Sour Cherry

Sour cherry is a more practical choice for Puget Sound home orchards than sweet cherry for three reasons: self-fertility (Montmorency and North Star need no pollinator), smaller size (15-25 ft vs. 50 ft), and better disease tolerance overall. The same disease complex applies as for sweet cherry, but the tree's smaller stature makes spray coverage, netting, and pruning far more manageable. The critical diseases here are brown rot in wet springs, bacterial canker through pruning wounds in rain, and leaf spot in prolonged wet seasons. Cherry fruit fly and SWD are the harvest-wrecking pests. Prune Dwarf Virus (Sour Cherry Yellows) spreads faster in sour cherry than in sweet cherry because PDV transmits through pollen. Site in full sun with good drainage. Prune only in dry summer weather. Suckering can be aggressive; plan for regular sucker removal. Rain cracking is less of an issue than with sweet cherry because tart cherries are processed rather than eaten fresh.

— Chris Welch, ISA Certified Arborist