Merchant cherry trees

Merchant cherry tree
RHS AGM for Merchant

A large black / red early-season cherry with a good flavour.

Merchant cherry trees for sale

Order now for delivery from 24 October (pot-grown) or December (bare-root).

Mature size* Supplied as Price Quantity

Bare-root fruit trees
Medium  (2.5m - 3m after 5-10 years) Spindlebush - bare-root - Gisela 5 rootstock £27.95

Delivery period: Pot-grown trees can be delivered from September onwards. Bare-root trees can be delivered from mid-November onwards. Within those periods you can specify your preferred month of delivery during the checkout process. It is best to order as soon as you can to ensure items are reserved for you.

*Mature size: Height shown is the approximate height of the tree when mature (after 5-10 years), not the height when supplied. See photos of trees as supplied. Actual mature heights may vary considerably dependent on your local conditions and training and pruning regime.

Stock availability: Items showing as 'sold out' will probably be available again next season. Click here to be notified when we get more trees of this variety.

Alternatives to Merchant cherry trees

  • Alternative fruit trees - Penny cherry trees

    Penny cherry trees

    Penny is a high quality very late-season black cherry - it ripens in mid-August.
    Very late-season (3) 
    Eat 
  • Alternative fruit trees - Kordia cherry trees

    Kordia cherry trees

    Kordia is a large late-season true black cherry variety with a good balanced cherry flavour.
    Late-season (4) 
    Eat 

Summary features of Merchant

Growing

  • Gardening skill: Average?
  • Cropping: Good
  • Fertility: Not self-fertile?
  • Flowering group: 3?
  • Pollinating others: Good?
  • Ploidy: Diploid?
  • Vigour: Average growth?
  • Precocity: Precocious?
  • Bearing regularity: Regular?
  • Fruit persistence: Normal ripening?
  • Canker: Some resistance?
  • Fruit splitting: Some susceptibility?

Uses

Identification

  • Country of origin: United Kingdom
  • Period of origin: 1950 - 1999
  • Fruit colour: Black
  • Blossom colour: White
  • Leaf colour: Green
  • RHS AGM: RHS AGM
  • Popularity: Rarely grown?

Climate

  • Temperate climates
  • Planting position: Full sun preferred

Pollination guide for Merchant

Merchant is in flowering group 3. Merchant is self-sterile and needs to be pollinated by another tree of a different variety nearby. Since it flowers in the middle of the blossom season it can be pollinated by most other cherry trees.

How to grow Merchant cherry trees

Merchant is a precocious variety and is likely to start fruiting on the Gisela 5 rootstock at about 3 years.

It is not self-fertile but can be pollinated by most self-fertile cherries including Stella, Summer Sun and Sunburst. Other pollinators include Merton Glory and Noir de Guben.

Historical details

Merchant was developed at the John Innes Centre, in Norwich, UK in 1970s. Other varieties developed here include Colney and Summer Sun.

Botanical name

Prunus avium 'Merchant'


UK-grown trees All our trees are grown in the UK.