Skeena Sweet Cherry Bareroot

For Spring Planting (Ship or Pickup March - May 2027)

Why We Grow It: These dark red cherries are often considered an improvement over Lapins with their larger size, good firmness, and general ease of harvest due to the spreading way the tree grows. The flavour is sweet with a touch of acidity. The tree itself grows vigorously and tends to start bearing fruit at a young age.

Recommended Use: Fresh eating, cooking, baking, preserving

Fruit Size: Large

Storage: Keeps about 1-2 weeks in the fridge

Harvest: August - Early

Cider or Perry Class (if applicable):

Canadian Hardiness Zone: 5

Soil Preferance: Sandy loam, loam, clay loam with good fertility. Sweet cherries don't like their feet wet, so be sure to plant in well-drained soils, avoid planting anywhere that floods for more than two weeks in the spring.

Flowering Time: Middle

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 Habit: Vigorous and precocious with a spreading growth habit, produce reliable crops, fruit resistant to cracking.

Overall Grower Ease Rating:

This rating is a combination of our experience growing in our test orchards and current available information on the cultivar.

Skeena was developed at the Summerland Research and Development Centre in British Columbia in 1976 as part of an initiative to create a high quality cherry that ripens later in the season than other varieties. It is a cross between several self-pollinating varieties and was introduced in 2000.

Our grafted fruit trees are graded into two categories, and the size includes the rootstock:

50-80cm grade: Smaller trees that may have some minor branching, this grade is like a "b-grade" size tree according to industry standards. This size may include trees that are over 1m but have some scarring or mild crookedness.
1m+ grade: Trees that are over 1m tall, some may have no branches and others may have light feathering or a few established branches

Please keep in mind, bareroot trees appear small if you are unfamiliar with them. Size can vary year to year due to weather conditions and every single variety has a unique amount of vigour (some varieties naturally are smaller and some bigger, much like humans -and when you propagate hundreds of varieties, there certainly is variation). 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 some conventional nursery stock larger in comparison.

Why plant small? It's best to transplant a tree when it's young so it can establish its roots before it has a lot of vegetative growth. This is much less stressful on it and after a few years bareroot trees tend to catch up and even surpass larger potted trees planted at the same time.

Orders that are cancelled last minute due to size (being "too small"), will still incur the applicable cancellation fees if the trees are true to our grading standards as per the agreement of sale when the order was placed.

Shipping: Every year we ship thousands of plants across Canada. We carefully bag roots in damp sawdust, then box them, and send them out via courier. 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, location, etc.

When Will My Order Be Ready?

By default, all bareroot plants are only available for spring planting (late March to late May).

Spring: Spring orders are generally ready to be picked up or shipped out anywhere from late March to late May! We will be in touch in the spring once your order is ready to go. Orders placed in the spring might not be ready for 1-2 weeks as this is a very busy time of year for us.

Fall: Customers are welcome to request fall pickup or shipping for orders that only contain bareroot apples and pears. Fall orders are generally ready to be picked up or shipped out around mid-November.

We only recommend fall planting for experienced growers located in areas that are zone 6 or warmer. Bareroot plants planted in the Fall are not covered under our 90 Day Guarantee.

$71.00