How to properly prune cherries in spring and autumn?

If you cut down a branch of a stone fruit tree, sticky sap, gum will begin to stand out from the wound. Despite this peculiarity, pruning cherries in the fall and spring is a necessary procedure. Even novice gardeners can learn this procedure. A little patience and your cherry plantation will be healthy, well-groomed and produce a good harvest. Stone fruits also need sanitary cutting and crown formation. Do not wait until the tree weakens, starts to hurt. Strong plants will easily tolerate pruning at any age, while weak plants can die. Do not run the garden so that later you do not have to injure the tree by cutting off thick branches.

How to form a longline crown?

For tree cherries, crown formation can be carried out in several types. It is better for a novice gardener to make a tiered shape, and when you gain experience, you can experiment with other options on new trees. Leave no more than 4 skeletal branches when pruning for the first time. The distance between them should be about 60 cm, and the deviation from the trunk should not be less than 45⁰. At the top shoot, leave 6 buds from the top branch and trim off the rest. Remove all other processes.

Next year, lay 3 more skeletal branches inside the crown so that the distance between all shoots is at least 40 cm.At a distance of 60 cm from the trunk, make branches, about 2 processes on each skeletal branch. Make sure that the shoots do not grow longer than the parent branch, shorten them if necessary. The tree should not be one-sided. Make sure that the skeletal branches are evenly distributed around the entire circumference of the trunk.

Important!

When thinning, cherry varieties must be considered. If flower buds are formed on annual growth, such shoots cannot be shortened. When you cut off the final bud, the twig dries up, and you will not pick up any flowers or fruits from it. But it is useful to shorten the shoots of trees that give fruit on bouquet shoots. The branch will not stretch in length, it will give many lateral shoots on which the crop will be laid.

With autumn pruning, either buds are left on the branch, on which the crop will form, or the shoots are completely cut out, which makes the crown lighter.

In order not to confuse the order of actions, you can work as follows.

1. Remove dry, damaged and diseased branches.
2. Cut off shoots that grow in the wrong direction and thicken the crown.
3. Identify the processes that rub against each other, intertwine, and cut off unnecessary fragments.
4. If necessary, shorten too long shoots.
5. Treat all cuts with garden pitch.
6. Burn the sawn branches at the stake to avoid the spread of infection and pests.

When is the best time to prune stone fruit crops?

The crown should begin to form in a young tree in the first year after planting. You need to shorten the branches and the top of the cherry in early spring - about a month before the buds begin to bloom. If you are late, it is better to postpone the work for the next year: the branches cut during the movement of the juices begin to dry. In late spring and autumn, you can cut down branches that thicken the crown.

During the winter, some twigs may freeze, in spring they should be removed so as not to create favorable conditions for infections and pests. But take your time with this work, the tree can release buds on damaged processes. If you leave them alone, the frozen growth will start to hurt and dry out as a result.By the beginning of summer, it will become clear which shoots are damaged and which are growing well, at this time and carry out sanitary pruning.

Autumn pruning is necessary for stone fruit crops, only you need to choose the right moment for this work. The exception is young trees, in the first year after planting it is better not to disturb them: the procedure will weaken the plants, and they will not winter well. Wait until the tree falls into a dormant state, the leaves turn yellow, but until they fall off. In the Moscow region this happens in September, in the southern regions - in November. Do not miss the time, in the cold you cannot do pruning: the wounds can freeze.

Look at which processes have dried up, got sick over the summer, and remove the damaged fragments. Cut down old, thick branches that are producing a large number of growths that thicken the crown. Treat all wounds with garden varnish or special putty. This is especially important for stone fruit crops as gum will begin to come out of the slices. In adult trees, inspect the crown, cut off all the branches that thicken it. Throw all unnecessary leftovers into the fire, even if you have not noticed signs of diseases or pests on them. Better to be safe than to fight infection in the garden later.

The plant needs light

There is a lot of work with pruning, and sometimes the gardener begins to be tormented by doubts: is this procedure really necessary? If you want to eat delicious berries in sufficient quantities, then you need it. When you plant young cherries or plums, they will start releasing new shoots intensively. If this process is left unattended, the crown will become too thick, the sun's rays will not penetrate inside, and the air in the middle of the tree will stagnate. Shoots located at sharp angles can break off under the weight of foliage or snow. The lack of ventilation and sunlight will really appeal to pests and infectious agents. In tangled branches it is difficult to see dry or damaged fragments, the infection will spread to other branches, the tree will begin to ache.

Tops appear on the trunk and skeletal branches - shoots directed vertically. There will be no harvest on them, and the processes will require their share of nutrients. From these branches, the crown will become even thicker and will be less illuminated by the sun. The bush cherry is especially thick. Remove excess shoots and thick branches from her in time, so that every year you will be with berries.

To make the plant spacious, look not only at the crown, but also at the roots. Cut root shoots at ground level every fall. If you do not do this work, a real jungle will form around the tree and the fruiting of cherry crops will decrease.

Advice

If the variety is not grafted and develops on its roots, any shoot of the shoot will retain its maternal qualities, you can use it to propagate a cherry plantation. Grafted trees have wild growth from the roots. It is better not to use it as seedlings, the fruits may be small and tasteless.

The first pruning of cherries or plums can be a real challenge for budding gardeners. You have noticed a thick branch that needs to be cut down, but only a knife and a pruner are at hand to remove young shoots. Just about to shorten the top of the crown, they realized that they had not brought the ladder. In order not to run in search of the necessary items, prepare tools, materials and other necessary equipment in advance. Remember to sharpen well and sanitize all cutting surfaces.

You will need:

• reliable stepladder or ladder;
• gloves or work gloves to protect hands;
• saw;
• secateurs;
• knife;
• garden var.

How to rejuvenate cherries?

If you notice that the tree no longer gives strong growth, the shoots grow no more than 20 cm in a year, this means that the plant has aged and can no longer develop as actively and give rich yields. Take your time to uproot all the "aged" cherries, many of them can be rejuvenated. Examine the trunk and main branches.Seeing that the plant is sick and gum is released from it in many places, it is better not to torture yourself or the fruit crop, dig it up and get a new seedling. Healthy, but slightly weakened plants can be supported with proper nutrition and good care, and start rejuvenating them next season.

First, remove any diseased, dry, and damaged branches. See if the crown is too thick, remove all excess shoots. If you haven't cut the top off the tree before, cut it down over the top skeletal branch. Shorten all processes by about 1/3. The operation for the tree is very painful. Don't do a lot of pruning in one season, do half the work this year and finish next fall.

Trees can live for several decades without strong pruning, and bushes age very quickly. It is especially important to rejuvenate the felt cherry on time, which on average lives no more than 15 years, but with proper care, it can continue to bear fruit well for up to 20 years. Since fruits on bush varieties are tied mainly on one-year-old shoots, all older branches can be removed. Leave 10 strong branches, if they are too long, trim the branches.

Advice

Treelike varieties require lifting to a height for crown maintenance and harvesting. If elderly people or patients with vestibular disorders are engaged in gardening work, it is better to grow bush cherries.

The easiest way to identify old and diseased shoots of felt cherry is when there are no leaves on the bushes. As soon as most of the foliage has fallen, cut off old and excess shoots. Do not delay with pruning, you need to carry out the procedure so that the slices have time to heal in warm weather and they are not spoiled by the frost.

A beginner gardener must learn: it is scary to start only the first pruning of fruit crops. Do not delay with this work: trimming young cherries is much easier than dealing with impassable thickets in an old crown. Do not be afraid to remove excess shoots, stone fruits are very generous in releasing new shoots. Already next year, the empty place where you cut off the desired branch by mistake will be overgrown with young branches. A neat well-groomed garden will delight the eye all spring, and in summer and autumn it will give you a huge amount of delicious berries.