When to harvest Cherry (sweet) in the UK
Cherry (sweet) is planted rather than sown from seed, so the dates below are harvest dates.
Harvest dates by region
Cherry (sweet) shows the same dates across the whole UK, so every region below reads the same. Where a plant’s timings do follow the frost, Plot shifts them from the Midlands and Lowland Wales baseline using Met Office average frost dates.
| Where you are | Harvest |
|---|---|
| South West Coast and Cornwall | late June to early August |
| South Coast and Channel | late June to early August |
| Greater London (Urban Heat Island) | late June to early August |
| South East and Home Counties | late June to early August |
| East Anglia | late June to early August |
| Midlands and Lowland Wales | late June to early August |
| Wales and West Coast | late June to early August |
| Northern England | late June to early August |
| Scotland Lowlands and Central Belt | late June to early August |
| Scotland Highlands and Islands | late June to early August |
| Northern Ireland | late June to early August |
| Channel Islands and Isle of Man | late June to early August |
Growing notes
Only worth growing on Gisela 5 in most gardens - on Colt a sweet cherry becomes a 6-8m tree that is impossible to net. Birds will strip the crop in a day, so plan for netting, a fruit cage or a fan you can cover, and expect split fruit if heavy rain falls as the cherries ripen.
At a glance
- Spacing
- 270 cm between plants
- Row spacing
- 400 cm
- Plants per m²
- 0.1
- Yield per plant
- 10 kg
- Eventual height
- 350 cm
- Eventual spread
- 350 cm
- Sun
- Full
- Frost tender
- No
- Grows in a container
- Yes, 90 litres or more
- Minimum soil depth
- 45 cm
- Balcony rating
- 1 out of 5
Pruning: what to avoid
Prune sweet cherries annually as soon as harvesting finishes, usually late July or August, when the risk of silver leaf and bacterial canker is lowest. Never prune in winter or autumn; only light formative pruning of young trees should be done in early spring.
Pruning group
sweet cherry (prune after harvest)
Bare-root season
Bare-root stock is lifted and sold while dormant, from early November to late March. Container-grown plants can go in at other times of year, but bare-root is cheaper and establishes well.
How long until it crops
Expect the first worthwhile pick about 4 years after planting, and a productive life of roughly 25 years.
What usually goes wrong
- birds
- bacterial canker
- silver leaf
- split fruit
- cherry blackfly
Related guides
Timings cross-checked against RHS guidance for cherry (sweet).