Proper Cherry tree pruning

joeyfine

Hello People,

Last year i planted a bing cherry tree and i have been reading about pruning and i was hoping for some help since i do not want to kill such a beautiful tree.

I also have a fig tree i planted this year and i was wondering how pruning that would go or do i leave it alone?

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richie

I would cut back the left hand smaller leader later in the year. Cherry wants to have a strong central leader; having two leaders is going to cause problems.

Might be good to throw some mulch around the base of the tree, <3" deep, keep it off the base of the trunk.


Google is your friend:
Pruning Cherry Trees

http://bit.ly/k9ccss

How to Prune Bing Cherry Trees | eHow.com

joeyfine

Thank you soo much for your reply. how far down should i cut it?

richie

I would cut it just infront of the collar (it looks like a collar, pic isn't at high resolution) This will leave a tad bit more of a stump than the textbooks would suggest, but if you cut into that bulge it might not grow over and might get infected.

Take off that lower branch also.Look carefully at how it attaches to the trunk, you want to avoid cutting the trunk tissue that is going to heal the wound. Do not cut flush with the trunk.
WAIT till later in the year mid-winter when the tree is dormant.

The links I posted will teach you about training your tree over the years to have a good structure for fruiting and easy picking.

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KevinE

Just an observation; it looks to me like that tree may have been formative pruned to produce a crown at the nursery? A close up would help, but I think the central leader may have been cut off by the nurseryman? If so, I'd leave both of them there.

I would remove the lower branch & remove the grass from under the tree. I cut reservoirs in the lawn around fruit trees & keep the grass out of there. They act like tree bowls, where you can water & feed the tree, not the lawn. Mulching is definitely good. Regular feeds with potash will improve your crop (I use the liquid stuff that they make for aerial spraying of crops) Likewise, I like liquid fertilisers containing nitrogen too. Something with fish emulsion, liquid compost & seaweed is always good. Just remember not to overdo it with the nitrogen! Otherwise you will get too much leaf & not enough fruit! The new growth will be soft too, so it'll burn in hot weather.

With pruning; if you can do so where you live, wait till the leaves are all off & the frosts have stopped, but do it well before it buds up. Cut out any dead wood first, then any crossovers & then prune it to how you want it to grow.

I go into a lot of backyards were the fruit trees are in real trouble & usually it's because "dad" always "pruned" the trees & made cuts at 45% angles & left stubs everywhere.

It all sounds hard, but it's not, it's quite easy & fun! Good luck!