Neglected Cherry Pruning

Discussion in 'Fruit and Nut Trees' started by kgriffwa, Jul 3, 2006.

  1. kgriffwa

    kgriffwa Member

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    Location:
    Seattle, WA USA
    We bought a new house near Seattle, WA last Fall and are very pleased to have a mature tart cherry. (I am not certain that it is a tart cherry, but it did set fruit without a second tree to polinate it.)

    The problem is that it is huge (about 25-30 feet!) and seems like it has never really been properly pruned. It has no main leader but about three main branches and is badly crowded. It is fruiting pretty well though, even on its lower branches, and seems to be disease free.

    My question is: how much can we safely prune it and when would be the best time? I don't think we could get it back to one main leader, so what would be the best strategy -- should we just try to open up the center? My husband has also mentioned having it topped to make harvesting easier, but we are not sure how much we could safely remove.

    I'd really appreciate any advice, we have very litte experience with fruit trees of any sort unless you count the young apple trees we fed to the deer in Virginia! Thanks in advance.
     
  2. Ron B

    Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

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    WA USA (Z8)
    Since it is fruiting well probably best to leave well enough alone. The main problem is that you might have to net it or cage it to beat wildlife to many of the cherries. However, at this stage it would require cutting the tree back so harshly it would basically be turning it into a stump. This would probably wreck it. Sweet cherry is naturally a tall tree, there has been a problem in the past with dwarfing rootstocks not keeping sweet cherry trees dwarf. 30 ft. is not huge for a sweet cherry, there are many around much taller than that. Some growing wild (commonly naturalized here) on woodlots are triple that height.
     
  3. jimmyq

    jimmyq Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    Location:
    Metro Vancouver, BC, Canada.
    It may benefit from a structural pruning, to correct any crossing rubbing etc type issues and to thin the interior if necessary. Heightwise you can reduce a canopy without topping, consider getting a local arborist to have a look and give you some feedback. or throw some pictures up here and perhaps we can give some further insight.
     

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