Sour cherry · Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India
When to plant sour cherries in Srinagar
Main outdoor window
7 Nov - 27 Mar
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
10 April
In Srinagar, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
1 Jul - 31 Aug
If you plant at the start of the window.
The average last frost. Half of all years are later than this.
Step by step in Srinagar
Each window is a range, not a single day. Earlier in the range buys you a longer season; later in it buys you a safer one.
Plant the tree
7 Nov - 27 Mar
Any time the plant is dormant and the ground is neither frozen nor waterlogged: after leaf fall in autumn, or at the end of winter before growth restarts.
Harvest
1 Jul - 31 Aug
Sour cherries through the year
Against the frost risk in Srinagar
Why these dates
Later blooming and hardier in flower than sweet cherry, which is why it is the one that still crops in a cold spring.
Sour cherries are planted once and then left in place, so there is no sowing offset to resolve. What matters in Srinagar is the shape of the year: this crop is dormant through the winter and is planted while it sleeps, any time between leaf fall in autumn and the restart of growth in spring, so long as the ground is neither frozen nor waterlogged. That is why the window below spans the cold months rather than sitting in the middle of the growing season.
Hardiness is not the obstacle here. Srinagar is zone 7a, comfortably inside the range this crop is rated for, so an established plant should come through an average winter without protection.
Do not expect a crop in the first year. A plant set out now should give its first worthwhile pick around year 3, and will then produce every year after that, which is what makes the planting decision worth getting right the first time.
Also in Srinagar
Other fruits to time
Growing sour cherries in Srinagar
When should I plant sour cherries in Srinagar?
Aim for 7 Nov - 27 Mar in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 23 Oct - 8 Apr - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will sour cherries be ready to harvest in Srinagar?
Expect to start picking around 1 Jul - 31 Aug, based on 60 to 80 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will sour cherries tolerate?
Later blooming and hardier in flower than sweet cherry, which is why it is the one that still crops in a cold spring.