Sour cherries
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- 50 years of breeding and selecting work by the University of Saskatchewan Fruit program resulted in the first dwarf sour cherry introduction: 'Carmine Jewel' in 1999. Since then, Dr. Bob Bors introduced the Romance series. All are bred for excellent hardiness, dwarf size and great tasting deep red fruit.
- Sour cherries are self-compatible so you don't need another cherry to get fruit.
- Sour cherries are actually sweet! Don't pick them when they first turn red. It takes time for them to turn a richer, deeper colour and develop their flavours and sweetness.
- They are best pruned as a shrub in cold climates on the prairies and far north.
- Very attractive plants with spring blooms, interesting bark and beautiful when laden with fruit.
- USask is the northernmost breeder of sour cherries with Dr. Bob Bors leading this world-renowned research. The breeding program began in the 1940s by Dr. Les Kerr and was further developed in the 1980s by Dr. Cecil Stushneff and Rick Sawatzky. Fifty years of breeding have combined cold hardiness, dwarf stature, and good fruit quality into the final product: a tart cherry suitable for fresh eating, canning, freezing, and baking.
- Sour cherries are native to Eastern Europe and Southwestern Asia and have been cultivated since ancient times.
- French and English settlers brought European sour cherries to the Americas in the 18th century. They must be grafted on rootstocks to survive colder climates.
- Most processed cherries (such as cherry pie filling) consumed are sour cherries.
- Indigenous peoples used native wild sour cherries such as pincherries and choke cherries for medicinal purposes as they have anti-inflammatory properties.
Sources:
Canadian Agriculture at a Glance: Sour Cherries in Canada. (2013). Statistics Canada.
Langford, S. (2011, August 8). Pucker up! All about sour cherries | Canadian Living. Canadian Living.
Sour cherries. (n.d.-a). Specialty Produce.
Sour cherries. (n.d.-b). University of Saskatchewan Fruit Program.
Sour cherries are high in vitamins A, B6, C and fibre. Check here for detailed information from the USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference.
The Canadian Food Guide recommends that roughly half of the food on your plate should be fruits and vegetables.
Selecting your tree
Dwarf sour cherries have been bred to grow to 2 m (6') tall and should be pruned into a shrub form on the prairies and far north. Sour cherries pruned into a tree form are less cold hardy and more likely to suffer winterkill.
Dwarf sour cherries trained as shrubs begin producing fruit once they are 4 or 5 years old. If trained as tree, they begin producing fruit at 5 or 6 years old.
This chart lists the dwarf sour cherry cultivars developed by the University of Saskatchewan fruit program.
Dwarf sour cherries are widely available at greenhouses throughout the prairies or from distributors on this list: Distributors of USask fruit program plants
| Cultivar name | Height | Suckers | Fruit size | Fruit colour | Maturity | Other |
| Carmine Jewel | 2 m (6.5') | Few | 3.5 g | Black red | Ripens earlier than other varieties | Great for processing and eating |
| Romeo | 2 m (6.5') | Few | 4.0 g | Dark red | Ripens mid August | Can have hardiness issues in rural areas |
| Valentine | 2.5 m (8') | Some | 4.5 g | Medium red | Ripens early to mid August | Tart flavour, great for processing |
| Crimson Passion | 1.75 m (5.5') | Hardly any | 6.0 g | Dark red | Ripens mid August | Some hardiness issues in rural areas, sweetest flavour |
| Juliet | 2 m (6.5') | Some | 5.0 g | Dark red | Ripens early to mid August | Best for fresh eating, excellent flavour |
| Cupid | 2.5 m (8') | Few | 6.5 g | Dark red | Ripens about a week later than other varieties | Blooms later than the others, largest fruit |
One other sour cherry worth mentioning is the Evans cherry. It was selected by Dr. Ieuan Evans from the University of Alberta. It is a tree rather than a bush that grows to 3.7 - 4.3 m (12" - 14"). Average fruit size is 4.4 g. It is also self-fruitful and does not require another cherry for pollination. Fruit ripens in August and is bright red in colour. It has a strong tendency to sucker often well beyond the width of the tree, especially if the roots are disturbed.
See 'Recommended Cultivars for Eating' tab.
Dwarf sour cherries are very ornamental with spring blooms, interesting bark, dark glossy leaves and colourful fruit. Dwarf sour cherries are highly recommended for their ornamental qualities in a mulched shrub or perennial flower border.
Coming soon!
See our preservation section for more videos.
Planting sour cherries
Dwarf sour cherries do best full sun to thrive. They can grow in part sun, but you will get less fruit. They are not suited to part shade or very shady conditions.
They are tolerant of most soils, but do best in well drained, loam or sandy loam soil. They tolerate clay soil if the location is well-drained.
Dwarf sour cherries are often sold as small plugs or whips (from on-line distributors) or in containers from nurseries. Some nurseries improperly train them as a tree form, which greatly reduces hardiness in cold climates. (See the "Pruning" tab for information about how to prune). Tree forms can be cut back to about 30 cm (12") to encourage it to grow in a bush form.
Plant in a hole that is big enough to accommodate the entire root mass. Sour cherries should be planted about 2.5-5 cm (1"-2") deeper than they were in the nursery container.
They should be spaced about 1.5-2 m (5'-7') apart from each other.
It's important not to allow grass or other plants such as perennial flowers (not to mention weeds!) within about 1.5 to 2 metres of the stems of newly planted sour cherries. The competition from other plants can slow or stunt its growth. A better way is to space them properly and apply a thick layer of mulch around the shrub, but take care not to bank mulch against the stems - leave a little well instead.
The flowers of sour cherries are self-compatible and do not require pollen from another variety to set fruit.
Flowers are pollinated by bees and other pollinating insects.
Sour cherries usually flower in mid to late May. They can be quite stunning in the spring as the flowers open slightly before the leaves emerge and the shrub looks like a ball of white flowers.
Dwarf sour cherries trained as shrubs begin producing fruit once they are 4 or 5 years old. If trained as tree, they begin producing fruit at 5 or 6 years old.
Dwarf sour cherries are very ornamental with abundant spring blooms, interesting bark, and colourful fruit. Their leaves turn yellow in fall. Their branches have interesting bark which adds winter interest.
They are especially nice planted in a large, mulched island or border amoung well-spaced perennial flowers. Consider growing spring-blooming bulbs near the sour cherry shrub to coincide with and complement spring cherry blooms.
Caring for sour cherries
It's important not to allow grass or other plants (not to mention weeds!) within about one metre of the trunk of newly planted sour cherries. The competition from other plants can slow or stunt its growth. A better way is to apply a thick layer of mulch around the shrub, but take care not to bank mulch against the stems - leave a little well instead.
Keep newly planted shrubs moist (but not waterlogged) for the first 2 - 3 weeks. After that apply about 2.5 cm (1") of water every week or so, unless it rains. Water new plants near the base, but as they grow, apply water at the dripline (the area below the widest part of the tree), where the feeder roots are.
Do not fertilize newly planted shrubs. It is however, safe to apply 2 cm of compost or well-composted manure near the base of the shrub before applying the mulch.
An annual application of compost or composted manure in spring is usually adequate fertilizer for established sour cherries. If using a granular chemical fertilizer, apply it only once in early spring. Nitrogen fertilizer applied in late summer or early fall may exacerbate insect and disease problems or cause tender growth that does not harden off properly for winter.
Prune in early spring before the bushes break dormancy. Diseased or damaged wood can be removed at any time.
Cherries can be selectively regenerated by removing some of the old branches (which are less productive) every year and allowing the new branches to slowly take over. Watch the video to learn how!
The best winter protection is proper pruning. Sour cherries are more hardy in cold climates when pruned into a shrub from rather than a tree form. See the "Pruning" tab for more information.
Coming soon!
Propagation
Dwarf sour cherries cultivars cannot be grown from seeds.
We do not recommend saving seeds from sour cherry shrubs. Seeds do not breed true: the cherries that are produced will not be the same as the tree you collected it from.
Note that dwarf sour cherries are patented plants that can only be propagated by licensed propagators for commercial sale.
Home gardeners can dig up and move suckers but young suckers are very fragile. Best to wait until they are at least 2 years old. Dig down and to at least 30 cm (1') or more to find their roots.
Harvest
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Timing is important when harvesting sour cherries. It's tempting to pick sour cherries once they are red in mid summer, but that does not mean they are fully ripe. It takes time for the cherries to develop deeper, richer colours, which is when they have reached their peak in flavour and sweetness. Sour cherries tend to stay on the branches when ripe and only fall if in very high winds or hailstorms, so you don't have to worry about ripe fruit dropping.
Tasting the fruit is one way to determine ripeness but these colour cards developed by the University of Saskatchewan Fruit program show what colour the fruit should be for best flavour and sweetness. Save a screen shot to your phone and compare. You may have to do the comparison indoors as there may be too much glare outdoors.
Pick cherries in the cool of morning or later in the evening. Refrigerate the fruit as soon as possible after picking.
You can hand pick fruit or shake them off the shrub. Place a tarp under the shrub to catch the fruit. Note that you may get lots of stems with fruit that is shaken off the shrub.
Storage
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Sour cherries can be stored in perforated plastic bags in the refrigerator for up to a week.
If you're hoping to store them longer, check the preservation section.
Long term preservation methods we recommend include freezing, fermenting, dehydrating (drying) or canning.
Cooking and preserving
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Sour cherries can be made into juice, jelly, jam, compote, liqueur, wine and fruit leather. Use sour cherries in baking muffins, crisps and pies.
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Troubleshooting
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Sour cherries are a medium maintenance fruit shrub. Providing their water, light and soil needs are managed they don't tend to get a lot of issues. Annual, light pruning is needed to keep sour cherry shrubs healthy and productive.
The most common problem is the cherry fruit fly. Deer, rabbits, mice and voles may chew on the branches in winter. Birds sometimes feed on the fruit.
See the Common problems tab on this page for advice on these and other specific cherry issues.
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Common questions
The University of Saskatchewan fruit program holds an annual plant sale open to the public, usually in the first week of June. There may be a second sale in early fall of 2021. Details will be announced at the link below. We do not sell plants to the public at any other time.
This sale raises funds to hire university summer students and/or purchase equipment for the fruit program.
There is typically a variety of tissue-cultured fruit trees, haskap, sour cherries and other fruits. The plants are whips or saplings, usually in 2"- 4" pots. A plant list will be available closer to the sale date.
There may be a limit to the number of plants sold per person. This is an in-person sale only and we do not ship plants to other locations.
For details and ordering information, please check current information about the sale here: USask Fruit program plant sale
Research and student activities
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University of Saskatchewan Fruit program - dwarf sour cherry page