Pruning Young Sweet Cherry Trees:
Year 1 to Year 4
Pruning your young cherry tree is actually a simple, systematic art that can be easily duplicated from tree to tree. This video will show you how to prune a sweet cherry tree from year one to year four, in 7 short minutes.
Tart cherries and tropical cherries have different growth patterns and are pruned differently.
The author of the above video, Aris, grows 15 different varieties of sweet cherries in his native homeland, the mountainous area of Macedonia, in northern Greece.
He maintains over 2000 cherry trees in his orchard, as of the time of this video. He is demonstrating the vase-shape pruning method as it applies to these sweet cherries on semi-dwarfing root stock.
video used by permission: created by SweetCherryGrower (YouTube)
WHEN to prune
Our grafted trees are a minimum of 2yrs old when we get them in January. They are generally ready for distribution by May 1st, depending on weather and soil conditions.
Pruning is best done when the trees are dormant in late fall to mid-winter. Since spring blossoms on these cherries generally start by the first or second week of March in this part of Florida, we recommend pruning between approximately December 30th to January 15th. Aim early if you are south of Gainesville.
Pruning is best done during a dry spell to avoid fungal contamination of the cuts. It is also advisable to spray the cuts with a fungicide after pruning. We use our (organic) cedar oil product for this quite successfully.
You can actually prune right up until you start to see flower buds and leaf buds emerge. In this video, the author prunes from "end of summer to end of fall" (because he has 2000 trees, and he's in the mountains of Greece), but not when the rains come.
For purposes of pruning, consider your new tree to be "year 2" the first winter after you receive it, even though it technically turns 3 yrs old when you see the first sign of leaves.
2 yo / 15g cherry tree, 8wks in the pot
WHEN Will I Get Fruit?
3yr old cherry tree along about June
Our California grower tells us that a 3 yr old grafted cherry tree will begin to bloom and set fruit. And indeed we have seen a few fruits on 3yr old Royal Crimsons and Minnie Royals, as of this writing. Some of that "early bird-itis" can be attributed to the Maxma-14 rootstocks.
That said, the young man who produced this video lives in the mountainous region of Macedonia in Northern Greece, and says that using his methods of pruning, his varieties start fruiting at approximately year 5, and at year 6 or 7 the harvest is plentiful.
HOW to prune
Year 1: (this is done before you see them!)
A newly grafted tree is just a single trunk, a straight stick, 6-10' height on average. Make a single cut at "knee height", or approximately 32-48". Our California grower likes to trim at approximately 46" tall. So, this step has already been done for you.
Year 2: (this is our starter size!)
Your sweet cherry tree has developed about 3 branches (might be only 2, could be 4) starting at the height of last year's cut, and those branches may have grown as much as 9-10' tall again. Your tree looks very tall and skinny.
Make pruning cuts at waist height, or approximately 6-8" from where each limb began branching. Your tree will now be about 5' tall overall. If you are purchasing your new tree in January or later, this step has already been done for you.
Year 3:
Your tree has put on a lot more little branches this year. First prune branches that grow inward.
Then cut the entire tree "less than head height" overall, or approximately at 5.5-6' tall. Cut each branch approximately 6-8" from where each limb began to branch -- just like you did last year. The "vase shaping" is really starting to show this year. You may also begin to see blossoms this coming spring on these 250 chill hour varieties.
Your 3 year old tree should have at least 5 branches at the vase-shape level in January, after pruning.
Year 4:
Your cherry tree has once again grown to 10', maybe 12' tall this year, and really widened out.
First prune inward branches again, and anything that is exceptionally low. Next cut each branch back to within 8-10" of where it forked from the tree. Your overall height will be approximately 6-7' tall.
If you had a few blossoms in year 3, you may see some fruit sets in year 4.
You are establishing a strong vase shape with at least 7-9 branches as a foundation for your tree. Your future pruning will therefore create more cherries at this point.
Pruning Older Trees
Here's a video for pruning older trees, 5yrs and up.
Techniques are basically the same, pruning inward branches and topping.
video used by permission:
created by SweetCherryGrower (YouTube)
click on "full screen" to enlarge player
See all our low chill. sweet cherry varieties available, as well as order here.
First prune all branches with an inwardly direction of growing. Make the cut 5cm (approx 2.5 inches) from the base of the stem, as there will be flower buds at the base already. Leaving a slight stub there will mean more fruit. The remaining branch will be dead for the next season.
Next prune any upright shoots. They grow very fast and take all the energy of the tree, creating too much internal shade, and must be pruned off. They too will have flower buds at the base, so prune them 2-5cm from the base, leaving a stub and not disturbing the blossoms.
Prune any shoots that just "hang down". They are weak and don't add to production, so prune them flush with the stem they sprouted from.
Tip prune the remaining branches, leaving the out facing bud to encourage wider branching. Your overall tree height will increase at a rate of about 1.5-2' per year at this stage, until your tree is approximately 12' tall for these semi-dwarfing root stocks.