When is cherry picking season in New Zealand?

Cherries run December and January, peaking either side of Christmas. It is the shortest and busiest self-pick season of the year: an orchard is often open for four to six weeks, and a hot spell or a wet one can move that by a fortnight in either direction.

Central Otago is the cherry country

Most of New Zealand’s cherries grow in Central Otago, around Cromwell, Roxburgh, Clyde and Alexandra, where hot dry summers and cold winters suit the crop and the fruit ripens later than anywhere else in the country. Christmas cherries from Central Otago are close to a national institution, and the orchards know it: the last two weeks of December are the busiest of their year.

There is a second, smaller run in Canterbury, north and west of Christchurch, and a scattering in Hawke’s Bay and Marlborough. Those districts usually open a little earlier than Central Otago.

Not every orchard offers pick-your-own. Many Central Otago growers are export packhouses that sell at the gate but do not let visitors into the rows, and a few open self-pick only in the weeks when the export grade has been picked. That is why the number of genuine self-pick cherry orchards here is smaller than the size of the industry suggests.

Rain is the thing that closes an orchard

A ripe cherry splits when it takes on water: the skin cannot stretch as fast as the flesh swells. A day of rain at the wrong moment can take out a block, and orchards close self-pick at short notice because of it, sometimes for the rest of the season.

This matters more for cherries than for any other crop on this site. Never drive two hours to a cherry orchard without checking that morning.

How to pick cherries

Pick with the stem on. A cherry pulled off its stem tears at the shoulder, leaks, and keeps for about a day; one picked with the stem attached keeps for a week in the fridge. Take the stem between two fingers and lift it away from the spur with a small twist, rather than dragging the fruit down.

Leave the woody spur on the tree. Those short stubby growths are what fruit next season, and pulling one off costs the orchard fruit for years. This is the single thing growers ask visitors to get right.

Taste before you commit to a row. Varieties ripen in sequence through the season and they differ enormously: an early variety at the end of its window is soft, a late one picked early is firm and sour.

What it costs, and whether to book

Cherries are the most expensive crop on this site by weight, and orchards price by the kilo or by the bucket. Some Central Otago orchards sell timed sessions or cap numbers over the Christmas fortnight. Where a farm takes bookings, its listing says so.

Before you go

Check the orchard’s own page or Facebook the morning you travel, and go early: on a fine day between Christmas and New Year, the rows are picked over by lunchtime.

See every cherry orchard we list, find one near you on the map, or check what else is ready this month.

Updated 27 August 2026