Sour Cherry Seedling
Sour Cherry Seedling
Species: Prunus cerasus
History: These sour cherry seedlings are grown from seeds we've collected here at Silver Creek Nursery from our own trees!
Why We Grow It: Although these seedlings will naturally differ from their parent to some degree, they should inherit at least some of their parent's winter hardiness and produce good sour cherries. While some people enjoy sour cherries fresh, they are most commonly used in baking and preserves!
We have seedlings of the following varieties (Please note: Sizing for dwarf sour cherry seedlings is different from sour cherry tree seedlings):
- Meteor Sour Cherry Tree - Introduced from the University of Minnesota in 1952, this is a reliable, hardy variety that is great for pies. They naturally have a more compact growth habit. For a full description, see our Meteor page here.
- North Star Sour Cherry Tree - Released in 1950 from the University of Minnesota, North Star is cold hardy and produces sour cherries with great flavour. It tends to have a compact growth habit. For a full description, see our North Star page here.
- Juliet Dwarf Sour Cherry Bush - One of the members of the Romance Series released in 2004 from the University of Saskatchewan, Juliet has a sweet/tart flavour that some enjoy for fresh eating and is great for processing. A naturally dwarfing and bush-like variety. For a full description, see our Juliet page here.
Fruit Specs
Fruit Specs
Recommended Use: Cooking, fresh eating
Fruit Size: Medium
Storage: Keeps a few weeks in the fridge
Harvest: Late July or Early August
Growing Specs
Growing Specs
Canadian Hardiness Zone: 3
Soil Preference: Sandy loam, loam, clay loam. Prefers average to moist conditions with well-drained soils, avoid planting anywhere that floods for more than two weeks in the spring.
Flowering Time: Spring - Late
Bloom Colour: White
Pollination Requirements: Self-pollinating, this variety will produce fruit without a cherry tree of a different variety but will produce more and better fruit if one is present. Sweet and Sour cherries cannot be relied upon to pollinate each other.
Sun/Shade Requirements:
Full sun (approx. 8-10 hours of sun daily)
General Growth Habits:
Shipping vs. Pick Up
Shipping vs. Pick Up
CLICK HERE to see how shipping compares to pick up.
Shipping: Every year we ship thousands of trees across Canada (except BC due to CFIA regulations). We carefully bag roots in damp sawdust, then box them and send them out via courrier. CLICK HERE to see our shipping policy.
Pick-up: We also have thousands of trees picked up from our nursery each year. The pick-up options is free, though you must wait until you have been emailed a confirmation that your order is ready to pick up, which will have further information such as hours, locations, etc. We really appreciate if you can make an appointment to pick up, then we can be as organized as possible during our busy season.
Size at Purchase
Size at Purchase
Cherry seedlings are divided into the following grades:
Sour Cherry Tree Seedlings:
-1 year plant - 20-90cm
Dwarf Sour Cherry Bush Seedlings:
-1 year plant - 15-45cm
There is some overlap in size since we are also taking the age of the plants into account. Some older plants may not have put on quite as much vegetative growth but will have larger root systems.
All of these heights exclude the roots since seedlings and some berries will often have a lot of root growth but relatively little vegetative growth (ex. our Shagbark Hickories seedlings are often 5-15cm above the soil but will have roots that reach 20cm+ in length).
Not all of our berries and seedlings will be available in all of these grades since growth rate can vary significantly across species and even varieties. While we remain competitive in our plant size, it's also worth noting we don't use synthetic chemicals to push vegetative growth, therefore you may find conventional nursery stock larger in some instances comparatively.
Why plant small? It's best to transplant when a plant is young so it can establish its roots before it has a lot of vegetative growth. This is much less stressful on it and bareroot plants tend to catch up and even surpass larger potted ones planted at the same time, after a few years.
Orders that are cancelled last minute due to size (being "too small"), will still incur the applicable cancellation fees if the plants are true to our grading standards as per the agreement of sale when the order was placed.