Pruning the cherry tree: Time & Procedure

When should you prune cherry trees? Is there a difference in pruning young and old cherry trees? How do you cut sour and sweet cherries? You can find out everything you need to know about pruning cherries correctly here.

For many gardeners there is nothing more beautiful than a cherry tree in their own garden. To ensure that the tree produces many sweet or sweet and sour cherries, care is required: A cherry tree should be pruned regularly so that the tree remains vital and can present itself in all its splendour. But not every cherry tree has the same requirements: The larger, but lighter sweet cherries (Prunus avium) are usually much faster growing than the smaller, mostly dark red sour cherries (Prunus cerasus ) and therefore need a different cut. In this article, we will tell you how to proceed with the pruning of the cherry tree and what differences you should consider when pruning sweet cherries and sour cherries.

When do you prune cherry trees?

Cherries should be pruned annually, as they don't do well when pruned too infrequently and then radically.

When do you cut sweet cherries?

While most other fruit trees are pruned in late winter, a summer pruning is more appropriate for sweet cherries. In the case of sweet cherries, pruning takes place after the harvest, i.e. usually between the beginning of August and the end of September. Pruning in summer curbs excessive growth, which is typical for sweet cherries. In addition, cuts heal better in warm and dry weather, making the cherry tree less susceptible to disease.

When do you cut sour cherries?

Sour cherries tolerate the typical winter pruning between November and March very well, so like most fruit trees they are pruned in the cold season.

Tip: Many gardeners are afraid that their cherry tree will lose vitality after pruning. The best way to prepare the tree well for pruning is regular maintenance. Fertilize yoursCherry tree in spring with a good, primarily organic fertilizer like our Plantura organic universal fertilizer. Depending on its size, you only need 50 to 150 grams of this. A he althy, well-kept cherry tree can usually cope with severe pruning without any problems.

Pruning the cherry tree: instructions on how to do it

Pruning cherry trees is extremely important if you want to grow a vigorous, well-fruiting tree. It is important to think about your own tree and the goal of the cut before you start pruning:

How strong is your cherry tree?

Strong-growing varieties are encouraged to grow even more through regular pruning, but this tends to produce fewer fruits. Weak-growing varieties may have to be stimulated to produce new shoots by pruning in order to produce enough fruiting wood. That is why it is important to consider vigor when pruning the cherry tree. Slow-growing trees are pruned more radically than strong-growing trees.

What is the effect of the strength of the cut?

Radical pruning measures stimulate vegetative growth, i.e. the formation of new shoots and leaves. They can therefore be useful if a tree is hardly producing any new shoots and therefore no new fruit wood. The generative growth, i.e. the formation of new flowers and fruits, is also reduced by excessive pruning, the tree then only reacts by forming more leaf mass.

How is the pruning done on the cherry tree?

With cherries, knots are not cut "on a ring" but "on a cone". It doesn't matter whether you want to remove a branch from the middle shoot or direct it to a side shoot: a stub at least 7 cm long is always left, as cherries hardly ever overflow wounds, they just "dry back".

What tool do you use?

Cherries above a certain size are primarily cut with a pruning saw or, even better, a fruit tree saw and rarely with rose scissors. The reason for this is that whole branches and not just individual twigs are usually removed from the cherry tree. In any case, make sure that the tool is clean, sharp and rust-free. If the blade is dull or rusty, the cutting edge can fray. On the other hand, if the blade is dirty, the wound can become contaminated - both of which can lead to poorer wound healing on the tree or even infection of the cut and should therefore be avoided at all costs.

How do you decide which branches to remove?

Sour cherries in particular tend to form unwanted dominant side shoots again and again. To prevent this, you should proceed systematically according to the branch strength ratio when pruning: First, the trunk and the central shoot are viewed from the bottom up: If the trunk narrows at a point where a branch emerges , this branch is shortened. The following applies: The more the trunk tapers, the more the said branch has to be shortened.
The whole thing can also be applied to the leading branches attached to the trunk. If the leading branch is noticeably narrower at one point, the outgoing side branch should be shortened accordingly. This encourages the desired leaders and branches and creates a beautiful crown instead of a chaotic bush.

What is the difference between the cut of sweet and sour cherries?

Despite their close relationship, sweet cherries and sour cherries differ significantly in their growth and are therefore cut differently, which is why we will go into more detail about the different methods below.

What is the goal of the cut?

A distinction is made between planting pruning, training pruning, maintenance pruning and rejuvenation pruning. All of these are explained in more detail below.

Summary: Important principles of cherry tree pruning

• Adapt pruning to growth rate: Prune strong-growing plants less than slow-growing ones.
• The harder the cut, the more the tree will respond with vegetative growth. This can affect fruit formation.
• Never cut on astring, but on tenons.
• Tends to cut more with a saw than with scissors. Remove entire branches instead of small twigs.
• Prevent the development of too many dominant branches: Clearly shorten branches where the main shoot tapers.
• Sweet and sour cherries are cut differently.

Pruning old cherry tree

If an old cherry tree slowly begins to age, i.e. hardly grows, forms little new fruit wood and therefore only bears sparse fruit, it can be encouraged to grow again with a rejuvenation pruning will. But be careful: Since the tree has to expend a lot of energy for the new growth, the generative growth (i.e. the formation of flowers and fruits) is often less pronounced immediately afterwards. But don't worry - as soon as thatIf vegetative growth flattens out after being agitated by pruning, the yields of the tree also increase significantly again. The steps to pruning an old cherry tree are as follows:

1. On the old cherry tree, all dead or diseased branches are cut off at the cones.
2. The leading shoots are shortened to a quarter, overhanging skeletal branches are cut back to young branches.
3. Knots growing into the crown or crossing each other are also removed.
4. Avoid stem wounds larger than 10 cm.
5. In the case of very old trees, extend the pruning for several years.

Rejuvenation pruning of old cherry trees is best done in late February. However, it is important to ensure that the old cherry tree is only cut in dry, mild weather, otherwise the wood may be damaged by frost.

Important: You can revitalize an old cherry tree with a radical rejuvenating pruning. However, this will very likely also shorten the lifespan of the tree, as cherries do not cope well with such invasive procedures in the long term.

Pruning young cherry tree

Many gardeners believe that a young cherry tree does not need pruning. In fact, pruning the cherry tree at a young age lays the foundation for a beautiful, even crown. Before pruning the plant, however, you first have to decide on a crown shape: sweet cherries are best grown in spindle or pyramidal crowns, sour cherries in funnel crowns, which accommodate multi-shoot growth. Once you have made your choice, the foundation for the cherry tree's future shape is laid in the first year after planting with a plant pruning . To do this, proceed as follows:

1. Determine the central shoot or several leading shoots depending on the desired crown shape.
2. Select several branches evenly distributed around these main branches as side branches, remove superfluous branches on cones. Optimally, the selected side branches should be at a 45° angle to the main branch. Unfavorable branches can be corrected in their growth by tying them up or down.
3. Shorten the main branches of the cherry tree by about a third, making sure that the length under the main branches is the same. When training to form a spindle or pyramid, the central drive should be left significantly longer.
4. Become buds on top of the leading branchesremoved.

But pruning a young cherry tree doesn't stop after pruning. Especially in very young trees less than 5 years old, the crown is still sparse and must be encouraged to branch out. For this purpose, a training cut should be carried out at least 3 years in a row. To do this, proceed as follows:

1. Shorten the central shoot and leading branches by a third. Make sure that all main branches are about the same length and that the cut is made on an outward-facing leaf bud.
2. Cut branches of the leading branches that grow inwards on the cones.
3. Branches of the central branches that grow outward are regularly trimmed to promote branching.
4. In the following years, when pruning the cherry tree, the removed fruit wood is shortened to a cone with about four eyes, from which new fruit wood can then develop.
5. Slanted side shoots on the leader can - if they grow in a suitable place - be tied in a 45° angle. Vertical shoots are removed on cones.

Cut sour cherries

As with every pruning of a cherry tree, the above-mentioned principles of pruning the cherry tree must also be observed when pruning the sour cherry: pruning is done depending on the growth strength, with a saw and with a view to the branch size ratio, as described above. The goal of pruning is to avoid forming an overly dense, bushy crown and reduce it to a few desirable leaders in the funnel crown. The sour cherries are cut between November and March.
Within the sour cherries, the morello types differ from the sweet sour cherry type:

• Moorelle types only bear fruit on the one-year-old shoots, so that the crown is quickly full of bare, worn shoots that do not bear fruit the following year.
• It is therefore essential to cut off every harvested shoot or at least shorten it - this is the only way to ensure that enough new fruit shoots form for the coming year. As a rule of thumb: Three quarters of the fruit shoots are cut back to at least a quarter of their length.
• Remove diseased, dead or very old wood and otherwise proceed according to the branch size ratio to support the desired leaders.

When cutting the Süßweichsel type you have to proceed differently:

• In general, cutting these sour cherries is less demanding, as they often develop a balanced mourning crown even without cutting.
• The sweet sour cherry differs from the morello cherry in that it can also form bouquet shoots and thus fruit on perennial wood.
• For this reason, the sweet sour cherry is cut in a similar way to the sweet cherry.

Cut the sweet cherry

As with every cherry tree pruning, the above-mentioned principles of cherry tree pruning must also be observed when pruning sweet cherries: Pruning is done according to growth strength, with a saw and with a view to the branch size ratio. The aim of the pruning is to maintain the dominance of the central shoot and to generate new fruit wood. Sweet cherries are cut in summer after harvest.

In contrast to the morello cherry, the sweet cherry develops most of its fruit on short shoots on its annual shoots and on the perennial bouquet sprouts. For this reason, a sweet cherry tree is also pruned much more cautiously so as not to remove the fruit-bearing wood:

• In order to prevent the inside of the crown from becoming bare, thinning out is the top priority when pruning sweet cherries: Inward-growing twigs are cut back, as are heavily branched branches with over-aged fruit wood.
• Younger branches with bouquet shoots, on the other hand, should be retained and are only removed if they grow steeply upwards or cross or rub against other branches. By removing old fruiting wood and leaving new one in place, what is known as "moving around" of the fruiting wood is achieved - because younger fruiting wood yields higher quality, larger fruit than very old fruiting wood.
• You should also look out for rotten, diseased or dead branches when pruning the sweet cherry tree - these should also be removed.
• The sweet cherry has a stronger apical dominance than the sour cherry, which means that it grows more tree-shaped. In view of the branch strength ratio, competing side shoots that are striving steeply upwards should still be cut back.
• Summer pruning is particularly recommended for sweet cherries to limit their vigorous growth.

Info: Bouquet shoots are the short, whorled side shoots of cherry trees. Thisoften have a large number of flower buds and are therefore particularly important for a rich harvest.

Pruning cherry

If you don't have space for a large, sprawling cherry tree, you might want to reach for a columnar cherry: thanks to its slender shape, this cherry growth form is ideal for smaller gardens or can even be planted in a large container. So that the tree does not lose its elegant shape, the columnar cherry should be pruned regularly. In fact, pruning a columnar cherry turns out to be much less complicated than pruning its larger relatives. So the columnar cherry does not have to be cut regularly, but only when necessary. When cutting columnar cherries you should proceed as follows:

1. Prune side branches that are too long to 10 to 15 cm long.
2. Start well above one outward facing eye.
3. Remove diseased, weak or steeply growing wood.
4. The central shoot is not pruned in the first few years, but can then be shortened if necessary.

Cut dwarf cherry

Dwarf fruit trees, such as dwarf cherries, are particularly interesting for smaller gardens, because they get by in little space and can therefore also be integrated in tight spaces. But even the mini cherry tree has to be cut regularly. Since dwarf cherries were also trained as spindles, pruning dwarf cherries does not have to be done any differently than pruning large fruit trees:

1. All side branches should be at a slight incline and should not be cut.
2. Steep branches are diverted to a slightly sloping shoot or tied down.
3. Closely spaced, parallel branches are thinned out by removing one.
4. Always cut branches above a bud to the cones.
5. The central shoot is shortened to about 30 cm above the last side shoot.

In addition to pruning, fertilizing is another important care measure for the cherry tree. You can find out how to do this in our article on “Fertilizing cherry trees”.