Cherry week
The term cherry weeks is used to describe the harvest time of the cherries. The cherry weeks begin differently with the ripening of the cherry variety Earliest of the Mark .
The cherry weeks were made binding for Germany by the cherry pomologist Christian Truchseß von Wetzhausen zu Bettenburg . This definition has been retained by the subsequent pomologists until today. He chose the very old variety Earliest of the Mark , which to his knowledge was the earliest ripe, as the starting variety for the cherry weeks.
The cherry weeks start much earlier in the south (for example at Lake Constance ) than in the north (for example Altes Land ). The exact harvest date depends on various factors such as climate, microclimate, location, soil, nutrient and water supply. A cherry week does not last a week, but 15 days. The cherry weeks are generally believed to start around May 1st. Christian Truchseß von Wetzhausen divided his table into seven cherry weeks, which thus extend from about May 1st to August 15th. Due to numerous new breeds and also accidental finds, there are now very late varieties, which means that the classification had to be expanded. The cherry variety that ripens at the latest is the red late harvest (10th – 12th cherry week). The latest cherry in commercial cultivation is the staccato club cherry from Canada (9th – 10th cherry week ). Since, in contrast, there are now also varieties that are ripe before the comparison variety, it is usually said that “ripens before the first cherry week”.
List of cherry varieties with indication of the cherry week