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Fruit & Orchards

judging ripeness in sour cherries?

10 years ago

This is the first year I have seen any significant crop on the half dozen varieties of sours we put in.

Without baseline experience on what full ripe tastes likei for the different types, are there any general indicators for how long to let them hang once they color up?

On the trees with enough fruit, I have just started picking a little at a time once they achieve good color, try to be attentive to the changes over time and make notes for next year. Most do seem to continue to "improve" with additional time. But obviously this is weighing against a steadily increasing risk of loss to birds, cracking , rot, etc....

any advice on zeroing in on peak harvest window?

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Comments (4)

Konrad___far_north
10 years ago
In my experience, the longer the better, sugar level goes up.
From the time when turning red, minimum around one to two weeks, have let them on double and they tasted even better, never seen cracking.
mrsg47
10 years ago
If you have any left once the sour cherries are really red, they become much sweeter. They are still very tart but sweeter. I've been eating mine off of the tree for the past few days and they are semi-red. They are delish! By the way my Montmorency did not produce more than 50 cherries this year. Half of which fell off. I've decided the tree is not getting enough sun .
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Hi Bonnie. Historically, the robins have been the worst here too and haven't seemed to care about the degree of ripeness. I immediately pit the cherries and then freeze them on a cookie sheet before transferring them to freezer bags. I have made cherry jam, but we don't really care for how much sugar it requires to thicken. More recently, I take them from the freezer, add some sugar and use cornstarch to thicken and make a thin pie filling and use that to top our homemade yogurt. We've been out of cherries for about a month, so we're glad they're ripening.
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David: I grow both sweets and sours. The BIGGEST pest for me is birds. I have to net as soon as I see the fruit turning a light pink or the fruit is gone in a matter of days. Robins are the worst culprits. Cherry leaf spot is a fungal issue that I sometimes get on my tart cherry collection but have not yet had it on the sweet cherries. To prevent, spray with a fungicide containing chlorothalonil from white bud stage thru shuck split stage. Illegal to use chlorothalonil after that until after the fruit is harvested. If you get leaf spot later in the season, then spray again after fruit harvest. This is a prevention not a control. It will not eradicate existing leaves infected. Some years I have no leaf spot, some years a little. One year it got so bad it defoliated my Surecrop tart cherry my August 15th. Some tarts seem more susceptible to it than others depending on variety. I got brown rot only once and that was because it was a very cloudy and rainy week just when the fruit was ripe. Having my tree netted did not help as the shade it produces most likely made the disease spread faster. The bad thing about netting is that once the net is on, I do not spray so if brown rot shows up, I have to live with it. Brown rot can be prevented by spraying Captan when the fruit is nearly ripe. Check the label but I think the PHI is only a few days for Captan. Bonide Infuse will also work although I have no experience with that product but hear good reports about it as it is systemic and will eradicate existing infections to an extent. Captan will work as a preventative spray only.
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larry_gene
10 years ago
A ripe sour cherry will stay intact when the stem is pulled off. When the stem is pulled on an unripe cherry, the pit and much of the flesh stays attached to the stem. The cherry will do this even when fully red.

Taste is of course the prime factor, balanced against the risk of splitting or predators, when extending the harvest.

For large harvests intended for freezing or baking, the stem test is quick and reliable. The taste test is better for fresh eating.
spartan-apple
10 years ago
I find most people pick their tart cherries too early! Even though the fruit is red does not mean it is ripe to perfection. I always tell friends they are like apples. Apples turn red weeks before fully ripe.

I have a North Star cherry and did a light picking last night from the top of the tree only. I find they are best not picked when red but almost purple. At that stage the
cherries really plump out and have a slightly glossy skin color.

However, taste is up to the grower. A friend has picked
almost all of his North Star already and he is happy with
them. I would have waited longer.

My Mesabi ripens the same time as North Star. My Balaton (YUM!) ripens slightly later. This year the cherries are ripening much later than last year due to our
cold late spring. I would say they are running about 1.5
weeks later than normal.

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