The service tree is a native tree species that is rarely found in forests. With us you will learn everything about the service tree, its properties and planting it in your own garden.
Despite its valuable wood and edible fruit, the service tree is hardly known and is only rarely planted. We will introduce you to the native tree species and give tips on planting, caring for and using the service tree.
Serviceberry: origin and properties
The checker tree (Sorbus torminalis) is also known as the Atlas berry, Adlitz berry, Wild Sperberbaum, Swiss pear tree or Ruhr pear, as its fruits used to be taken against dysentery.
It is closely related to the mountain ash or rowan berry (Sorbus aucuparia) and belongs to the rose family (Rosaceae). It is distributed across Europe, Asia Minor, the Caucasus and North Africa and is found in Germany mainly in the central German hill country, southern Germany and the foothills of the Alps up to an altitude of 900 m. The service tree is considered a climate tree.
The service tree grows as a medium-sized tree up to a height of 10 to 25 m and its crown becomes up to 12 m wide in old age. On shallow soils, on the other hand, it develops more into a large shrub or as a small tree of around 5 to 10 m in height. When young, it is extremely fast-growing and increases the length of its shoots by 40 to 60 cm a year. The sought-after wood of the service tree is extremely hard, tough and white-yellow to reddish in colour. It is often offered at top prices under the name "pear tree" and is used for making flutes and small pieces of furniture as well as for turning work and as veneer. The buds of the service tree in winter are ovate, 7-9 mm long and green with a brown edge. The maple-like, rounded, lobed leaves of the service tree are matt grey-green on the underside. In autumn, the tree turns a gorgeous yellow-orange to reddish-brown.
The white, bee-friendly flowers of the service tree grow in large panicles and bloom from May to June. They are reminiscent of apple blossoms, but give off a rather unpleasant smell. resulting from itdeveloping edible fruits are ovoid and about 1.5 cm long. From October onwards, after the effects of frost, the serviceberry fruits, which are soft and leathery brown in color after the effects of frost, feed birds and mammals. The service tree is a weak, competitive pioneer tree that needs sufficient light to develop. Therefore it is hardly to be found in our densely planted and rather dark forests.
Tip: In contrast to rowanberries, serviceberries can be eaten raw. The leaves of the rowanberry are also lobed, the fruits are orange-red in color when ripe and clearly distinguishable from the serviceberry.
Plant serviceberry: location, time and procedure
The service tree is a warmth-loving tree that should only be planted individually in larger gardens. The ideal location for service berries is on dry to fresh, nutrient-rich and calcareous, well-drained soil in full sun or partial shade. The pH can range from 4.5 to 8, i.e. it can range from acidic to slightly alkaline. The service tree dies or hardly grows on wet soil or pure sand.
The best time to plant the trees is between October and the end of November, when they go into hibernation and have lost most of their leaves. Most tree nurseries offer standard service trees, half-stems and trees that are only a few years young. As a tree in a solitary position, a distance of 4 to 5 meters to other plants should be maintained on all sides. Dig a large planting hole at the future location, which is about 1.5 times the size of the service tree root ball. For an optimal start to growth, add some predominantly organic long-term fertilizer, such as our Plantura organic universal fertilizer, to the excavated soil and mix both. The nutrients contained in the fertilizer granules are released by soil organisms over a period of several months. Only then are they available for plant roots and there is no risk of nutrients being washed out.
Now lift the serviceberry into the planting hole and make sure not to plant the ball too deep. This is particularly important for grafted plants, where the grafting point must be well above the ground. Now fill up the planting hole with the soil-fertilizer mixture and solidify the substrate around the plant a little. If the plants are already larger, two stakes should be driven into the ground at right angles to the wind direction and the tree secured with a stable tree tie. The tree must be restricted in its movement so that young fine roots do not tear when the trunk is cut throughwind is moved. In locations exposed to the wind, there is also a risk that the tree will grow crookedly. Finally, form a pouring rim out of soil and then water vigorously.
Tip: The serviceberry is self-incompatible, so it cannot fertilize itself. A second serviceberry tree in the garden as a pollinator increases yields. However, the two trees must not be clones. It is best to choose two different varieties or two plants from different tree nurseries or wild stocks.
Summary: Plant serviceberry
- Soil: Dry to fresh, nutritious and calcareous, permeable
- Location: sun or partial shade
- Planting period: October - end of November
- Planting distance: 4 - 5 meters
- Tie Tree for Stability
Care for the service tree: cutting, watering and more
The service tree is easy to care for and requires little attention. Freshly planted trees can be watered to support them in critically dry summers. The checkerberry is amazingly drought tolerant, adult trees hardly ever need water.
Pruning of checkerberries is not absolutely necessary, but diseased and dead branches should be removed from time to time and the crown should be thinned out a little if necessary.
Occasionally, aphid populations, fruit tree bark beetles (Scolytus rugulosus) and some fruit tree moths such as the plum spider moth (Yponomeuta padella) infest the service tree. However, biting the roots of young trees by voles is much more dangerous - a wire basket can help here directly when planting. Scab (Venturia inaequalis) and Armillaria fungi are among the few service tree diseases and can cause the death of young or otherwise weakened trees.
Serviceberries are completely hardy, their leaves are only somewhat sensitive to early frost in October. They can fall off prematurely - but this does not endanger new growth next year.
Propagating serviceberry
Serviceberries can be propagated generatively by seeds or vegetatively by rooting or grafting.
Good results with seed propagation can be achieved by simply sowing the seeds in October after harvest and allowing nature to break the dormancy leaves - however, the seedsgladly eaten by animals in winter.
Like most native tree species, serviceberry seeds also have dormancy. The fruits contain numerous seeds that need a longer cold stimulus to germinate, i.e. they have to be stratified. You will find precise instructions for the successful sowing of cold germs in every season in our special article. Serviceberries propagated from seeds only flower and bear fruit after 15 to 20 years.
For asexual, vegetative propagation, from a certain age the service tree forms many root shoots that can be cut off and transplanted. An alternative is the grafting of young checkerberry shoots on hawthorn (Crataegus) or pear (Pyurs) rootstocks. For this purpose, leafless scions are cut in late autumn or winter and grafted on in early spring between the end of February and mid-March. In our article "Treating apple trees" we present various methods that are also suitable for grafting serviceberries. Refined service berries fruit immediately if the scion comes from an adult, i.e. already flowering service berry.
Harvesting and use of Sorbus torminalis
The edible fruits of the service tree can only be really enjoyed after the first frost or after a longer storage period. Only then do the numerous fruits become soft and doughy and develop their applesauce-like aroma. The service berry harvest season therefore begins in October or November and ends in December. The fruits are cut off as a whole panicle and then plucked off individually.
The taste is reminiscent of that of the medlar (Mespilus germanica) and numerous speci alties such as checkerberry jam, compote and juice can be made. Liqueur, French brandy "Eau d'Alizer" and the serviceberry schnapps, the "Adlitzbeerwasser", are among the most expensive fine spirits made from wild fruit, for which around 150 euros are paid per liter. Dried service berries are real delicacies because they have an aroma similar to almonds and marzipan.
Another rare relative of rowan and service tree is the service tree (Sorbus domestica). You can find out everything about this valuable, rare fruit tree in our profile.