USDA Organic North Star Sour Cherry

The North Star Cherry Tree never has an off season. This naturally petite Cherry Tree will beautify your landscape with snow-white Cherry blossoms in spring, orange foliage in autumn, and showy reddish brown bark on its bare limbs in winter. But it’s in summer when this little dynamo truly shines, providing you and your family with more juicy, dark red, tart cherries than you would think possible from its small frame. They can be eaten fresh if you like your fruits with a kick, but they’re better in pies and preserves. Unlike some other sour cherries, North Star cherries aren’t yellow on the inside, but are deep red all the way through, so the treats you make with them will look as delectable as they taste!

Introduced in 1950 by the University of Minnesota as part of its fruit tree breeding program, the North Star Cherry Tree has been a bestseller since its debut because of its adaptability and its superior qualities. Born and bred in Minnesota, you know it’s cold hardy—growers in harsh climates know they can depend on this one. It’s also valued for being a heavy producer, even at a young age. Another plus is that North Star is self-fertile. Some Cherries won’t produce fruit without another variety nearby for cross-pollination, but North Star can pollinate itself, so you only need one tree in order to get fruit. It’s no wonder this fantastic Cherry Tree has stood the test of time!

Cherries aren’t just healthy fruits—they’re superfruits! Loaded with vitamin C and serving up vitamin A, potassium, copper, manganese, fiber, and antioxidants as well, they have been found to be helpful in the fight against and the prevention of a wide array of diseases from high cholesterol to cancer. A study with the juice from sour cherries (like North Star) also found the fruit to be a good anti-inflammatory that eased muscle soreness after subjects worked out. In that study, subjects discovered that they even slept better after drinking sour cherry juice, because it contains natural melatonin!

Tread lightly, shrink your footprint, and let yourself grow with USDA Certified Organic Trees. Organic farming has sprung up drastically in importance and influence, spreading worldwide the philosophy of deeply rooting nature in harmony and enriching the soil we stand upon. Benefitting the gardener, enhancing biodiversity, preserving nature's wildlife, and a true direction to protecting our environment. Choosing organic trees on your property, whether they are fruit, nut, ornamental, or shade trees, begins with their soil and cultivates change taking root in your backyard. Take one BIG TREE step for your garden, and one giant leap towards a greener world.

What does it mean to be USDA Organically grown?

• USDA Organic crops are grown exclusively on land that has gone without having non-USDA Organic approved substances applied for three years.
• No pesticides for us, please! Organically grown crops are highly regulated on what can and cannot be used for pest control—worried about harsh chemicals that have been sprayed on your plant? There is only a small number of approved synthetic chemicals that are allowed to be used. Otherwise, farmers use strict biological, mechanical, and physical management practices.
• Not just any type of seeds are used to grow and harvest organic plants: farmers can only use organic seeds or organically raised seedlings in their organic fields.
• Only the best handling is allowed! Organic and non-organic crops are not allowed to be commingled or near each other. Cross-contamination can occur, botching the organic plant's purity due to non-organic substances that could have been sprayed on non-organic harvests; this would cause the organic plant to be considered compromised.
• Fields are carefully cultivated through crop rotation and proper tillage practices to ensure that the soil and the soil's nutrients are kept at a happy balance. Animal manure, not sludge, is allowed to help infuse the soil with nitrogen to support the growth of the organic crops.