The Importance of Pruning for Healthy Cherry Trees. Benefits and goals of cherry tree pruning. Optimal periods for pruning sweet cherries: summer and winter
Cherry trees are both aesthetically and functionally valuable to the landscape as they bear vibrant foliage in the fall, bloom beautifully in the spring, and also bear delicious fruit. Like other trees, they need to be pruned regularly. Knowing the right time to prune a sweet cherry tree and how to do it correctly is invaluable. Pruning your cherry tree is essential if you want it to produce a bountiful harvest, be easy to care for, stay healthy, and look great in your garden. How should you cut sweet cherries? Read on to learn more about proper cherry tree pruning.
Why should you prune a sweet cherry tree?
Cherry trees, and fruit trees in general, benefit greatly from regular pruning. The primary purpose of cherry tree pruning is to maximize sunlight. Pruning a cherry tree promotes better fruit development, a bountiful harvest, and disease resistance by increasing air circulation and opening light pathways. If a cherry tree is allowed to grow into its ideal shape, it will bear better fruit early in its life and generally live longer after pruning.
- In summer
As a rule, fruit trees are best pruned in the winter when they are dormant. However, the sweet cherry is an exception andshould be in summerbe cut immediately after harvest – yes, that is the right time for this. Remember that the tree's energy for development and fruiting is reduced during summer pruning. When done correctly, thinning cuts can effectively expand the tree canopy by removing branches and twigs.
- In winter
You can also remove smaller twigs and branches from your tree in winter. The tree has the same amount of stored energy during the cold months. Pruning during the dormant season should be done as late in the winter as possible to avoid damage to the tree. It is best to cut sweet cherries when there is no longer any danger of frost.
- Cut young sweet cherries
Pruning a young cherry tree to prepare it for flowering is best done in early spring. Younger trees are more sensitive to cold, so pruning should begin as soon as buds form, but only when there is no longer any risk of extreme cold. Pruning is best done in early spring or after the cherry tree has produced fruit.
Cutting sweet cherries – tools, instructions and tips
- What do you need?
Hand pruners, long-handled pruning shears and a pruning saw are required for cutting the cherry tree. Bypass scissors are superior to anvil scissors because they cut more precisely. Before pruning any bearing tree, including cherry trees, be sure to disinfect your pruning equipment. This happensso that the cherry treedoes not catch diseases from other plants. Clean the blades with rubbing alcohol and a towel, or disinfect them with a solution of one part bleach to nine parts water, then rinse and dry.
- Here's how it's done:
Most flower buds usually develop on the two- to three-year-old shoots of the sweet cherry tree. However, if they don't get enough light, they only produce a few fruits and only have a few leaves. Without routine pruning, the fruit cover shifts further and further to the edge of the crown, while the interior of the tree crown becomes noticeably bare. That's why thinning the crown is the most important pruning measure for older sweet cherry trees.
First, you should cut back any side shoots that have grown into the interior of the crown. Then you should prune all branched branches with fruit wood that is too old. It is best to cut them off directly above a young side shoot so that the side shoot can take the place of the removed fruiting branch. It is better to make a few large cuts with the saw than many small ones, as these will cause less damage to the tree. The short side branches are particularly fertile and will eventually produce a large number of flower buds. However, you should cut away the competing shoots if they grow steeply upwards.
During the rest phase, which takes place in the winter months, you have the best overview of the structure of the cherry tree. As already mentioned, smaller twigs and branches can also be removed in late winter - all you need is your pruning shears.
Cut young sweet cherries
It is a common misconception that ayoung cherry treedoes not need to be trimmed. However, pruning the cherry tree, especially when it is young, creates the framework for a beautiful crown. In the first 10 years of a tree's life, training pruning is carried out in winter or early spring to bring the tree's crown into a healthy shape. During training pruning, one to two thirds of the trunk extension, the leading branches and the first-order fruiting branches are cut back every year. An outward-facing leaf bud is cut off. You should cut the leading branches back to the same height. Then shorten the inwardly growing branches to 3 - 4 buds and cut the outwardly growing branches back to a length - the length should be significantly shorter than the leading branch. In the following years you should cut the first order side branches that grow outwards. The second and third order side wood should mature into fruit wood and is not pruned.
All horizontal branches of the trunk extension are left, on all others you should leave 3 - 4 shoot buds. The horizontal branches are also cut back if they become leader branches.
