Best pie or tart cherry?

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Katlian Carson City, NV(Zone 6b) Oct 19, 2006

I've been doing some research on pie cherries so I can pick out a good tree for my yard. I've seen lots of advertisements for different cultivars but I would like an unbiased (or less biased) opinion. Does anyone have a favorite variety or cultivar? I'm looking for the type that have red juice as well as skin so I can make jam and pie without extra coloring, and I need a dwarf variety for a small yard.

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Farmerdill Augusta, GA(Zone 8a) Oct 19, 2006

I like Early Richmond myself. but most of the sour (pie) cherries are small trees. Montmorency is probably the most popular. North Star is good and a very small tree. Balaton and Surefire get good press but I have not tried them.

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Indy Alexandria, IN(Zone 6a) Oct 19, 2006

North Star is a compact tree and can produce nice cherries...we have two.

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critterologist Frederick, MD(Zone 6b) Oct 22, 2006

I've got two Montmorency trees, semi-dwarf because I couldn't find them on dwarfing rootstock that year. One obviously likes its location better than the other (it's twice as big and bearing 3 times as many cherries). The cherries are smallish, which I think is normal for the pie type cherries (as opposed to the sweet Bing varieties), but the flavor is intense, and to me they are tart but not too sour to eat out of hand.

After reading the above, I'm thinking of seeing if we can't still squeeze a 'North Star' tree in there somewhere....

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Katlian Carson City, NV(Zone 6b) Oct 22, 2006

Thanks for the comments. The North Star did sound like a nice tree but no company says bad things about the trees they are trying to sell :) There are so many interesting varieties I wish I had more room to try several of them.

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