Knight's Early Black cherry trees

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• Picking season: Early
• Self-fertility: Not self-fertile

A traditional English early-season black cherry

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Knight's Early Black cherry trees for sale

All about Knight's Early Black cherry trees

Knight's Early Black is a traditional English early-season black cherry. The flavour is well-regarded, and the tree is reasonably problem-free and productive.

Growing and Training

Knight's Early Black is self-sterile and needs to be pollinated by another variety which blooms at the same time and is in the same incompatibility group - the simple answer is to plant a modern self-fertile variety nearby, such as Stella, but Van and Amber Heart are also options.

History

It is likely that Knight's Early Black was raised by T.A. Knight at his orchard near Elton, Herefordshire, in the early 19th century. It achieved some commercial success particularly in Kent, and there are probably several forms.

You might also like these varieties

• 
  Celeste
  Celeste is a compact dark red/black cherry, one of the best early-season varieties, with a sweet mild flavour.
• 
  Lapins
  Perhaps the best all-round sweet cherry for the UK. Easy to grow, with heavy crops of good-flavoured cherries.
• 
  Stella
  If you only want to grow one cherry tree, choose Stella - self-fertile, easy to grow, and a good pollinator of other cherry trees.
• 
  Sweetheart
  Sweetheart is one of the best-flavoured late-season cherries for the UK climate.

British-grown trees

Unlike many garden centres and online retailers, the vast majority of our fruit trees are grown in the UK. Find out more.

All our trees are certified under the Plant Healthy scheme, supervised by the Plant Health Alliance. Other stakeholders include Defra and the RHS. Find out more.

Guaranteed fruit trees

When you buy your fruit tree from Orange Pippin Fruit Trees we guarantee it for the first season in your garden while it gets established. If it doesn't grow successfully, we'll either replace it the following season or offer a refund, subject to some conditions. Find out more.

More about cherry trees

Sweet cherry varieties can be classified into two groups: old traditional English varieties, and modern varieties. 

The traditional English varieties are in fact mostly of central European origin (and have very un-English names) but were the mainstay of cherry orchards in Kent in the 19th century and first half of the 20th century. These varieties are typified by good traditional cherry flavours, but they often have complicated pollination requirements.

Modern cherry development  began at the Summerland research station in British Columbia, Canada, in the 1940s. The most famous of these new varieties is Stella but there are many others such as Sweetheart, Sunburst, and Celeste. While they lack the tradition and romance associated with the older English varieties, the flavours are still excellent and their self-fertility and easier horticultural characteristics make them a much better choice for the gardener with space for only one or two cherry trees.

Sweet cherry trees like sun, so choose a sunny aspect when planting. Cherry trees do not need much attention as they grow, a simple mulch to keep the area free of weeds is sufficient. Once fruiting begins the mulch remains important, and should be extended to match the spread of the branches, because it acts as a sponge and therefore helps prevent fruit-splitting after heavy downpours. You should also apply compost and/or manure during the winter to supply the tree with the nutrients it needs for growth and fruiting. Unlike with other stone fruit such as plums, cherries do not need to be thinned.

The other main horticultural challenge is bird protection. It's a foregone conclusion that birds will get your cherry crop before you do, because they are prepared to eat slightly un-ripe cherries whereas we are not. However the simple precaution of netting the trees just before the harvest will solve this problem - on very large and inaccessible trees drape a net over some of the lower branches, allowing the birds to take their share from the higher branches.

Some other terms that often arise with cherries:

• 'Bigarreau cherries'. This means a firm-fleshed sweet cherry variety (as opposed to a soft flesh).
• 'Heart cherries'. Whilst most cherries are spherical, many have a distinct heart-like shape.
• 'White cherries'. This refers to the flesh rather than the skin colour. While most cherries have a dark flesh, white cherries have a white or pale yellow flesh. Most white cherries are old traditional varieties.