If you have planted a cherry tree in the garden, you also want to harvest cherries. In order to ensure rich flowering and a good yield, the cherry tree should be pruned regularly and carefully from the start.

Worth knowing about the cherry tree growth

The sweet cherry and sour cherry trees have different growth characteristics. While the sweet cherry grows very upright and forms a distinctly tiered crown, the sour cherry likes to branch out and has a large number of long shoots. For this reason, sour cherries require regular fruit tree pruning, while sweet cherries only require planting and renewal pruning at a given time.

How to properly cut

The pruning helps the gardener to a rich harvest and should therefore be done with care. With both sweet and sour cherries, it is important to observe the following general information:

  • the training pruning influences the direction of the shoot and thus the formation of flowers and fruit,
  • the twigs and especially the branches are cut vertically; small cuts heal faster, larger ones are coated with wound sealant,
  • to thin out the inward growing and crossing branches are removed,
  • when pruning fruit, the removed branches are cut back to new growth at the base to allow the one-year-old shoots to bear fruit again,
  • summer or winter pruning slows down or promotes growth,
  • Plant pruning is used after planting, the middle and two to four strong leading shoots are cut back to four to six eyes, taking into account the juice scale, and the remaining shoots are removed.
  • the radical pruning rejuvenates the over-aged trees, at the same time the trunk elongation and skeletal branches are sharply shortened, which enables the formation of new shoots.

The right time for the tree pruning

The cherry tree is pruned in August-September (summer pruning) or from the beginning of March (winter pruning), depending on whether you want to encourage or slow down growth. Carrying out the tree pruning in the spring has the advantage that the tree is still leafless and therefore offers a better overview.

tips and tricks

Coating the cut with wound sealant is recommended if the cut surface is larger than 4 cm in diameter or if the cut was made during the rest period, as no new tissue can form during this time and the wound would otherwise dry out without being closed.

Category:

Vegetable garden