of the tree is no joke. Leaves, stems, bark, and pits all pack cyanogenic glycosides that release cyanide, and wilted leaves off a broken or pruned branch rank as the deadliest of the lot. 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
Cyanide-releasing compounds sit in the leaves, stems, and pits, so a cat that chews any of them faces a genuine threat. Look first for drooling and a churning stomach, and in a bad case for dilated pupils, panting, and labored breathing that can tip into shock.
Dogs Toxic
Gnawing fallen branches or cracking pits can load a dog with enough cyanide to do harm. It starts looking like simple stomach upset, but a bigger dose drives heavy panting, bright red gums, and weakness. A swallowed pit can also jam in the gut and block it.
Horses Toxic
Few animals here are as sensitive as horses, and wilted leaves off a broken or trimmed limb pose the gravest danger. The poisoning moves fast: bright red gums, gasping breath, staggering, collapse, and at times sudden death with no warning at all.
Rabbits Toxic
Never hand a rabbit cherry foliage or bark. Those cyanogenic glycosides can drop a small grazer in a hurry, so stash every pruning and clipping far beyond its reach.
Livestock Toxic
Cattle, sheep, and goats run a high risk, and wilted leaves after a storm or a pruning are the classic trigger for losses. A grazing animal can slide from red gums and labored breathing into collapse within minutes, so fence stock clear of cherry trees and keep trimmings out of the pasture.
Birds Toxic
Birds swallow ripe cherries and drop the whole pit, yet the leaves, twigs, and crushed pits give off cyanide and belong well away from caged or backyard birds.
People Ripe fruit safe
Ripe cherry flesh is the familiar fruit you can eat without worry. Skip chewing or swallowing the pits, and steer 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 break neatly into sweet types for eating fresh and sour types bound for the kitchen. Below are the ones you'll run across most, and whether each fruits alone is the detail that really counts.
Bing
The classic big, dark-red sweet cherry, though it sets nothing on its own and demands a compatible pollinizer close by.
Rainier
A golden sweet cherry brushed with red that leans on cross-pollination to bring in a crop.
Stella
A self-fertile sweet cherry that fruits solo, making it the obvious choice when there's room for just one tree.
Montmorency
The top sour cherry, self-fertile and tough through cold, and the go-to whenever a pie is on the menu.
Morello
A dark-fleshed, self-fertile sour cherry that copes with shade and cold far better than the sweet kinds.
How to propagate
Don't expect a cherry grown from saved seed to match its parent's fruit. Start with a grafted tree to lock in a known variety, and let the rootstock beneath it call the shots on how tall that tree climbs.
GraftingModerate
Nearly every named cherry rides a grafted or budded union onto a chosen rootstock, since that's the one reliable way to hold a cultivar true. The rootstock also dials in the tree's size, from a towering Mazzard standard down to a dwarfing clonal root that keeps the branches within easy picking reach.
SeedModerate
Sprout a cherry from a stratified pit and it'll grow, but the seedling drifts from its parent, so take this path to raise rootstock or breeding stock rather than a named variety. Count on a wild or rootstock tree, not a fresh Bing or Montmorency.
Myths
Any piece of a cherry tree is fine to eat.
Only the ripe flesh passes. Cyanogenic compounds fill the leaves, stems, blossoms, and pits and turn loose cyanide, which means those parts are toxic to people and animals alike. Eat the fruit and spit the pit.
Fruit only ever comes from planting two cherry trees.
Many sweet cherries truly want a partner for cross-pollination, yet self-fertile types fruit all on their own. Sweet picks like Stella and most sour cherries, Montmorency among them, crop happily as a lone tree.
A sour cherry is just a sweet one grabbed too soon.
It's a wholly separate species, Prunus cerasus, never an unripe stand-in. Sour cherries grow naturally tart, smaller, hardier, and self-fertile, and they ripen straight into that tang by design.