Get a Montmorency, its the best sour cherry.

Scott

I just got an email notice from them yesterday and I think there was at least one cherry on sale right now. I remember the Kristen is on sale (but its a sweet) and I will check if there is a sour on sale tonight (once I'm home and can check the email again)

~Chills

Katy:

I am pretty certain that Surefire is a sour cherry, and if so, you already have one. I am also pretty sure it is a Morello type cherry, so it would be similar or almost indistiguishable from the fruit of a Northstar, also a Morello, with red flesh and dark colored juice.

If you still want to plant another sour cherry, and want to diversify with a Richmond type (yellow flesh, light red juice), my favorite is Meteor, a tree with some genetic dwarfing making use of a dwarfing rootstock unnecessary. I have grown both Montmorency and Meteor, and simply cannot tell one from the other, except that Montmorency tends to grow a larger tree unless mounted on a dwarfing rootstock. The only active duty source for Meteor that I know of is Gurney's Nursery, which will ship you a very attractive tree at a good price. I put one in 3 years ago and another at my son's place last year. Whoever grows this tree for Gurney's knows what he is doing. However, Meteor, while naturally smaller than Montmorency, is not as small as the Northstar morello, which has even more genetic dwarfing and can easily be kept to 10 feet or less.

Balaton, like Danube, is a Hungarian/sour cherry cross, and neither sweet nor sour, though tending to the sour. I have planted both of these more than once, but the deer got them both times before they had much of a chance to grow, so can't give you a readout on the flavor.

I can't account for the behavior of your squirrels, picking and choosing among cherry varieties, but I would guess they prefer the sweeter types. Squirrels do not make pies.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

I get two votes for Montmorency type and I think that's what I will get. Thank you Scott and Jellyman.

Chills, thanks for checking for me!

Jellyman: raintree is selling Montmorency on Gisella 5 which is dwarfing (they say 8-10ft max they say, I like that). And my Danube and Surefire are setting a lot of fruit this year (I planted them spring 2005) and if I manage to taste any cherries I will be sure to post how they were.

You know my neighbor has a sour cherry tree, about 20 ft tall, bright red flavorful fruit with yellow flesh. It bears enormous quantities of fruit even though he does nothing for it. I am guessing now that it is Montmorency. The squirrel do not touch a single of those cherries or red currants or black currants. They just eat my sweet cherries, ripe pears and peaches. I can't stand it!!!

Just wanted to share this: when we moved into our house 4 years ago I saw my neighbors tree and told him that it is a sour cherry tree and the fruit are yummy. Also showed him his currant bushes. He already owned that house with the tree and bushes for 12 years and did not even know they were cherries and currants and every year the fruit went to waste. Well that year I and my toddlers picked as much as we could and made him jars and jars of jam and barbeque sauce. After that year he picks his own fruit and pretends he can't see us in the summer over the low picket fence.

Well thank you so much for helping me make a decision!

Katyajini

The sour cherry they have is Surefire.

EMC880 Surefire Pie Cherry/Gisela 5
A surefire, easy picking choice for the backyard grower and U pick marketers. Because it is very late flowering, it evades and tolerates frosts and annually produces large crack resistant crops. Both skin and flesh are fire engine red. Its high sugar content make it excellent for eating fresh.It ripens a week after Montmorency. So highly regarded, it is the first sour cherry introduced by the N.Y. Geneva Experiment station in 107 years. Patent pending. On Gisela 5 rootstock. full description

On Sale: $17.50 Regularly: $27.50 Climate Zones: 4 to 9

I am also including the link to the specials (they are different from the specials listed on the website).

~Chills

Here is a link that might be useful: newsletter special offer Raintree Nursery

Thank you for the link chills!

Katyajini

Northstar is a very good, small sour cherry tree. I have one. It is really small, like six feet tall after several years.

I got mine at Miller Nurseries

Here is a link that might be useful: North Star cherry

Katyajini,
Does NYC in your profile mean New York City? If so, that's Zone 7a. Just trying to clarify where you are located, not being critical. I'm in New York City, Brooklyn specifically.
Anyways, I planted a Surefire in May 2006 from Stark Bros. with the good advice of all the folks on this forum and based on what was available at the late date that I chose to plant. The plant is doing well, but seems pretty small and I am unable to visualize it bearing any cherries by next year. It has not grown much after planting, right now, only about 2- 2.5 feet tall at the most (I did prune some branches back back this year). Has great foliage though. Did yours grow much more?

Yeshwant:
You just can't expect a cherry or other tree to take off like a shot the first season in the ground. But in the 2nd year, with its root system established, it should begin to show some serious growth and leafout. No, it's not going to fruit this season, and probably not in 2008 either unless a dwarfing rootstock gives it an edge. These things are trees, not radishes.

But it may give you a small crop in 2009, and crop size will double every year after that if it is a typical cherry tree. Just have a little patience with it.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Hi Kubotabx2200,
Thank so much for your suggestion. I have been debating a lot between NorthStar and Montmorency. Its not an easy decision for me. I love the look of dark red cherries. And they say NorthStar bears heavily too. And it stays a small tree. But since I already have two red cherries, my husband is pushing to get the dwarf Montmorency. Besides, my neighbor has a standard Montmorency (I am certain its a Montmorency, he does not know) and the birds and squirrels don't eat the fruit and they are tasty when cooked. Can you describe the flavor of NorthStar to me if you a little time?

Yeshwant,

I got my Surefire from Raintree and I planted it in 2004. It is a small tree no doubt. Now its just about 6 feet or so and upright. Last year it had flowers but set only a few fruit that fell off. This year it had many clusters of flowers and all of them have turned to baby fruit. I have big hopes for this tree(!) I don't have a picture of the tree in bloom but I could still take a picture now. But for the life of me I can't figure out how to post a picture into a message? So the answer is I think you will have to wait 2-3 years for good fruit on the Gisella 5 rootstock that Raintree sold it on. I live around Riverdale. Some parts of my yard does seem like 7a but some parts are definitely colder.

The trouble with Starkbros is not that they sell you poor trees but that they don't tell you what the rootstock is so I don't have some important information. But I still did get some trees from Starkbros in the past and I ordered dwarfs only. However some of my trees turned out not to be dwarfs, they are huge. So I find them hit-or-miss. I think your Suerfire will grow quite a bit more, specially this year but it won't be a big tree.

If I figure out how post pictures I will share.

Katyajini

I put in a Northstar last year, this year it has bloomed and I see little fruit forming (who knows if they will go to maturity though at this point). It is a small tree, only about 5 feet tall and it grew little last year.

I also added a Bali (Evans) cherry this year, twice if you've followed that thread.

~Chills

OK I broke down and got a dwarf Montmorency from Raintree and a Northstar from Millers.

Where did you get your Northstar from chills?

Thanks everybody.

Katyajini

Thanks Don and Katyajini.
Don, I'm sorry if I gave the impression that I was being hasty, but from what I have read around here Northstars set at least some flowers/ fruit year two and Surefire year 3 (Katyajini also corroborated this above). Mine is on semi-dwarfing rootstock, but like Katyajini said, Stark did not know which one. I had to get what I could last year, since I was looking late in the game. Which is why I was wondering whether mine would set fruit next year, since it seemed rather small. It was planted Spring 2006, so next year 2008 would be year 3 by my calculations. I am quite a patient gardener. I grow bareroot roses and clematis, which take a good while to get established as well, so I am used to the sleep, creep, leap thing. But, I supose what you were saying is that I should not expect any kind of a crop that I could harvest for next year.
Katyajini, that's the Bronx isn't it? Forgive my geographical ignorance. It's lovely that you have the space for so many trees. In Brooklyn we make do with pretty cramped backyards. Best of luck with your new trees! And a pic would be lovely, even if you e-mailed one.
Yeshwant.

OK, I am going to try to post some pictures of Surefire
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The first picture is of the tree. The V from the branches is at about 3 feet.

The 2nd and 3rd pictures are of baby cherries on Surefire.

The 4th picture is of cherry set on Danube.

The 5th picture is of cherries on Black Tartarian.

Anyone's tree flowering yet? I'm jumping on the sour cherry bandwagon with a Northstar and a Meteor.

Nope. Just some tiny leaf buds.

Updates on the sour cherries !?