Thankyou ...your description of pruning helped me (6 year old tree and 2 year old in my small garden)phil.....I beat the starlings to the cherries in 2022 ,in 2021 all my fruit "Disappeared "one afternoon.!!!!
Berries and cherries can get a man to hate birds. Do I really go through all that work to feed those buzzards? I often wanted to put out a walnut full of C-4 with a remote detenator for the squirrels robbing my trees. One click of the red button, no more squirrel. Probably blow the limb right off the tree!
@tmc200527 The tree I show in the video is grown on Gisela rootstock too. The only possible reason someone would prune cherries to a central leader is they don't care to pick the fruit in time. Dwarf rootstocks are early baring but they don't stop growing. Eventually the plant will be to large to work. Canker is mostly spread by mechanical injury and pruning. Prune in dry weather and clean your tools to avoid spreading it. Your tree will fruit inside and outside if you open the center.
@amusingisthedawn General rule of thumb is that root balls are wider by 1/3 than the tree canopy and about 1/2 as deep as the canopy is tall. This varies depending on how the tree was being pruned, the type of tree and the soil conditions it is growing under. I the issue isn't how big the root it is how much soil can you y move. Soil is heavy so you are limited to one or two bushels. Cut the roots to a 3' ball this spring then move the tree when dormant. Planting a new tree is a lot easier
we grow a lot of cherries here where i work in Australia and winter has just set in and tomorrow im back at work after a bit of a break and i too will be pruning some cherry trees, though ours are a little different and they grow on a trellis then around october they start to blossom and then the season starts all over again around late november
Sooner or later i will get around to up dating the Cherry video as the opportunity presents it's self. I'm still working on getting at least one video each on all the common fruit trees. The crop was good but I am fighting a new pest, the cherry piercer fly from Asia. Nasty thing. Vinegar fly traps and Spinsad bacteria have helped. The variety is Compact Stella. Good tree, low chill, small and self fertile. Better fruit than Bing. The peckers remove the borers. Glad you enjoyed the video
@igood2go There are many ways to prune fruit trees. What you describe sounds like a system of Summer pruning. It would keep the tree very compact. This method involves two pruning cuts during summer, June and August where the current seasons growth is reduced in length by 50%. Then in the dormant seaso you would thin the regrowth so the tree isn't so thick with branches. This is a fine method, Dave Wilson Nursery has some videos on the subject. I usually just prune the tree once in winter.
Hi, I was watching all the videos on cherry tree pruning with gisela root stock and they all show pruning for a central leader. Yours is open center type of shape. I have 5 year old trees that I haven't really touched at all. They have a central leader but now have other competing branches with very narrow angles from the main leader. They are about the same diameter too. Isn't that where canker can set in so should I plan on slowly stubbing those back and eventually remove to one central?
I have some of the lowest chill cherries on earth growing here, Prunus salicifolia , aka Capulin Cherry. They are from subtropical climates in Mexico and are supposed to not need winter chill. They have been growing here since 2007. They flower every year but have never set a single cherry. They would be the only cherry that even had a pray in hell here. Cherries in Hawaii would be possible only over 6000 feet. No one lives that high up here. They are the highest chill fruit commonly cultivated and suitable only for climates that have a winter period.
@@GreenGardenGuy1 Thanks Bill. I really like the look of the flowers and thought they would look great along the driveway even though that would only be for a brief time of the year. Any suggestions on trees with a similar look?
@@michaelvonfeldt9629 You didn't mention you were only going for the flowers. Cherry will flower here, they just do not fruit. The Japanese brought their flowering cherries here and you see them around graveyards. Because we have no winter the flowers are unimpressive. You need a chill to get cherries to open all at the same time. I would suggest Crape Myrtle as a flowering tree that does well here and has a nice fall leaf.
@@GreenGardenGuy1 Haha I was hoping for fruit and flowers but I think the flowers would still be worth having the trees. My girlfriend is Vietnamese they use the flowers for Tet/ Chinese New Years.
@lucancherby Cutting back by 20% each year is the figure from the University of Oregon. That is less than most fruit trees except citrus. I didn't intend to give the impression that they aren't pruned at all. My mistake, as I up date this video I will be sure to correct this.
Yup, the little black, white and red bird with a big beak and a loud hammering sound type of wood pecker. This is opposed to the "pecker wood" who might be one of the guys you work with or perhaps lives next door. 3:37 shows the activity in the wood pretty well.
Yes, you can do summer pruning on cherries but if you are in the Midwest don't wait any longer to get started. When summer pruning we usually remove about 50% off the length of the shoots that grew during the summer. You could also do some thinning. I used to be a real advocate of summer pruning but I gave it up. When we get heat waves out here the California sun will cook my exposed fruit right on the tree. I like to keep the plant as leafy as possible in hot weather now.
i had to cut back a couple of big fat branches, bout a little bit more then 1/3 of the main trunk, and i did it in winter :( some dudwe told me it wil die withing 5 years now 100%. tree is about 40 years old. Gave a lot of fruit last summer. Does it stand a chance? Tree wasnt pruned in maybe 15 years
Unless the guy is a well known psychic with a good track record there is no way he can predict your trees future with certainty. I can tell you that 40 years old is a long time for a fruit tree to remain alive. No matter what I would e planting a new tree this year. The best solution for shortening the elevation of cherry trees is to plant young ones. This is how the commercial growers maintain size over time. Light pruning every year is the best way to maintain a tree. Hard pruning infrequently is not a good idea. If you are skilled and follow through with what happens things should work out. The idea that pruning in it's self kills a tree is totally bogus.
The unexpected can always occur but California seldom ever gets much rain in June. If it does come then you are right, the cherries will split. Lately the biggest problem in this area is Cherry Piercer Fly. This pest showed up a few years ago on cherries, and berries. What a pain, the fly lays eggs in the fruit that hatches to maggots and the fruit rots. It has taken me several years to get control over this bug. It caught me by surprise a few years back.
Nice to hear from Down Under about cherries. Here in California we are picking fruit as I write. I would really like to see some video or photo of cherry on trellis. I've seen fruit on trellis over the years but never for commercial production. With the exception of one coffee growing in Captain Cook Hawaii who uses wires to train the plants to.
nice work!!! do you think the rot is partially to due to sun damage as well as borers and peckers?? I''m growing 4 cherry trees and this is the most informative vid out there. - pleasanton, ca
ah, yes. messy things, aren't they??? Very good video. This is the second (perhaps more than that) time I watched. How did it produce this year? Lots of cherries? What variety is that cherry tree? Look forward to seeing a follow-up to this video some day.
Thanks for the advice, I just bought same land with a few old cherries and had no idea where to start with pruning, also I have some trees that are close together and was woundering wether to cut some out. How far apart should they be?
As far as distance between trees go, in a commercial orchard, the space between the rows is far more important then the spaces between the trees. A farmer has to get his rig up an down the rows with out breaking branches. The distance is set by the type of machines you use in the field. The space between the trees in the row depends. Cherry trees are grown on different root stocks. From large to small they are Standard, Semi-Dwarf, Dwarf, Ultra-Dwarf and Genetic Dwarf. These are 25', 18',16',12', & 8'. If you know what root stock was used then these numbers will help keep the trees from touching each other. There is no concern if the trees do touch each other, a cherry is a cherry is a cherry. The trees do not care. It's all about human accessibility and keeping sun light inside the canopy. You can't machine pick a cherry so you have to keep the trees in reach of the ground or a cherry picker. Most cherry trees are not self fertile. the plants you have are likely a combination of types. You really don't want to start cutting down your pollinator trees. Figure out what you have first. Then make a plan.
@@GreenGardenGuy1 Thanks for the advice, we dont use any machines on our small holding, so that is not an issue for us. the trees have not been pruned in many years and one is very big, no way we can reach the top without climbing it. Have you any advice on pruning a tree that has been left to it's own devises? I am very new to this and really am just learning as I go. You can see the tree if you look at the latest video on my channel, tittled we have lots of cherris. Thanks again for the advice.
@@wheezylivinginfrance9640 Recovery of a neglected orchard is often more difficult than replacing it with fresh young trees. The only other choice is to cut the old trees back and sacrifice the crop to restructure the plant. It will take a few years to get this done right. Control of the regrowth is the main challenge.
I see several internet sites say to prune cherry trees after fruit bearing and which would be in month of june here in virginia. Have I gotten the correct info?
hi and thank you for your educating video i notice that chill factor is a subject that i don't understand will you please educate me more on this subject,low temp below 42 degree is a positive or negative thing for a cherry tree to produce fruits?
Chilling requirements are a confusing subject of the novice gardener. Most of us do not understand that many fruits must reach a certain low temperature during the winter for a prescribed period of time. If that wasn't trouble enough there are actually 3 different scales that rate chilling, they are all a bit different and you never know which one an expert is using when they speak of. The scale are based on 40, 41 & 42 degrees. They measure the amount of time a tree needs in the winter below the base scale temperature in order to produce fruit. In the case of Sweet Cherries, they are one of the high chill requirement fruits. Most varieties of Cherry require between 700 and 1200 hours of steady temperature below 42 degrees. If they do not receive this amount of cold then they will either not fruit or fruit poorly in spring. The chill in most of the San Francisco Bay area is between 300 & 500 hours. It never gets cold enough there for good cherry growing. The Stella cherry I grew was one of the lowest chill, around 700 hours. Since we never get that sort of chill the tree always flowers in three layers as spring came on. Since Stella is self fertile it worked for me. If you were trying to raise the cherries that require cross pollination like Bing or Royal Ann in a mild climate chances are the flowers will miss each other and the trees will remain barren in Spring. I suggest using only low chill self fertile cherries in mild winter climates.
thank you now i understand why my cherries not producing well in okc,i don't even know what type of cherry i planted ,i just bought a bunch and put them in few years ago,except one i ordered from nursery in washington state, van cherry.thank you so much for explanation.
I am not sure where okc is but if you have a mild winter you really have to take care in choosing your cherries. Cherries were possible in coastal California but here in Hawaii they are completely out of the question. F remont California was the only place I have ever been that the weather will support Cherries side by side with hardy bananas, avocado and citrus. Most places these crops will not mix in the climate.
I see, in Oklahoma you will have no trouble with winter chill. Your trouble could be reverse, too much cold. Sweet cherry is tender to cold injury. The hot dry climate of the state is also hard on them. Here is what the University of OK has to say on the subject. Cherry-There are no satisfactory dwarfing rootstocks at present for cherries. Many sweet cherries are not adapted to a hot, dry climate. Cherry leaf spot, plum curculio and poorly drained soils are the major bstacles to successful cherry production in Oklahoma. The diseases and insects can be controlled successfully with a series of sprays. Sour cherries are generally better adapted than sweet cherries. Sweet cherries in general require cross‑pollination; but two cultivars,‘Stella’ and ‘Lapins’, are self‑fertile. I would consider growing the Sour Cherries like Montmorency or North Star instead. I had great results with these in the Midwest as a young man.
@TheBostic2000 I usually approach old overgrown trees in gradual fashion. I don't believe it is good to try and recover the work in one year. Make a plan for how the tree should be shaped and implement it over the course of several years rather than one massive pruning.
Is it ok to prune in Aug i have planted the Montmorency Cherry 3 yrs ago alot alot of branches like 1 inch from each other i mean an inch to i cut every other one?
great video thanks! I've got an older(about 30-35 yrs) sweet cherry tree in my yard. It needs prunning BAD and I'm about as gerden stupid as it comes(but I'm learning :-) ) So, first how much can I cut it back without hurtting tree and I've been told it's good to cut a cherry tree back in summer after it's produced fruit because it produces sap to cover it's wounds. Help any ideas is appreceiated. Thanks
To begin, a tree that bleeds sap from the wounds during the growing season is a bad thing. Insects are active in the summer and the bleeding sap draws them to your tree. I would resist doing a hard pruning on this tree in summer. Start your work in the fall as the sap flows down rather than up. I suggest that if this tree has had the pruning neglected for many years then take it easy and reduce the size in stages over several years time rather than all at one time. The age of your tree ia already on the edge for a fruit tree. At the same time I started trying to prune I would replace the tree with a fresh one and keep after it so you don't end up in the same situation. I suggest Choosing a tree on a dwarf root stock. My favorite is Compact Stella because of the great fruit, smaller size and the self fertile nature.
@copybillie There is never any harm in removing dead wood, it is like cutting finger nails. The base of the branch should be cut as close to the main trunk as possible and the angle of the cut nearly vertical. Generally insects don't eat dead wood unless it is decomposing and then termites might enter. You can use a pruning sealer on the cut to keep it water proof but be sure to remove and replace the sealer annually. It can lift as growth occurs and trap water.
Hi, I was wondering if you could help me. I have an ornamental cherry tree and one of the main branches is dead and not producing any flowers on it. Is it safe to prune a main branch? Should I put anything on the stump once cut to avoid insects? Thanks in advance:)
Thanks for posting this. I have a cherry tree with crosses branches and branches that are getting too high. (I also appreciate the tip about avoiding sawdust in the shorts).
If you hover a drone over the finished pruning job it should look like a mixing bowl from above with all wood separated nicely. Thanks for watching, Bill
Thanks for the video. How do I know if my cherry tree is too old and unruly to save? I suspect mine is 40+ years old w/ minimal pruning. It produces a lot still but most is too high to reach. Whadda ya think? Any suggestions?
40 years is a long time to wait for a prune job on a cherry. Since the fruit is too high in the air you have little choice but to cut the tree back and try to regrow it closer to the ground. This isn't a good job for a novice but with enough study you can probably handle it. 40 years is also a long time for a fruit tree to be in the orchard. It the tree doesn't have borers or cankers I would prune it but It is about time you spend $30 on a new one and put it in the earth in a different location. The new tree will solve all of your problems in a few years and you can start pruning from day one. If you are in sweet cherry country I suggest Compact Stella on a dwarf root stock. If it is too cold for sweet cherries try a dwarf North Star.
I recently find out my relative has the graft union of her cherry tree covered with soil. I dig up the soil and see the roots grow around the union. I'm afraid the cherry has become a standard size tree. Can I cut up the roots and expect it goes back to semi-dwarf tree? Please advise what I can do.
I am not in the area of your tree for a full inspection but I would refrain from cutting the roots. Often when the tree is planted too deep the original grafted root system dies over time. Even if the system is still alive a good portion of it is coming from the tree trunk. Cutting the roots will do sever damage to the tree. My suggestion is to leave it be, replace the tree with a fresh bare root plant this winter and plant the tree properly. Generally sweet cherry require too different trees for pollination anyway. I would plant one of the self fertile cherries like Stella or Lapins on a dwarf root stock and cut down the original tree if it becomes too large. If you decide to cut the roots I would wait until you have a new tree planted and growing. The old tree risks dying after the operation.
Zone 4B can get pretty cold in the winter so twig damage may occur. Ice storms are also an issue in some areas. These can break the trees limbs. With all this in consideration I would prune cherries during March to April depending on local conditions. The idea is that most of the worst cold will be past but the trees will not have broken dormancy. This is the best time but cherries can also be summer pruned on the current years growth. This keeps them compact.
Thank you so much for your videos. I am brand new to fruit tree pruning and rural living and your videos are very helpful. Working on 2 pear trees, an apple tree, a plum and 2 cherries. Now if I can just get the damn bears to leave the fruit alone until we harvest. That's the real trick.
Bears are an issue for sure. I never had them in my trees much but they sure screwed up my bee hives. I would either use a circle of pig fence on 4 steel T fence posts or a strand of electric fence wire around the trees.
Thanks. Cherry trees have a tendency to get large. Starting off with a short central trunk is always a good idea. Dwarf root stock is another and this Stella type is the Compact Stella so size is more contained. A combination of these tree factors and periodic pruning keep the tree manageable. Cherries must be picked by hand so short trees are very desirable.
Thanks for that , sorry don't understand the bit about the dwarf root stock and the stella type ? I think a couple of them may have a disease as they have what looks like a mildew type coating .
Sure thing. All fruit tree growers use a variety of different root stocks when propagating their trees. These are usually referred to as Standard, Semi-dwarf, Dwarf and sometimes Ultra-Dwarf. The type of root the tree is grafted to will control the inevitable size of the tree. Cherry trees are tall growing plants and fruit must be hand picked so purchasing trees on a Dwarf or Ultra-Dwarf root stock is a very good idea. Past the root stock issue many fruit trees have different forms contained with in the cultivar. In the case of the self fertile sweet cherry called Stella, the tree is a available in the regular and a more compact form called Compact Stella. If Compact Stella is planted with a dwarf root stock the plant will remain manageable in size. Mildew is a white powdery fungus that develops on leaves, stems and fruit. It will rub off on the finger tips and will smell like mushrooms. I have not seen this problem on cherries but it is very common on peaches and grapes. According to UC Davis it is known to occur on cherry. ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/r105100411.html
Make sure the trees are maintained well. Drought, lack of pruning or lack of fertility invites borers. Painting the trunks and lower limbs white confuses them. Band the trees with a sticky pest barrior to trap insects moving along the trunk. Prune away wood in the canopy and dispose of it that has borer infestations. Finally you can use organics like Spinosad or systemics like Imidacloprid to control them. Good luck, and keep trees well watered during summer heat if rain doesn't fall.
It is a Compact Stella Sweet Cherry on dwarf root stock. The Stella is a good choice in California because it is relatively low chill, self fertile, has excellent fruit quality and the shorter frame makes picking the cherries easier. Bill
Sorry about I can't track down a proper Latin under the name black cherry. The only translation I can find is wild sweet cherry. In England that would probably mean you have Prunus avium. This tree was used in crosses that produced many of the named cultivars of sweet cherry we grow. Yes, they can easily grow to 30 feet or more. Stella is much shorter than that by about half.
Hi. Thanks for a great video! I'm a New Yorker living in the south of England, trying to get Montmorency cherries to ripen in this cool coastal climate. Not easy, though this year we had a staggering 75-80 degree week that gave me some of the old familiar flavor. My question for you is, would you prune sour cherries the same way you prune black/sweet cherries?
@CookenWithKilla Pruning a newly planted cherry tree is a good idea. I usually give the new trees an "orchard" cut. I remove any existing limbs because the angle is usually to acute on the first set of branches. The second set will grow at a lower, flatter, angle. Then I cut the main trunk off between 2 and 3 feet above the ground. This will cause all your scaffold limbs to form low. The next winter select 3 or 4 scaffolds that are well placed and prune away all others.
Yes, cherry trees will accept a variety of different pruning style. Mine is cut to the typical orchard form but any espalier form will work. Since they respond to heavy pruning by growing lots of new wood and less fruit you would want o set them up so you don't have to remove much more than 20% or the tree in a pruning season. The shape you use is limited only by your imagination.
@dprzezdziecki There is no set rule. Best information I can offer here is to choose the branches that are in the proper locations and seem to be the strongest. Look for good flat crotch angles and branches that ascend the trunk in a spiral fashion bisecting a circle by quarters or thirds from a birds eye view. Short answer, the best and strongest branches so they might also be the longest ones. The length of the branches is determined by the pruning you do in the following years.
@TheBostic2000 Too much of anything is not good. In theory, as longs as the tree isn't cut below the graft line it should be possible to salvage it. Trees are usually capable of recovering from the worst pruning jobs as long as the person guiding the regrowth is skilled enough to correct issues that might develop. Brooms, or excessive shoot development, and the loss of fruit for a number of years are the worst things that happen from over pruning. Poorly made cuts can rot the tree.
I would google the pruning saw walmart amazon or hardware store should be an easy saw to find.My old plum tree is so over grown I had maybe 2 plums last year.I watch these videos, go out to the tree & scratch my head....little limbs big limbs...go back inside
An unpruned tree will require renovation rather than pruning. Renovation is a different approach and will take several years to reconfigure the tree. Other alternatives are to put in a new plum tree and adhere to good pruning practices on an annual basis. Good luck, Bill
+Far North Weaver It has been a while since I looked at this video. If you can let me have the frame number where the bird is at. I scrolled through but could spot it. In this area the most common yellow bird is the American gold finch. The Tanager is seen here from spring to summer but only in small numbers. We have some Orioles in the area too.
GreenGardenGuy1 Don't know how to do the frames, but the bird is exactly at 5:54, right after you say, "the wood may begin to rot." And then there he is, sitting on the branch. Nice shot though!
+Far North Weaver That is the male American Gold Finch. My yard is full of the little guys, we see as many as 3 or 4 dozen at once some times. They exist over most of the USA in season because they migrate. Try putting out a nyjer thistle feeder for finch and they will probably show up. I hang one in my kitchen window so I can watch them as I have dinner.
The statement about not pruning cherry trees very much after a few years is plain wrong. To produce large cherries you need young wood and for that to happen you need to cut the old wood out so you get nice young shoots to replace the old stuff. And the statement about young shoots not producing any cherries is wrong also. With Lapins anyway you have a few buds at the base of the 1 year old shoots that produce the largest cherries. So it's desirable to keep them and cut them back a little.
+JSOMERSET994 JSOMERSET994 You can do what you wish on your trees but fruit tree pruning isn't about aesthetics it is about functionality and fruit load. Calling this work a prop from a horror show only displays you lack of understanding on the subject. Since a cherry is to be picked for food and must be removed from the tree by hand one at a time the trees are pruned to facilitate this and to maximize the number of fruits on the plant. Save your sense of aesthetics for Japanese Maples, dwarf conifers and other plants that are grown only for their beauty. Mistaking a fruit tree for an ornamental will usually only lead to problems. I would usually take your comment as an attempt to insult but I can't please everyone so I dismiss it as being more about you than about my work.
Thankyou ...your description of pruning helped me (6 year old tree and 2 year old in my small garden)phil.....I beat the starlings to the cherries in 2022 ,in 2021 all my fruit "Disappeared "one afternoon.!!!!
Berries and cherries can get a man to hate birds. Do I really go through all that work to feed those buzzards? I often wanted to put out a walnut full of C-4 with a remote detenator for the squirrels robbing my trees. One click of the red button, no more squirrel. Probably blow the limb right off the tree!
@tmc200527 The tree I show in the video is grown on Gisela rootstock too. The only possible reason someone would prune cherries to a central leader is they don't care to pick the fruit in time. Dwarf rootstocks are early baring but they don't stop growing. Eventually the plant will be to large to work. Canker is mostly spread by mechanical injury and pruning. Prune in dry weather and clean your tools to avoid spreading it. Your tree will fruit inside and outside if you open the center.
@amusingisthedawn General rule of thumb is that root balls are wider by 1/3 than the tree canopy and about 1/2 as deep as the canopy is tall. This varies depending on how the tree was being pruned, the type of tree and the soil conditions it is growing under. I the issue isn't how big the root it is how much soil can you y move. Soil is heavy so you are limited to one or two bushels. Cut the roots to a 3' ball this spring then move the tree when dormant. Planting a new tree is a lot easier
we grow a lot of cherries here where i work in Australia and winter has just set in and tomorrow im back at work after a bit of a break and i too will be pruning some cherry trees, though ours are a little different and they grow on a trellis then around october they start to blossom and then the season starts all over again around late november
Sooner or later i will get around to up dating the Cherry video as the opportunity presents it's self. I'm still working on getting at least one video each on all the common fruit trees. The crop was good but I am fighting a new pest, the cherry piercer fly from Asia. Nasty thing. Vinegar fly traps and Spinsad bacteria have helped. The variety is Compact Stella. Good tree, low chill, small and self fertile. Better fruit than Bing. The peckers remove the borers. Glad you enjoyed the video
Curious if ladybugs or green lacewings take care of the cherry piercer fly.
@igood2go There are many ways to prune fruit trees. What you describe sounds like a system of Summer pruning. It would keep the tree very compact. This method involves two pruning cuts during summer, June and August where the current seasons growth is reduced in length by 50%. Then in the dormant seaso you would thin the regrowth so the tree isn't so thick with branches. This is a fine method, Dave Wilson Nursery has some videos on the subject. I usually just prune the tree once in winter.
Hi, I was watching all the videos on cherry tree pruning with gisela root stock and they all show pruning for a central leader. Yours is open center type of shape. I have 5 year old trees that I haven't really touched at all. They have a central leader but now have other competing branches with very narrow angles from the main leader. They are about the same diameter too. Isn't that where canker can set in so should I plan on slowly stubbing those back and eventually remove to one central?
i can imagine how busy it would be there right now then with the cherry harvest underway, here's hoping you dont get too much rain!
Hi Bill,
How would a Cherry Tree do in Hawaii at your elevation?
I have some of the lowest chill cherries on earth growing here, Prunus salicifolia , aka Capulin Cherry. They are from subtropical climates in Mexico and are supposed to not need winter chill. They have been growing here since 2007. They flower every year but have never set a single cherry. They would be the only cherry that even had a pray in hell here. Cherries in Hawaii would be possible only over 6000 feet. No one lives that high up here. They are the highest chill fruit commonly cultivated and suitable only for climates that have a winter period.
@@GreenGardenGuy1 Thanks Bill. I really like the look of the flowers and thought they would look great along the driveway even though that would only be for a brief time of the year. Any suggestions on trees with a similar look?
I’m at 2000’ elevation Kona side.
@@michaelvonfeldt9629 You didn't mention you were only going for the flowers. Cherry will flower here, they just do not fruit. The Japanese brought their flowering cherries here and you see them around graveyards. Because we have no winter the flowers are unimpressive. You need a chill to get cherries to open all at the same time. I would suggest Crape Myrtle as a flowering tree that does well here and has a nice fall leaf.
@@GreenGardenGuy1 Haha I was hoping for fruit and flowers but I think the flowers would still be worth having the trees. My girlfriend is Vietnamese they use the flowers for Tet/ Chinese New Years.
@lucancherby Cutting back by 20% each year is the figure from the University of Oregon. That is less than most fruit trees except citrus. I didn't intend to give the impression that they aren't pruned at all. My mistake, as I up date this video I will be sure to correct this.
Yup, the little black, white and red bird with a big beak and a loud hammering sound type of wood pecker. This is opposed to the "pecker wood" who might be one of the guys you work with or perhaps lives next door. 3:37 shows the activity in the wood pretty well.
Yes, you can do summer pruning on cherries but if you are in the Midwest don't wait any longer to get started. When summer pruning we usually remove about 50% off the length of the shoots that grew during the summer. You could also do some thinning. I used to be a real advocate of summer pruning but I gave it up. When we get heat waves out here the California sun will cook my exposed fruit right on the tree. I like to keep the plant as leafy as possible in hot weather now.
i had to cut back a couple of big fat branches, bout a little bit more then 1/3 of the main trunk, and i did it in winter :( some dudwe told me it wil die withing 5 years now 100%. tree is about 40 years old. Gave a lot of fruit last summer. Does it stand a chance? Tree wasnt pruned in maybe 15 years
Unless the guy is a well known psychic with a good track record there is no way he can predict your trees future with certainty. I can tell you that 40 years old is a long time for a fruit tree to remain alive. No matter what I would e planting a new tree this year. The best solution for shortening the elevation of cherry trees is to plant young ones. This is how the commercial growers maintain size over time.
Light pruning every year is the best way to maintain a tree. Hard pruning infrequently is not a good idea. If you are skilled and follow through with what happens things should work out. The idea that pruning in it's self kills a tree is totally bogus.
@@GreenGardenGuy1 thanks dude much appreciated.
@@EeccmanNL Sure thing. Have a great spring.
The unexpected can always occur but California seldom ever gets much rain in June. If it does come then you are right, the cherries will split. Lately the biggest problem in this area is Cherry Piercer Fly. This pest showed up a few years ago on cherries, and berries. What a pain, the fly lays eggs in the fruit that hatches to maggots and the fruit rots. It has taken me several years to get control over this bug. It caught me by surprise a few years back.
Nice to hear from Down Under about cherries. Here in California we are picking fruit as I write. I would really like to see some video or photo of cherry on trellis. I've seen fruit on trellis over the years but never for commercial production. With the exception of one coffee growing in Captain Cook Hawaii who uses wires to train the plants to.
nice work!!! do you think the rot is partially to due to sun damage as well as borers and peckers?? I''m growing 4 cherry trees and this is the most informative vid out there. - pleasanton, ca
ah, yes. messy things, aren't they??? Very good video. This is the second (perhaps more than that) time I watched. How did it produce this year? Lots of cherries? What variety is that cherry tree? Look forward to seeing a follow-up to this video some day.
Thanks for the advice, I just bought same land with a few old cherries and had no idea where to start with pruning, also I have some trees that are close together and was woundering wether to cut some out. How far apart should they be?
As far as distance between trees go, in a commercial orchard, the space between the rows is far more important then the spaces between the trees. A farmer has to get his rig up an down the rows with out breaking branches. The distance is set by the type of machines you use in the field. The space between the trees in the row depends. Cherry trees are grown on different root stocks. From large to small they are Standard, Semi-Dwarf, Dwarf, Ultra-Dwarf and Genetic Dwarf. These are 25', 18',16',12', & 8'. If you know what root stock was used then these numbers will help keep the trees from touching each other. There is no concern if the trees do touch each other, a cherry is a cherry is a cherry. The trees do not care. It's all about human accessibility and keeping sun light inside the canopy. You can't machine pick a cherry so you have to keep the trees in reach of the ground or a cherry picker. Most cherry trees are not self fertile. the plants you have are likely a combination of types. You really don't want to start cutting down your pollinator trees. Figure out what you have first. Then make a plan.
@@GreenGardenGuy1 Thanks for the advice, we dont use any machines on our small holding, so that is not an issue for us. the trees have not been pruned in many years and one is very big, no way we can reach the top without climbing it. Have you any advice on pruning a tree that has been left to it's own devises? I am very new to this and really am just learning as I go. You can see the tree if you look at the latest video on my channel, tittled we have lots of cherris. Thanks again for the advice.
@@wheezylivinginfrance9640 Recovery of a neglected orchard is often more difficult than replacing it with fresh young trees. The only other choice is to cut the old trees back and sacrifice the crop to restructure the plant. It will take a few years to get this done right. Control of the regrowth is the main challenge.
@@GreenGardenGuy1 Thanks, if thats what I need to do I will just have to suck it up.
@@wheezylivinginfrance9640 Cool
I see several internet sites say to prune cherry trees after fruit bearing and which would be in month of june here in virginia. Have I gotten the correct info?
hi and thank you for your educating video i notice that chill factor is a subject that i don't understand will you please educate me more on this subject,low temp below 42 degree is a positive or negative thing for a cherry tree to produce fruits?
Chilling requirements are a confusing subject of the novice gardener. Most of us do not understand that many fruits must reach a certain low temperature during the winter for a prescribed period of time. If that wasn't trouble enough there are actually 3 different scales that rate chilling, they are all a bit different and you never know which one an expert is using when they speak of. The scale are based on 40, 41 & 42 degrees. They measure the amount of time a tree needs in the winter below the base scale temperature in order to produce fruit. In the case of Sweet Cherries, they are one of the high chill requirement fruits. Most varieties of Cherry require between 700 and 1200 hours of steady temperature below 42 degrees. If they do not receive this amount of cold then they will either not fruit or fruit poorly in spring. The chill in most of the San Francisco Bay area is between 300 & 500 hours. It never gets cold enough there for good cherry growing. The Stella cherry I grew was one of the lowest chill, around 700 hours. Since we never get that sort of chill the tree always flowers in three layers as spring came on. Since Stella is self fertile it worked for me. If you were trying to raise the cherries that require cross pollination like Bing or Royal Ann in a mild climate chances are the flowers will miss each other and the trees will remain barren in Spring. I suggest using only low chill self fertile cherries in mild winter climates.
thank you now i understand why my cherries not producing well in okc,i don't even know what type of cherry i planted ,i just bought a bunch and put them in few years ago,except one i ordered from nursery in washington state, van cherry.thank you so much for explanation.
I am not sure where okc is but if you have a mild winter you really have to take care in choosing your cherries. Cherries were possible in coastal California but here in Hawaii they are completely out of the question. F
remont California was the only place I have ever been that the weather will support Cherries side by side with hardy bananas, avocado and citrus. Most places these crops will not mix in the climate.
okc=oklahoma city
I see, in Oklahoma you will have no trouble with winter chill. Your trouble could be reverse, too much cold. Sweet cherry is tender to cold injury. The hot dry climate of the state is also hard on them. Here is what the University of OK has to say on the subject.
Cherry-There are no satisfactory dwarfing rootstocks at present for cherries. Many sweet cherries are not adapted to a hot, dry climate. Cherry leaf spot, plum curculio and poorly drained soils are the major bstacles to successful cherry production in Oklahoma. The diseases and insects can be
controlled successfully with a series of sprays. Sour cherries are generally better adapted than sweet cherries. Sweet cherries in general require cross‑pollination; but two cultivars,‘Stella’ and ‘Lapins’, are self‑fertile.
I would consider growing the Sour Cherries like Montmorency or North Star instead. I had great results with these in the Midwest as a young man.
@TheBostic2000 I usually approach old overgrown trees in gradual fashion. I don't believe it is good to try and recover the work in one year. Make a plan for how the tree should be shaped and implement it over the course of several years rather than one massive pruning.
Is it ok to prune in Aug i have planted the Montmorency Cherry 3 yrs ago alot alot of branches like 1 inch from each other i mean an inch to i cut every other one?
great video thanks! I've got an older(about 30-35 yrs) sweet cherry tree in my yard. It needs prunning BAD and I'm about as gerden stupid as it comes(but I'm learning :-) ) So, first how much can I cut it back without hurtting tree and I've been told it's good to cut a cherry tree back in summer after it's produced fruit because it produces sap to cover it's wounds. Help any ideas is appreceiated. Thanks
To begin, a tree that bleeds sap from the wounds during the growing season is a bad thing. Insects are active in the summer and the bleeding sap draws them to your tree. I would resist doing a hard pruning on this tree in summer. Start your work in the fall as the sap flows down rather than up. I suggest that if this tree has had the pruning neglected for many years then take it easy and reduce the size in stages over several years time rather than all at one time. The age of your tree ia already on the edge for a fruit tree. At the same time I started trying to prune I would replace the tree with a fresh one and keep after it so you don't end up in the same situation. I suggest Choosing a tree on a dwarf root stock. My favorite is Compact Stella because of the great fruit, smaller size and the self fertile nature.
Thanks, I'll try documenting and see how it goes
@copybillie There is never any harm in removing dead wood, it is like cutting finger nails. The base of the branch should be cut as close to the main trunk as possible and the angle of the cut nearly vertical. Generally insects don't eat dead wood unless it is decomposing and then termites might enter. You can use a pruning sealer on the cut to keep it water proof but be sure to remove and replace the sealer annually. It can lift as growth occurs and trap water.
Hi, I was wondering if you could help me. I have an ornamental cherry tree and one of the main branches is dead and not producing any flowers on it. Is it safe to prune a main branch? Should I put anything on the stump once cut to avoid insects? Thanks in advance:)
no cherrys yet how long does it take? how old before start getting cherrys?
i have a question. can you prune a cherry tree to be shorter and wider like your pear tree?
Thanks for posting this. I have a cherry tree with crosses branches and branches that are getting too high. (I also appreciate the tip about avoiding sawdust in the shorts).
If you hover a drone over the finished pruning job it should look like a mixing bowl from above with all wood separated nicely. Thanks for watching, Bill
Hello! Thanks for the tip! I need a drone! 😀
Thanks for the video. How do I know if my cherry tree is too old and unruly to save? I suspect mine is 40+ years old w/ minimal pruning. It produces a lot still but most is too high to reach. Whadda ya think? Any suggestions?
40 years is a long time to wait for a prune job on a cherry. Since the fruit is too high in the air you have little choice but to cut the tree back and try to regrow it closer to the ground. This isn't a good job for a novice but with enough study you can probably handle it. 40 years is also a long time for a fruit tree to be in the orchard. It the tree doesn't have borers or cankers I would prune it but It is about time you spend $30 on a new one and put it in the earth in a different location. The new tree will solve all of your problems in a few years and you can start pruning from day one. If you are in sweet cherry country I suggest Compact Stella on a dwarf root stock. If it is too cold for sweet cherries try a dwarf North Star.
I recently find out my relative has the graft union of her cherry tree covered with soil. I dig up the soil and see the roots grow around the union. I'm afraid the cherry has become a standard size tree. Can I cut up the roots and expect it goes back to semi-dwarf tree? Please advise what I can do.
I am not in the area of your tree for a full inspection but I would refrain from cutting the roots. Often when the tree is planted too deep the original grafted root system dies over time. Even if the system is still alive a good portion of it is coming from the tree trunk. Cutting the roots will do sever damage to the tree. My suggestion is to leave it be, replace the tree with a fresh bare root plant this winter and plant the tree properly. Generally sweet cherry require too different trees for pollination anyway. I would plant one of the self fertile cherries like Stella or Lapins on a dwarf root stock and cut down the original tree if it becomes too large. If you decide to cut the roots I would wait until you have a new tree planted and growing. The old tree risks dying after the operation.
In the upper Midwest zone 4b when might be the proper time to prune young sour cherry trees?
Zone 4B can get pretty cold in the winter so twig damage may occur. Ice storms are also an issue in some areas. These can break the trees limbs. With all this in consideration I would prune cherries during March to April depending on local conditions. The idea is that most of the worst cold will be past but the trees will not have broken dormancy. This is the best time but cherries can also be summer pruned on the current years growth. This keeps them compact.
Thank you so much for your videos. I am brand new to fruit tree pruning and rural living and your videos are very helpful. Working on 2 pear trees, an apple tree, a plum and 2 cherries. Now if I can just get the damn bears to leave the fruit alone until we harvest. That's the real trick.
Bears are an issue for sure. I never had them in my trees much but they sure screwed up my bee hives. I would either use a circle of pig fence on 4 steel T fence posts or a strand of electric fence wire around the trees.
Hi ,brill vid thanks , was just about to trim mine back as getting too big for the back garden .
Thanks. Cherry trees have a tendency to get large. Starting off with a short central trunk is always a good idea. Dwarf root stock is another and this Stella type is the Compact Stella so size is more contained. A combination of these tree factors and periodic pruning keep the tree manageable. Cherries must be picked by hand so short trees are very desirable.
Thanks for that , sorry don't understand the bit about the dwarf root stock and the stella type ? I think a couple of them may have a disease as they have what looks like a mildew type coating .
Sure thing. All fruit tree growers use a variety of different root stocks when propagating their trees. These are usually referred to as Standard, Semi-dwarf, Dwarf and sometimes Ultra-Dwarf. The type of root the tree is grafted to will control the inevitable size of the tree. Cherry trees are tall growing plants and fruit must be hand picked so purchasing trees on a Dwarf or Ultra-Dwarf root stock is a very good idea.
Past the root stock issue many fruit trees have different forms contained with in the cultivar. In the case of the self fertile sweet cherry called Stella, the tree is a available in the regular and a more compact form called Compact Stella. If Compact Stella is planted with a dwarf root stock the plant will remain manageable in size.
Mildew is a white powdery fungus that develops on leaves, stems and fruit. It will rub off on the finger tips and will smell like mushrooms. I have not seen this problem on cherries but it is very common on peaches and grapes. According to UC Davis it is known to occur on cherry. ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/r105100411.html
Well thanks for the comprehensive education on cherry trees , you certainly know your stuff !
Thanks a lot and have a good day .
Make sure the trees are maintained well. Drought, lack of pruning or lack of fertility invites borers. Painting the trunks and lower limbs white confuses them. Band the trees with a sticky pest barrior to trap insects moving along the trunk. Prune away wood in the canopy and dispose of it that has borer infestations. Finally you can use organics like Spinosad or systemics like Imidacloprid to control them. Good luck, and keep trees well watered during summer heat if rain doesn't fall.
What time of year did you do this?
While leaves are off the tree. In a cold climate wait until the end of winter.
hi is that a black cherry tree? I think it is the same as mine
It is a Compact Stella Sweet Cherry on dwarf root stock. The Stella is a good choice in California because it is relatively low chill, self fertile, has excellent fruit quality and the shorter frame makes picking the cherries easier. Bill
i think mine is a black cherry its about 30 and as tall as the house
Sorry about I can't track down a proper Latin under the name black cherry. The only translation I can find is wild sweet cherry. In England that would probably mean you have Prunus avium. This tree was used in crosses that produced many of the named cultivars of sweet cherry we grow. Yes, they can easily grow to 30 feet or more. Stella is much shorter than that by about half.
Hi. Thanks for a great video! I'm a New Yorker living in the south of England, trying to get Montmorency cherries to ripen in this cool coastal climate. Not easy, though this year we had a staggering 75-80 degree week that gave me some of the old familiar flavor. My question for you is, would you prune sour cherries the same way you prune black/sweet cherries?
@CookenWithKilla Pruning a newly planted cherry tree is a good idea. I usually give the new trees an "orchard" cut. I remove any existing limbs because the angle is usually to acute on the first set of branches. The second set will grow at a lower, flatter, angle. Then I cut the main trunk off between 2 and 3 feet above the ground. This will cause all your scaffold limbs to form low. The next winter select 3 or 4 scaffolds that are well placed and prune away all others.
Yes, cherry trees will accept a variety of different pruning style. Mine is cut to the typical orchard form but any espalier form will work. Since they respond to heavy pruning by growing lots of new wood and less fruit you would want o set them up so you don't have to remove much more than 20% or the tree in a pruning season. The shape you use is limited only by your imagination.
@dprzezdziecki There is no set rule. Best information I can offer here is to choose the branches that are in the proper locations and seem to be the strongest. Look for good flat crotch angles and branches that ascend the trunk in a spiral fashion bisecting a circle by quarters or thirds from a birds eye view. Short answer, the best and strongest branches so they might also be the longest ones. The length of the branches is determined by the pruning you do in the following years.
@TheBostic2000 Too much of anything is not good. In theory, as longs as the tree isn't cut below the graft line it should be possible to salvage it. Trees are usually capable of recovering from the worst pruning jobs as long as the person guiding the regrowth is skilled enough to correct issues that might develop. Brooms, or excessive shoot development, and the loss of fruit for a number of years are the worst things that happen from over pruning. Poorly made cuts can rot the tree.
What do you call the saw you are using? Where can I get it?
It is a Japanese razor saw called a Samuri and you can find them on Amazon
I would google the pruning saw walmart amazon or hardware store should be an easy saw to find.My old plum tree is so over grown I had maybe 2 plums last year.I watch these videos, go out to the tree & scratch my head....little limbs big limbs...go back inside
Teija I just found a really helpful channel 770-Arborist LLC happy pruning
An unpruned tree will require renovation rather than pruning. Renovation is a different approach and will take several years to reconfigure the tree. Other alternatives are to put in a new plum tree and adhere to good pruning practices on an annual basis. Good luck, Bill
Best explanation I’ve watched. Thank you.
Glad it was helpful!
Hey my friend, that yellow bird that was sitting on the branch, is a Tanager. :-)
+Far North Weaver It has been a while since I looked at this video. If you can let me have the frame number where the bird is at. I scrolled through but could spot it. In this area the most common yellow bird is the American gold finch. The Tanager is seen here from spring to summer but only in small numbers. We have some Orioles in the area too.
GreenGardenGuy1
Don't know how to do the frames, but the bird is exactly at 5:54, right after you say, "the wood may begin to rot." And then there he is, sitting on the branch. Nice shot though!
+Far North Weaver That is the male American Gold Finch. My yard is full of the little guys, we see as many as 3 or 4 dozen at once some times. They exist over most of the USA in season because they migrate. Try putting out a nyjer thistle feeder for finch and they will probably show up. I hang one in my kitchen window so I can watch them as I have dinner.
Thank you.
Nice one Bill
This one goes back away. Since moving to Hawaii I can no longer grow cherries. Thanks for the feed back. Bill
Thanks!
You bet, glad to help. Bill
Very helpful. Thanks for the post.
Glad to help. Enjoy the cherries. Bill
The statement about not pruning cherry trees very much after a few years is plain wrong. To produce large cherries you need young wood and for that to happen you need to cut the old wood out so you get nice young shoots to replace the old stuff. And the statement about young shoots not producing any cherries is wrong also. With Lapins anyway you have a few buds at the base of the 1 year old shoots that produce the largest cherries. So it's desirable to keep them and cut them back a little.
Half of tree dried
If half your tree is dead then I suspect an attack by boring insects of canker disease.
3:09 pecker activity?
i would rather have a tree with beautiful balanced branches instead of those that take on the appearance of a prop from s horror movie
+JSOMERSET994 JSOMERSET994 You can do what you wish on your trees but fruit tree pruning isn't about aesthetics it is about functionality and fruit load. Calling this work a prop from a horror show only displays you lack of understanding on the subject. Since a cherry is to be picked for food and must be removed from the tree by hand one at a time the trees are pruned to facilitate this and to maximize the number of fruits on the plant. Save your sense of aesthetics for Japanese Maples, dwarf conifers and other plants that are grown only for their beauty. Mistaking a fruit tree for an ornamental will usually only lead to problems. I would usually take your comment as an attempt to insult but I can't please everyone so I dismiss it as being more about you than about my work.