Grow your own Sour/Pie Cherries

[microbusbrewery]

I'm guessing there's at least a few people that grow their own cherries. I'd like to plant a sour cherry tree or two for use in brewing (mostly for aging my sour brews on) and cooking. I was thinking about getting a Surecrop tree from Stark Brothers because it's a dwarf variety (our yard isn't all that big) and because the description indicates it doesn't have to mature a long time in order to produce a lot of fruit. Does anyone have any experience with these? I've never grown cherries before so if anyone has any tips/tricks I'd appreciate the info.

 

[k1200rsvt]

I have a sour cherry tree I planted two years ago. It was about 3 1/2' tall when I got it...Maybe 4' tall now. First year it yielded maybe 20 cherries, but I only got 2 because I didn't bother netting it. Last year it produced maybe about a cup of cherries after the pits were taken out. So yes you can get fruit fast, but it is going to have to grow some before its really enough to do something with. I did get a single serving cobbler out of last year's crop though.

I would have to look at home and see if I can find what variety it is. It is a dwarf also.

Seeing that you are in Utah, you might want to do some research on insects...When we were passing through Utah a bunch of years ago we stayed at a campground with lots of cherry trees...Sweet and sour...But they all had worms in them. Not sure if it was the area or what, but just something to be aware of...I am sure you could spray them to prevent it depending on how you feel about chemicals. That is not a problem that my grandparents who used to had a sour cherry tree in Virginia had or one that I have encountered yet in Vermont.

Good luck!

 

[microbusbrewery]

Cool, thanks for the info. Sounds like it may be a few years before I get much of a harvest, but I guess the sooner I start the sooner I'll have some. Re worms, I figured I'd have to spray. Utah produces quite a few different fruits but that also means we have ur fair share of pests. We used to have apple trees at our old house (just a couple miles away) and would get codling moth infestations if we didn't spray.

 

[bubbachunk]

Something I have longed to do but alas do not yet own a place of my own to do this on!