video used by persimmon: created by SweetCherryGrower (YouTube)
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.
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 mid-April to June 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 generally start by the first or second week of February in Florida, we recommend pruning between approximately November 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 yr old cherry tree in mid-summer
WHEN Will I Get Fruit?
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.
3yr old Minnie Royal Cherry Tree in late summer
HOW to prune
Year 1: (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 10-12" 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 "at head height" overall, or approximately at 6-6.5' tall. Some of your remaining branches will be 2-2.5' long. The "vase shaping" is really starting to show this year. You may also begin to see fruits this coming spring on these 250 chill hour varieties.
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 off the overall height as far up as you can reach. Your finished overall height will be somewhere between 7.5-8' tall.
If you had a few teaser fruits already at year 3, then this year should be a plentiful harvest.
video used by persimmon:
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.
Pruning Older Trees
Here's a video for pruning older trees, 5yrs and up.
Techniques are basically the same, pruning inward branches and topping.
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.