oracleofmn:

How bad is the clay? If it drains decent enough, you should be ok. Prunus will not tolerate standing water or poorly drained sites well. What part of MN are you in? Just asking as Montmorency is not as cold hardy as some other varieties so might be best only in SE MN or in a protected site. I recall a friend trying to grow that variety near Sleepy Eye, MN as his wife came from cherry country in Door County WI where Montmorency is planted heavily. They had trouble with winter hardiness on Montmorency.

You may want to try Mesabi. I have that in my orchard in WI and it has fairly large fruit and yellow fleshed. Nice flavor. The yield is not as high as Montmorency however.

If you like tart cherries that have a dark flesh and much stronger cherry flavor try North Star or Sweet Cherry Pie (originated near River Falls, WI. Evans is really hardy too! Sweet Cherry Pie has perhaps the highest yield as a friend of mine grows them in Western WI at his U-pick orchard. He has tried them all (including Balaton) and his favorite is Sweet Cherry Pie for high yields.

50 cherry trees? Wow. I have 3 trees and we get all the fruit we need for 2 families to share. I once lived in Lake City MN for 8 years so somewhat familiar with the Minnesota climate (mighty cold winters).

I am in a suburb of the Twin Cities (Corcoran) so the lower part of the state. If Montmorency didn't work out then Sweet Cherry Pie was the next one on my list followed by North Star. It's good to hear SCP has good yields. I am trying to test the soil now to see how Clay like it actually is. Not sure how to do that yet but I'm sure there are resources on the internet. I have a chunk of land and was thinking of ways to make some use and money out of it - I thought cherries would be good since I could make my own cocktail cherries. I am a big fan of Luxardo. Simplistic thinking but it got me interested. I have heard that I could plant on a rasied bed with plenty of compost to help with the clay/drainage issue. I'm gonna collect more data on the soil before I plant anything. Thanks for the input!

I think I'll push Sweet Cherry Pie to the top of the list. Thanks for the advice. I have one more followup for you Spartan. If I determine the soil has too much clay for my liking do you know how to plant on a mound or bed? I.e. bring in some good soil to plant above the clay? I've watched a couple youtube videos but am still a bit confused.

EDIT - Great news! I had a septic guy out to measure the system and we looked at the soil. It's not clay, it's nice sandy loam. It should be perfect for cherry trees!

Sandy loam/clay should be fine...as long your'e not planting in a low spot.

We have clay soil in northern Minnesota I planted all kinds of fruit trees and they are all doing well I think it just depends on how bad your Clay is I would definitely try a couple one year before I planted 50 to see how they do