Prunus cerasus
Sour cherry
Common names: Weichsel, Schattenmorelle
Photo: Franz Eugen Köhler, Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen · Public Domain · Source
This description was machine-translated.
Description
The sour cherry remains smaller than the sweet cherry and bears tart, dark‑red fruit that is excellent for pies, preserves, and juice. The variety 'Schattenmorelle' is self‑fertile, thrives even in partial shade, and is widely grown in the DACH region.
Care instructions
Plant the sour cherry in a sunny to partially shaded spot with well‑drained soil, avoid waterlogging. Water young trees during dry periods. Prune regularly after harvest, as the tree produces only one‑year‑old wood and otherwise becomes stunted. Keep the canopy open to prevent Monilia crown scorch. Harvest the fruit fully ripe in July and August.
Soil & site
Soil pH
Soil type
loamy, humus-rich, well-drained, nutrient-rich
Feeding
Medium feeder
Pruning
Companion planting
Companion planting is partly traditional gardening lore. Where the reason is known, it is given.
Some of these explanations were machine-translated.
Diseases & pests
5 relevantFrom the knowledge base, automatically linked by affected species. How to spot and prevent them is covered in full in the lexicon.
Operophtera brumata
You will notice the Small Winter Moth in spring by its green caterpillars that, when crawling, have a cat's hump appearance.
More on Small Winter MothDrosophila suzukii
The Spotted Wing Drosophila (Drosophila suzukii) is a small fruit fly that, unlike native species, pierces healthy, still ripening fruits with its serrated ovipositor to lay eggs.
More on Spotted Wing DrosophilaMonilia fructigena
Brown rot makes ripening fruit rot brown on the tree and in store. Cushion like spore pustules arranged in rings form on the rotten patches.
More on Brown rot (fruit rot)Monilia laxa
Blossom wilt infects stone fruit through the open flower and travels from there into the shoot. Affected blossoms and shoot tips wilt abruptly and dry up brown, as if frost had caught them.
More on Blossom wilt (Monilia twig blight)Wilsonomyces carpophilus
Shot hole disease is caused by the fungus Wilsonomyces carpophilus and attacks above all stone fruit such as cherry, plum, peach and apricot.
More on Shot hole diseaseVarieties
6 varieties‚Achat’
You will find that *‚Achat’* is a modern sour cherry from the Pillnitzer Edelstein series, bred for good health and large, firm fruit.
‚Gerema’
You’ll appreciate *‚Gerema’* as a German breeding in the shade plum type, especially valued for its good tolerance…
‚Köröser Weichsel’
Köröser Weichsel comes from the Hungarian tradition of dark sour cherries and is a well known processing variety there.
‚Morellenfeuer’
Morellenfeuer is a tougher alternative to the classic *‚Schattenmorelle’* and delivers similarly dark, savoury fruits…
‚Schattenmorelle’
The Schattenmorelle is the classic sour cherry in the German home garden and the epitome of the dark morello.
‚Ungarische Traubige’
The Ungarische Traubige is an old sour cherry from the Carpathian region that carries its fruit in dense clusters like grapes, hence the name.
Notes from real gardens
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From the magazine
Pruning the sour cherry: renewal instead of going bare
The sour cherry bears on one-year-old wood and goes bare without pruning. How to divert the spent whips onto young shoots after the harvest, and why it differs from the sweet cherry.
Monilia blossom blight: wilted shoots after flowering, not frost
Shortly after flowering, whole shoot tips of the sour cherry wilt and die brown. It looks like late frost but is Monilia blossom blight. How to tell the two apart and why cutting back well into the healthy wood is the key.