Prunus avium ‘Black Tartarian’ (Sweet Cherry)

One of the best pollinators for other sweet cherries, Prunus avium ‘Black Tartarian’ is a large and vigorous cherry tree of pyramidal habit. In mid-spring, it boasts an abundance of sweetly scented white flowers clustered along the branches in groups of two to three. They are followed by a bountiful crop of medium-sized, heart-shaped, dark red cherries in early summer. The flesh is tender, very juicy, and sweet. They are excellent for eating fresh, canning, or preserves. Its spreading canopy is adorned all summer long with smooth, lustrous, dark green leaves. Requires cross-pollination with a compatible variety with the same bloom time such as Bing, Stella, or Rainier for best production. A popular, robust, and very prolific cherry variety.

• Grows up to 30 ft. tall and wide (9 m) at maturity. Dwarf varieties grow up to 12-15 ft. tall and wide (3-4m).
• Performs best in full sun in moist, relatively fertile, well-drained soils. Sweet cherries are best suited to fan-training, so they can be netted against bird damage and protected from frosts.
• This cherry tree has a chill hours requirement of 700-800 (hours of temperatures below 45ºF (7ºC) in the winter for their buds to open in the spring)
• Standard trees will produce fruit in 3-4 years.
• Train fan-trained trees in spring. Prune established fans and carry out routine pruning on established cherry trees when harvesting the fruits in summer. Dead, weak, or unnecessary branches can be pruned annually in late winter or early spring. Otherwise, little or no pruning is needed.
• Protect from birds that damage buds and eat the fruit. May suffer from aphids, caterpillars, leaf-mining moths, winter moth caterpillars, silver leaf, bacterial canker, and blossom wilt.
• Propagate by chip budding or grafting on clonal rootstock for fruit.
• Toxic to dogs, toxic to cats, toxic to horses.
• Prunus avium species is native to Asia and Europe.
• Find where this species is invasive in the United States.
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