Morello

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• Self-fertility: Self-fertile

Morello is a traditional English cooking cherry - if you want to make cherry pies, cherry crumbles, or jams and preserves, this is the best cherry variety to choose - when cooked it has a strong rich cherry flavour.

Morello cherries can be eaten fresh when very ripe (at which point they have a sharp-sweet flavour), but Morello belongs to the acid-cherry or sour-cherry (Prunus cerasus) species rather than the sweet-cherry species (Prunus avium), and is grown primarily for use in the kitchen. The fruits are smaller than modern dessert cherries, looking more like small seedless grapes.

Morello cherries (like most sour cherries) contain melatonin, a natural anti-oxidant substance which is also involved in regulating sleeping and wakefullness.

Morello is also an excellent pollinator of most other cherry varieties.

 

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Trained Morello cherry trees for sale

Sorry we have not produced any trees of this variety this season.

Growing and Training

Whereas sweet cherries really need a sunny aspect, acid-cherries are far less demanding. Morello can be grown on a north-facing wall if necessary, and is hardy and reliable. It is self-fertile, and the blossom is relatively late, so the risk of frost-damage is slight.

Acid cherries arguably produce better-looking trees than sweet cherries too. If you need to prune, do so in spring to reduce the risk of bacterial canker, and note that Morello fruits mainly on new shoots which grew the previous summer. However as with all cherries and plums, it is best to avoid pruning if you can.

The blossom of Morello cherry is particularly long-lasting and compatible, making it an excellent pollinator of most other cherries (sweet or sour).

Morello characteristics

• Self-fertilitySelf-fertile
• Flowering group5 - Flowers over a long period
• AwardsRHS AGM (current) - 1993
• Disease resistanceGood
• Country of originUnited Kingdom
• Period of origin1600 - 1649
• Fruit colourRed - dark

Similar varieties

• 
  Albalu
  Albalu is a culinary or acid cherry, and can be grown on a north-facing wall.