07/02/2025
FAQs about Bittner Singer Orchards U-Pick Cherries
When will we open? Now!. Different varieties ripen throughout the month, so we will be open for about 4 weeks.
What are our hours: 8 AM to 8 PM Daily
Are you open if it rains? yes
Is there an entrance fee? Yes. $5/person over 2 years old. That will be credited to your purchase. There are no refunds for not using your credit.
For safety reasons, Handbags, backpacks, bowls, spices, and vehicles are not allowed in the orchard. This is a working farm, therefore please wear closed toed shoes. Sandals, flipflops and opened toed shoes are not allowed. There are sticks, stones and other debris on the ground. There is no pavement. This is a working farm, not Disneyland.
Likewise, picnics are not allowed in the orchard. Sampling in the orchard is allowed, however cherries need to be consumed outside of the orchard. Also, remember the orchard is bring in, take out. We have trash bins near the entrance. Please do not leave trash in the orchard.
How much do the cherries cost? If you pick less than 10 pounds, they are $5/pound.
Do you have a cherry pitter? No.
Are dogs welcome? All dogs must be leashed and you MUST clean up after them. Please do not allow them to bother other pickers.
Do we bring our own bags? We have plastic bags that fit into the picking buckets we use so you do not need to bring any containers to pick cherries. After you pick the cherries you want, we pull the bag out of the bucket and weigh it to calculate the price. Please DO NOT pick more cherries than you want to purchase. All cherries you pick need to be paid for. Growing fruit is our livelihood, not our hobby.
Varieties and types of cherries:
Sweet and Sour (some people call the Tart) are 2 different species of cherries.
Sweets are what most Americans eat fresh. Most varieties or red to dark mahogany. Some sweet cherries are also yellow with a red blush (we call those whites) and we have one variety that is all yellow. We have lots of the darks, some whites and just a few yellow in our orchard.
When it comes to sour cherries, the main variety everyone knows as the sour or tart cherry typically used for pies and deserts in America is the Montmorency variety. They have a bright red skin. We have lots of those. They start to ripen about July 10 and we should have them till late July. People from most of Europe and the Middle East are familiar to sour cherries that are darker in color than Montmorency. We have some of those varieties too. The ones we have come from Hungary. We have 3 different varieties of these types that ripen though the of the month of July.
If you are looking for a special type of cherry, ask at check in. We try to have a list of row numbers of ripe cherries of each type to send pickers to the most likely area of the orchard to find what you are looking for.
There are 50 different varieties of cherries in our U-Pick orchard, so you should find something you like. Most customers mix different varieties.
All our cherries are on dwarf rootstocks that keep the trees from growing tall. No ladders or climbing trees are allowed. We will pick some of the cherries that are too high to reach from the ground to sell at area farm markets. Most cherries can be reached from the ground.
Harvesting cherries with the stems on thinking the keep longer is a myth. As long as the stem scar (where the stem pulls off the cherry) is dry when you pick it, cherries will store very well in your refrigerator. Cherries do not ripen after they are picked. If they do not taste good when you pick them, they will not taste any better days later.
If you are looking for already picked cherries, check out Singer Farm Natural just East of our orchard or Hiller Sweet Corn Farm on Route 78 in Burt. We also have a stand at the Clinton Bailey Market.
