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Harvesting Your Cherries

Gardening Guide: All Things Cherry, the Sweet and the Sour

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Harvesting Your Cherries

By Bill Dugan, Executive Editor

Harvesting cherries

Harvesting cherries

Remember, it will take three to five years before your tree will begin to produce fruit. When it does, however, a full-sized variety will produce up to 50 quarts of fruit per year, and dwarf varieties produce about 20 quarts.

Harvest time for cherries is between May and August, depending on your climate and the cultivars you’re growing.

The sugar content of cherries increases significantly during the last few days of ripening. That means you should only pick them when they’re completely ripe: firm and fully dark red, black, or yellow, depending on the variety.

Sour cherries will come off the stem when they’re ripe, but you should taste sweet cherries to tell if they’re ready to pick. Neither type of cherry will continue to ripen after it’s been picked.

Be prepared to harvest all your cherries within a week. Using scissors can speed up harvesting sweet cherries and can also help to avoid injuring the shoots, which may lead to infection. Clip the stem so you don’t pull on the fruit and tear into it. Take care to leave the fruit spur to produce fruit next year.

Get your cherries from harvest to cold storage as quickly as possible to slow down the ripening process. Cherries can be stored for up to a week in dry conditions in the refrigerator—fruit declines a great deal in quality quite quickly if left at room temperature. Leave the stems on the fruit to maintain freshness even longer.

You’ll increase the firmness of the fruit—an important consideration if you’re planning to freeze some—by layering it between paper towels. Freezing is fine for cherries as long as the fruit has been rinsed and patted dry first.

How do you decide when your cherries are ripe? Please share your tips for determining ripeness with us in the comment section below.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

  • Curator’s Corner
  • Introduction
  • Feature Articles

  • Growing Zones for Cherries
  • Types of Cherry Trees
  • Growing Cherry Trees from Seeds (Pits), Bare Root Plants, or Potted Saplings
  • Sun and Soil Requirements for Growing Cherry Trees
  • Planting Cherry Trees in the Ground or in Raised Beds
  • Growing Cherry Trees in Containers
  • Watering, Weeding, Fertilizing, and Pruning Your Cherry Trees
  • Harvesting Your Cherries
  • Storing and Preserving Your Cherries
  • How to Spot, Treat, and Prevent Cherry Diseases
  • What to Do About Pests that Can Harm Your Cherry Trees
  • Essential Tools and Equipment for Growing and Enjoying Cherries
  • How to Grow Cherry Trees from Pits Step-by-Step
  • How to Make Your Cherries Bigger and Grow Faster
  • Plant Profiles

  • Romeo Cherries
  • Western Sand Cherries
  • Carmine Jewel Cherries
  • Montmorency Cherries
  • Rainier Cherries
  • Bing Cherries
  • Recipes

  • Cherry Chicken Lettuce Wraps
  • Fresh Cherry Cobbler
  • Cherry Pie
  • Simple Cherry Juice
  • Cherry, Quinoa, & Arugula Salad with Vinaigrette
  • Vanilla Cherry Ice Cream
  • Cherry Chutney
  • Additional Articles

  • Nutrition Facts about Cherries
  • Home Remedies & Health Benefits of Cherries
  • Resources about Cherries
  • Cherry Glossary
  • Related Articles

  • 26 Best Cherry Trees for Your Zone

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