Sour cherry

Sour cherry: how do you recognise it?

Habit

Small tree or shrub of 3–6 m with a rounded crown and thin, often drooping twigs.

Leaf

Alternate, 5–8 cm, glossy and finely toothed; smaller and firmer than in sweet cherry.

Bark

Reddish-brown with horizontal lenticels.

Flower

White flowers in small clusters in April.

Fruit

Sour, dark red cherries (July), ideal for jam and kriek beer.

Difference from wild cherry

Wild cherry is a large tree with bigger, drooping leaves and sweet cherries.

Flowering: April–May · Harvest and fruit: July–August · Pruning: July–August

Identify by feature: White blossom

Looks like it, but isn’t

• Wild cherry Prunus avium: a large tree with bigger, drooping leaves and sweet cherries. Difference from wild cherry

Why grow it?

• Sour cherries in July for jam, tarts, cherries in juice and kriek beer.
• Self-fertile: one tree is enough.
• Stays small and can even be trained against a north-facing wall.
• White blossom in April for bees.

Sour cherry: where does it grow best?

• Preferably sun; as a fan it also crops against a north-facing wall.
• Fertile, well-drained soil; no wet feet.
• Sheltered from cold winds, for the sake of the blossom.
• Space: 3–4 m for a free-standing tree; a fan needs 3–4 m of wall.

Light

Full sun

Legal basis

Any garden soil

Moisture

Normal

Size

6 m tall, 5 m wide

Hardiness

Throughout Belgium, no protection needed

Goes well with

• Climbing hydrangea: Together on a north-facing wall: the climbing hydrangea flowers white there in June–July.
• Winter jasmine: Yellow flowers in winter on the same cool wall.
• Lesser periwinkle: Evergreen ground cover for the shady foot of the wall.

Sour cherry: when and how to plant it?

1. Plant from November to March; a container-grown tree can go in all year, except in frost or drought.
2. Choose the rootstock to suit your space: Gisela 5 for a small tree or fan, Colt for a larger bush or half-standard.
3. Keep the graft union above the soil and put a stake on the windward side.
4. For a fan: fix horizontal wires to the wall, 30 cm apart, and tie the branches in as a fan.

Care

Watering

In dry spells, especially against a wall, where the soil dries out quickly.

Feeding

In March, some compost under the tree.

Birds

Net the tree or fan as soon as the cherries colour.

Harvest

Cut the cherries off with their stalks using scissors, so the twigs don’t tear.

Tip: At harvest time, snip cherries off with small scissors instead of pulling them: that way you don’t damage the twigs or next year’s buds.

Sour cherry: when to prune it?

Pruning months: July–August.

When: Straight after harvest (July–August).

How:

• The fruit grows on one-year-old wood: cut fruited shoots back to a young shoot.
• Every year, remove part of the old, bare wood so that enough new shoots grow; otherwise the tree only fruits at the tips.
• Cut out twigs with blossom wilt (withered flowers and shoot tips) well into healthy wood as soon as you see them.

Caution: Don’t prune in autumn or winter: that is when the risk of silver leaf and bacterial canker is greatest. Disinfect your tools.

Pruning: when and how · Pruning calendar and basic rules

Propagation

Grafting

A variety is propagated by budding onto a rootstock in summer.

Sowing

A cherry stone gives a new, unpredictable tree; sow the stones outdoors in autumn, they germinate after the winter.

Sour cherry: how does it get through the winter?

Hardy throughout Belgium: no protection needed.

• Fully hardy; only the blossom can be damaged by late frost.
• In winter, remove shrivelled cherries (mummies) from the tree, without pruning: brown rot overwinters in them.

Diseases and pests

• Blossom wilt and brown rot: In spring, flowers and shoot tips suddenly wither; later, the cherries rot. Cut out affected twigs well back and clear up mummies.
• Cherry blackfly: Black aphids on curled leaves at the shoot tips in May–June. Cut off badly affected tips; ladybirds help.
• Cherry fruit fly and spotted wing drosophila: Maggots in the ripe cherries. Pick on time and thoroughly, and clear up fallen fruit.
• Birds: Starlings and blackbirds eat the cherries. A net helps, especially on a fan.
• Silver leaf and bacterial canker: Silvery leaves, dying branches or oozing gum. Only prune in summer and cut out affected branches back to healthy wood.

Through the year

• January: Remove mummified cherries; don’t prune.
• March: Compost under the tree; last month for planting.
• April: Blossom: watch out for night frost.
• May: Cut out withered shoot tips (blossom wilt).
• June: Net the tree; keep an eye on cherry blackfly.
• July: Harvest the cherries and prune straight after harvest.
• August: Finish summer pruning in dry weather.
• November: Planting.

What can you use it for?

Food and drink

Morello cherries for jam, tarts, cherries in juice and kriek beer.

Garden and landscape

Stays small; self-fertile and suitable for training against a north-facing wall.

Edible and useful

Fruit (July–August)

Pick sour cherries in July and early August, when they are dark red and juicy. Cut or pull them off with their stalks so they do not bleed. They are too sour to eat many fresh, but perfect for cherries in syrup, jam, pies, clafoutis, juice and liqueur.

Storing

Fresh, only a few days in the fridge. Stoned, they freeze very well. In syrup in sterilised jars, they keep for a year.

Fermenting

Sour cherries are the basis of Brussels kriek beer: the cherries spend months in casks with lambic and ferment spontaneously.

Caution: Do not crack or eat the stones and do not use the leaves: they contain substances that can release cyanide. Stone the cherries for young children to avoid choking.

Eating and using is at your own risk: see the terms of use.

Recipes

• Sour cherries in syrup (Compote · 3 jars of 500 ml · 45 min)
• Sour cherry liqueur (Liqueur · ± 1 litre · 20 min + 2 months steeping)
• Morello cherry clafoutis (Dish · serves 4–6 · 25 min + 40 min baking)
• Morello cherry jam (Jam · makes ± 4 jars of 250 ml · 1 hour 15 min)

Good for wildlife

Bees

Nectar and pollen for honeybees and wild bees.

Birds

Berries, seeds or insects as food, or a place to nest.

Did you know?

• The Schaerbeek sour cherry is the classic cherry for Brussels kriek beer: lambic that matures for months on the cherries.
• The Schaerbeek sour cherry is the classic cherry for Brussels kriek beer: lambic that matures for months on sour cherries.
• The sour cherry probably arose from a cross between the sweet cherry and the steppe cherry.
• Meatballs with sour cherries are a classic dish in Flanders and Brussels.
• The sour cherry probably arose as a natural cross between the sweet cherry and the steppe cherry (Prunus fruticosa).
• The word cherry and the name cerasus go back to Kerasous, a town on the Black Sea. According to Pliny, the Roman general Lucullus brought the cherry from there to Rome.