Best 5 Cherry Trees To Grow In North Carolina
Sweet cherries and sour cherries can both be grown in North Carolina, depending on where you live. A cherry’s ripening process requires both cold winter temperatures (or temperatures below freezing) and warm weather, both of which are found in North Carolina.
You can bake tart cherries into pies, preserves, and desserts, while sweet cherries can either be eaten raw or cooked. You can either plant a cherry tree from the ground or from a container that’s 1 to 2 years old in the spring.
With the USDA hardiness zone map from Grow It (see Resources), you can determine your USDA hardiness zone. A zone 6b to an 8 is suitable for North Carolina. Sweet cherry trees or tart cherries can be planted in zones 6b. Zone 6b and 7 can grow sweet cherries, while zones 8 and 9 don’t receive enough chill hours to grow cherry trees reliably.
pH can be raised or lowered by adding lime or sulfur. According to your soil type, you should use how much of each of these materials (see Resources) in The Garden Helpers.
Prepare a hole twice as big as the root ball for your cherry tree. Rocks and weeds should be removed from the hole. Take your cherry tree out of its container.
Using the same depth you put in the hole when you planted the cherry tree in the container, you should plant the cherry tree in the hole.
Holding the tree trunk straight with one hand, backfill the soil with more soil so that it is flush with the tree trunk. If the soil is loose around the trunk of the tree, gently firm it.
Fertilize the young tree two weeks after planting and then again six weeks after planting with 1/2 lb of fertilizer. The application of 10-10-10 fertilizer is recommended. Then sprinkle the fertilizer on the ground around the tree and water it thoroughly to penetrate the soil with the nutrients.
The spring after planting, a tree should be pruned to shape it. You should choose three to four strong branches outwardly growing from the trunk that will generate fruit and eliminate competing branches that grow too close or are weak. The trunk of the tree needs to be pruned to remove suckers that are growing from it.
Following this, the tree should be fertilized with 0.05 to 0.10 pounds of fertilizer every year.
Bing Cherry Tree
Bing cherries are notable for their delicious taste even in their first year. You often need to wait years for harvest when you plant other kinds of trees or plants from seed.
It thrives in diverse soil types and is drought-tolerant, so it breaks the mold.
Dark cherries are one of the most popular dark fruits found at the grocery store.
Due to the fact that you grow them at home, you don’t have to worry about shopping at the supermarket. Bing Cherry Trees are organic and can be grown without pesticides.
Stella Cherry Tree
Moreover, it’s the perfect space-saver. Stella is a great choice if you have a small garden area.
Montmorency Cherry Tree
The largest, brightest red cherry trees grown in the USA are Montmorency Cherry Trees; they are a definite game-changer.
They also produce buckets of juicy cherries with a tart flavor, so you’ll have plenty of cherries for your favorite recipes.
In addition to its hardiness down to -20 degrees, the Montmorency makes an excellent addition to a variety of soil types.
Black Tartarian Cherry Tree
Black Tartarian Trees are easy to grow, low maintenance, and highly productive.
You can expect delicious cherries in one season, adaptability to various types of soil, and drought tolerance for ease of growth with the Black Tartarian.
Lapins Cherry Tree
Having the Lapins Cherry Tree will become an annual summer tradition for your family. When harvest time comes, your Lapins will produce 15 to 20 gallons of delicious fruit.
One year will be enough for you to reap this sweet harvest. After only one year, the cherries are blooming vibrantly in the spring, turning into delectable sweet cherries in the summer.
In addition, it tolerates temperatures as low as -10 degrees and produces fruit without pollination, making it a low-maintenance, versatile plant.
Rainier Cherry Tree
As beautiful as Mount Rainier, this super-sweet treat is as delicious as it sounds. Bing Cherry and Van Cherry were bred to produce this original variation.
Grow a rainier cherry tree in your backyard orchard (Prunus avium ‘Rainier’) for early-bearing fruit. Sweet cherries produced by this tree have large, yellow fruit with a rosy blush.
Rainier cherries are among the sweetest yellow cherries available in the world and are popular with home gardeners. Considering this tree’s ease of growing, it’s no wonder it’s so popular.
Its creamy, white flesh is sometimes called a “white cherry,” but its yellowish-red skin is called a “blond cherry.” Fruits from Rainier are known for their sweetness.
