The Ultimate Guide To Growing Barbados Cherries
Grow your own Barbados cherry with trees from my website which can be found HERE.
Watch the YouTube tutorial here:
This guide is all about growing Barbados cherries aka Acerola. Barbados cherry is native to parts of the West Indies, Central and South America. This small, red cherry look-a-like fruit is extremely delicious with a fruit punch flavor. They are usually eaten fresh, but can be used to make juices and jams.
The fruits bruise easily and don't transport well, therefore you wont find these in the grocery store. So if you don't grow it yourself or know someone who is growing it, you wouldn't be able to eat it.
Barbados Cherry a high source of Vitamin C. Just 3 cherries provides the daily nutritional requirement of Vitamin C. Therefore, it is highly sought after by health-conscious individuals and food enthusiasts alike. The plant was first introduced to the island country of Barbados, hence its name, and has since spread to various tropical regions around the world.
I became aware of Barbados cherry when I was researching tropical fruits that would grow well in my Florida garden. Traditional North American cherries don't grow well in parts of the southern USA, primarily zones 8 and up because it doesn't get cold enough - they require a certain amount of cold chill hours every winter to break dormancy, flower, and then produce fruit. I get no where near the required on average 700-800 chill hours in my zone 9B Florida garden to properly grow cherries. But the Barbados Cherry grows just great here! Just think of it as a tropical cherry.
Mature Barbados cherry trees produce several flushes of fruit during the warm season. I start noticing flowers in March. About 21 to 25 days later, I'm harvesting cherries. And this will continue all the way up until around November when the weather is significantly cooler.
If your looking for an edible landscaping plant that will evade HOA's - this is a great choice. If left un-pruned it can get as tall as 12FT. It resembles a little bushy oak tree. It can easily be pruned and maintained into a hedge or shrub, if needed.
Its one of the few plants that produce straight thru the heat of summer here in my Florida garden - which says a lot. That means it tolerates some extreme weather.
Barbados cherry trees barely have any pests or diseases, drought tolerant once established, doesn't require special soil or fertilizers, and the birds love eating the cherries too.
This fruit tree can be started from seed but it is very difficult and germination rates are very low - estimated to be around 5%. Because of this, its normally propagated thru cuttings.
Ideal Growing Conditions
Cold hardiness - This is a tropical plant and it does not like the cold but it withstands cold much better than a lot of the other tropical plants that I grow. It is cold hardy down to 28F - that means it will survive in garden zones 9 and up without protection just fine. If your in a lower zone, either protect it during the winter or grow it in a pot/container and bring it indoors if its forecasted to drop below 40F, paying special attention to young plants which are the most susceptible to cold damage. Once established though, it can tolerate brief periods down to 28F. Here in my Florida garden zone 9B - I don't cover ANYTHING during the winter and its fine. The coldest temperature I have tracked was 30F, just to give you an idea. It basically slows down in growth over the winter but picks right back up in spring.
Sun Requirements - It prefers 8 hours or more of full sun to produce the most amount of fruit.
Soil Requirements - Everything grows best in soil with lots of composted organic matter, but you can still grow Barbados Cherry in poor soils like my native sandy soil here in FL. Just toss some fertilizer its way every now and then.
Water - Allow the soil to dry out a little in between watering. If you stick your finger into the soil and it is dry to the 2nd knuckle, then its ok to water. If your growing it in a pot or container monitor a little extra closely because the soil dries out faster than when planted in ground.
How To Plant A Barbados Cherry Tree
Planting a tree that is smaller than a 1 gallon size - If you purchased a plant that is smaller than a 1 gallon size - then I recommend you plant it in a 1 gallon sized pot and grow it out. I have a tendency to forget about newly small plants so I like to grow them to a bigger size before I plant outdoors. Just fill a pot with potting mix and plant it. When you start to notice roots coming out of the bottom of the drainage holes, gently lift the plant up to check how developed the root system is. If the roots wrap around the whole container, then its ready to be transplanted outdoors or into a bigger pot. If you decide to grow the Barbados Cherry in a container or pot, then I recommend the biggest pot size you can find and manage to move around/pick up on your own when its full of soil. The bigger the container the more it will produce.
Planting a tree into the ground - Make a mound with some soil. You could use your native soil but I like to use compost. I build a round mound about 2FT tall and 3FT wide and plant the tree in the middle. This is to protect the tree from poor drainage which will cause root rot. I cant tell you how many fruit trees died on me before I figured this out because here in Florida, we get monsoon rains during the summer and everything floods. Plus we are close to the water table, so our soils are extra wet for about half the year. Planting fruit trees in mounds lifts the plant up and protects the roots from excess water. Before planting the tree, add a handful of some fertilizer to give it a boost. I like to use Espoma brand Citrus tone for all of my fruit trees. Its organic and you don't run the risk of overdosing or burning young plants. Also if you have some, add azomite powder. This is powdered rocks that contains lots of minerals. Mix it up with the soil and plant the tree.
Mulch the bottom heavily to help keep water levels consistent. My tree is established to the point that I don't even have to water it anymore but I do continue to lay down a new layer of thick mulch every year.
Caring For Your Barbados Cherry Tree
Pruning - You have several options when it comes to pruning. It can be left alone and it will grow into a mini tree or you can prune it into a hedge or shrub shape. Its up to you. If not pruned it will mature at around 12FT tall. It resembles a small bushy oak tree. I prune the bottom most branches so I can easily get under it to harvest cherries. Then it sprawls out overhead. You could easily plant a whole row of these and keep them trimmed to make a privacy hedge. Its very ornamental and is semi-evergreen so it stays green for most of the year.
Pests - Luckily, Barbados Cherry doesn't have that many pest issues. Monitor for any nematodes, whiteflies, scale, and plant bugs, which will attack and deform the fruit.
Scale can be an issue and is common among various fruit trees. These tiny round shelled insects suck the juices out of the stems and branches. There are lots of different types of scale but the most common I see are smooth shiny black shelled scale and barnacle scale which looks like white round barnacles. Scale is a tough pest to treat for because its hard shell protects it from pesticides and sprays. They populate quickly and in large numbers suck the juices out of your plants causing stunted growth, curled leaves, and the worse part is they can spread to other plants in your garden. A classic indication that you have scale is if you notice patches of black sooty mold along the stems and branches. Scale secretes a sticky "honeydew" substance on the branches and mold grows in it. To treat for scale you need to smoother them out with horticultural oil spray. BUT do not spray when its very hot outside, I would say over 80F or you can risk burning your plants. I spray all of my fruit trees with horticultural oil at regular intervals (every 2 weeks) during the winter time. This not only kills existing scale but also smoothers out any of their larvae and eggs. It also helps reduce populations of leaf miners which is another common pest I see on my fruit trees especially citrus. If its summer time and you have a bad scale infestation, then I recommend you spray with an organic insecticidal soap every 7 days. If the situation doesn't get better, then try AzaMax which is another organic spray but its just higher strength and more expensive. I have used it before as a last resort when I had a very bad scale infestation on one of my fruit trees and it worked well.
Diseases - There really are no diseases except for Cercospora leaf spot - which occurs in areas with high humidity. Its basically little brown spots with a yellow ring around it. I have seen a very small amount of this on my tree but its not enough to treat the whole tree. If it was a serious issue I would spray with 1 cup of hydrogen peroxide per gallon of water every 5-7 days until it clears up.
Critters - Birds go crazy for these cherries. It doesn't bother me because it produces so much that there is plenty to share. I rather enjoy attracting birds to my garden. I like to harvest the cherries in the morning before the birds get to them.
When To Harvest Barbados Cherries
For the best and sweetest flavor, I like to harvest them when they are very dark red. They will not continue to ripen up on your kitchen counter once harvested. Eat them the same day they are harvested because they have a very short shelf life - max 2 days.
Barbados cherries are juicy and have a fruit punch like flavor. There are 2-3 seeds in the middle versus a big seed pit in the middle like North American cherries.
Grow your own Barbados cherry with trees from my website which can be found HERE.
