Overview

Bring the joy of fresh, homegrown cherries to your garden with the Minnie Royal Cherry Tree. This exceptional live plant, typically 2 to 3 feet tall, is a grafted specimen, ensuring robust growth and reliable fruit production. The Minnie Royal variety is highly prized for its delicious, bright red cherries that boast a good flavor and a wonderfully firm, crisp flesh. As an early-season cherry, it allows you to enjoy your harvest sooner in the year, and its ability to hold fruit on the tree means you can pick them at their peak ripeness. This particular low chill cherry tree is an excellent choice for regions with milder winters, making it accessible to a wider range of gardeners looking to grow their own fruit.

The Minnie Royal Cherry Tree is a popular choice among fruit enthusiasts due to its consistent yields and the superior quality of its fruit. Grafted trees like this one offer the benefits of a strong rootstock combined with the desired fruiting characteristics of the Minnie Royal scion. This results in a healthier, more vigorous plant that is better adapted to various growing conditions. Whether you are an experienced orchardist or a budding gardener, this tree provides a rewarding experience with its beautiful blossoms in spring and abundant fruit in early summer. Its manageable size at shipping, typically in a 3-gallon pot, makes it easy to transplant and establish in your garden.

Key Benefits

The Minnie Royal Cherry Tree offers numerous advantages for the home gardener, blending ornamental appeal with bountiful harvests. Its unique characteristics make it a standout choice:

• Delicious Fruit Production: Enjoy an abundance of bright red, firm, and crisp cherries with excellent flavor, perfect for eating fresh, baking, or preserving.
• Low Chill Hour Requirement: This variety thrives in areas with milder winters, needing fewer chill hours to set fruit, which expands its growing range significantly.
• Early Season Harvest: Be among the first to harvest fresh cherries each year, as the Minnie Royal ripens early in the season, providing a quick turnaround from bloom to fruit.
• Grafted Vigor: As a grafted cherry plant, it benefits from a strong root system, leading to increased disease resistance, better adaptability, and faster growth compared to seed-grown trees.
• Fruit Retention: The cherries have a good ability to hold on the tree once ripe, allowing for a more flexible harvest window and ensuring peak flavor development.
• Attractive Addition: Beyond its fruit, the tree offers beautiful spring blossoms, adding ornamental value to your landscape before the fruit even begins to form.
• Manageable Size: Shipping as a 2-3 ft tall tree in a 3-gallon pot makes it easier to handle and plant, setting you up for successful establishment.

Plant Care & Growing Tips

Caring for your Minnie Royal Cherry Tree will ensure a healthy plant and a productive harvest. This variety, like most fruit trees, thrives with consistent attention to its basic needs. Proper sunlight is crucial; cherry trees require at least 6-8 hours of direct sunlight per day to produce abundant fruit. Choose a location in your garden that receives full sun exposure throughout the day. Good air circulation is also beneficial to prevent fungal diseases, so avoid planting in overly crowded areas.

When it comes to watering, consistent moisture is key, especially during the establishment phase and while the fruit is developing. Water deeply and regularly, ensuring the soil remains moist but not waterlogged. Well-draining soil is essential to prevent root rot. A loamy soil rich in organic matter is ideal. You can improve heavy clay soils by amending them with compost or other organic materials. The early season cherry typically needs regular feeding to support its growth and fruit production. Use a balanced fertilizer specifically formulated for fruit trees in early spring before new growth begins, and again after the fruit has been harvested. Follow the product instructions for application rates.

Pruning is an important aspect of cherry tree care, helping to maintain the tree’s health, shape, and productivity. Prune your Minnie Royal Cherry Tree in late winter or early spring while it is dormant. Focus on removing any dead, diseased, or crossing branches, and thin out overcrowded areas to improve light penetration and air circulation. This also helps to encourage new fruiting wood. Protect young trees from pests and diseases by monitoring regularly and applying appropriate organic or chemical treatments as needed. The low chill cherry tree is generally adaptable but protecting it from extreme weather, especially late spring frosts, can safeguard your fruit crop.

Size & Details

This Minnie Royal Cherry Tree is offered as a healthy, vigorous live plant, typically measuring 2 to 3 feet in height upon arrival. It is a grafted tree, which means it has been propagated to ensure the desirable traits of the Minnie Royal variety are maintained, offering you a tree with a strong foundation and reliable fruiting characteristics. The tree is shipped in a 3-gallon pot, providing a well-established root system that aids in successful transplanting and quicker adaptation to its new environment. With proper care, these trees can grow to a mature height of 15-20 feet, though they can be kept smaller with regular pruning, making them suitable for various garden sizes. Expected to begin bearing fruit within 2-4 years of planting, this early season cherry is a rewarding long-term investment for your edible landscape.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Q: How big does this Minnie Royal Cherry Tree get? A: With proper care, the Minnie Royal Cherry Tree can reach a mature height of 15-20 feet. However, its size can be managed through regular pruning to fit smaller garden spaces or for easier harvesting.
• Q: Is this an indoor or outdoor plant? A: The Minnie Royal Cherry Tree is an outdoor plant, specifically a deciduous fruit tree that requires outdoor conditions to thrive, including seasonal temperature changes for proper dormancy and fruit set.
• Q: How much sunlight does it need? A: This low chill cherry tree requires a minimum of 6-8 hours of direct sunlight per day to ensure optimal growth and fruit production. Choose a sunny location in your garden.
• Q: Is this plant easy to care for? A: While not entirely hands-off, the Minnie Royal Cherry Tree is considered moderately easy to care for, especially for those familiar with fruit tree cultivation. Consistent watering, adequate sunlight, and annual pruning are key elements of good cherry tree care.
• Q: What condition will it arrive in? A: Your grafted cherry plant will arrive as a healthy, live tree, typically 2-3 feet tall, securely packaged in its 3-gallon nursery pot, ready for planting.
• Q: When is the best time to plant this early season cherry? A: The best time to plant your Minnie Royal Cherry Tree is in early spring after the last threat of frost, or in early fall before the ground freezes, allowing the roots to establish before extreme temperatures.
• Q: What are the chill hour requirements for this tree? A: The Minnie Royal Cherry Tree is known for its low chill hour requirements, typically needing around 200-300 chill hours, making it suitable for warmer climates where other cherry varieties may not thrive.