Pruning sour cherry trees: when and what to cut

When pruning a sour cherry tree, keep healthy bearing wood and younger shoots that can replace it. In many sour cherry cultivars, an important part of the crop develops on growth made the previous year. Some trees also bear well on short fruiting spurs carried by older wood. Before cutting, trace the branches where you actually picked fruit and look for suitable side growth. These decisions concern the common sour cherry, Prunus cerasus.

Choose the pruning window for your tree

A dry spell after harvest is a practical window for planned thinning of an established tree. You have seen where the fruit grew and can tell productive branches from crowded ones. Check the forecast before starting. Fresh wounds made during cool, wet weather can be entry points for infection. Delay routine cuts when the branches are wet, when persistent rain is forecast or when the tree is already under obvious stress.

In Ukraine, picking dates vary between sites as well as between cultivars. An early sour cherry in a sheltered warm spot may finish sooner than a later cultivar in cooler foothills. A tree in a frost pocket and another close to a sunny wall can develop differently. Let the end of harvest, dry weather and the condition of the canopy guide your decision. A neighbour's pruning date offers less information than what you can see on your own tree.

Some early formative work is possible on young trees in spring. First check what framework is already in place, whether the chosen branches came through winter in good condition and whether you need to cut that day. Cold, rainy weather is a poor setting for optional major cuts. Assess dead, broken or possibly diseased branches separately. If a heavy branch hangs loose, keep people away from the area beneath it and ask a professional for help from a safe location.

Identify the wood that carries fruit

Growth from the previous year

Choose a branch that carried cherries and trace it from its tip toward the trunk. The younger section often has smoother bark. A change in texture, small scars near the base of a shoot and the pattern of side branching can help locate the boundary between seasons. Compare several branches. If the cherries are concentrated on young sections, shortening every tip will remove some potentially productive wood along with the excess.

Fruiting spurs on older wood

Short living side growth on an older branch can also carry fruit. Check that it has living buds or leaves before judging it by its length. During harvest, take a few photographs of fruiting branches that are safely accessible from the ground. You can use them later to locate the same growth. On an unlabelled tree, the position of the cherries and the way it renews its shoots are better working clues than a guess about the cultivar from the outline of the canopy.

Two sour cherry trees of similar age can also have different vigour. If you grow both types, see pruning sweet cherry trees for the separate decisions about sweet cherries. Check the origin of a shoot that emerges near the ground before selecting it to renew a grafted tree. A shoot that originates from the rootstock may not match the fruiting cultivar above the graft.

Decide which cuts come first

1. Walk around the tree from ground level. Note broken, clearly dead and possibly diseased parts. If you see damage to the bark that could be infectious, establish the cause and how to proceed first.
2. Find branches that rub and weak shoots that crowd the same part of the canopy. When deciding between two nearby branches, compare their direction, health and recent fruiting.
3. Look for a living side branch on old wood that has become bare. A well-positioned lateral that has room to grow can be a candidate for gradual renewal.
4. Step back after each substantial cut and look from the opposite side. If light already reaches into the crown and productive wood remains, reconsider the cuts still on your list.

When removing a small branch entirely, locate the swollen collar at its base. Make the cut on the branch side just beyond this collar, keeping it intact. To shorten a branch, look for a suitable living lateral that can take over rather than leaving a long stub. Leave large limbs, work at height and trees close to power lines to professionals. Ordinary thinning and removal for a suspected infection can call for different cut positions.

Renew an old canopy in stages

On an older sour cherry, follow a branch that has a long bare section and leaves and fruit only near the end. Look closer to its base. If it carries a healthy side branch with new growth and room to spread, consider shortening the old branch to that lateral. If no suitable replacement exists, avoid removing every similar branch at once. Some of those ends may still carry important leaves and fruit.

Split the work into separate decisions. For example, first make space for a healthy replacement shoot on one side while keeping bearing wood on the other. After the season, observe how the replacement has grown, where the crop formed and whether another part of the crown became crowded. Decide on the next branch after that inspection. If the tree has made very little new growth, check its root zone, moisture and bark condition before returning with the saw.

Two trees of the same size can need different cuts

Picture two mature sour cherries. One carried fruit both on short inner spurs and on young branch tips. Clearing every inner shoot would remove some of its productive wood, even if the centre looked more open afterward. Identify the worst rubbing or shading branch and consider that cut first. Keep the productive spurs that already have space. On the second tree, most of the fruit came from young growth at the end of long bare branches. Look for a lateral nearer the base. If only one branch has a good replacement, start there and reassess the others after seeing how it grows.

Separate crowding from injury and disease

When several tips have died, check whether the changes appeared together and whether there are sunken or dead patches of bark. Gum can appear after different kinds of injury. It is one clue, not a diagnosis. Take photographs only from a safe distance and zoom in if needed. If damaged bark extends toward a main limb or the trunk, have the condition assessed before making structural changes. Thinning a healthy part of the canopy will not resolve the cause of dieback.

On a young tree, check whether a leader or an open centre was established before deciding how to train it. Keep a sound existing framework if its main branches are well spaced and in good condition. Limit work on a newly planted or weak tree to the cuts it needs. On an established tree, focus on light reaching the living fruiting wood and a supply of new shoots that can gradually replace ageing branches.

Consider feeding separately

Compare recent shoot growth with the previous season, check the leaves and examine moisture around the roots. If the tree declined after winter, standing water or bark damage, investigate that cause. Use the soil assessment before buying fertilizer if you need help deciding what the growing area requires. Whether to purchase granules depends on a documented nutrient need and the instructions for the specific product.

Granules for fruit trees when needed

Complex fertilizer fruit crops granular

If your sour cherry needs nutrients from this product, choose the row for its size in the full instructions. The row below applies to the small fruit tree group.

The 3 kg bag and 4 kg canister contain granules. Before ordering, check the application method, the number of trees in the relevant group and the required weight.

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