How to properly prune cherries in spring, summer and autumn to have a good harvest
Fruit trees are planted in dachas, suburban areas, grown on an industrial basis. Although cherries take root in different climatic conditions, they are unpretentious to the structure of the soil, so that they give a good harvest, the berries do not shrink, in addition to watering and feeding, fighting insects and preventing diseases, it is necessary to correctly form the crown of the tree. Cherry pruning promotes the emergence and development of new shoots, plant rejuvenation. During the procedure, excess branches are removed, which shade the crown, and more sunlight gets into it.
Content
Why you need to prune a tree
Cherry belongs to early ripening crops, pleases with the first berries rather quickly, but already at the age of 12-15 years it ceases to produce a good harvest, or even completely stops bearing fruit.
Pruning an old tree helps to rejuvenate it. If you follow the procedure correctly and on time:
- It turns out a beautiful symmetrical crown.
- The flavor and size of the berries are improved.
- The plant is less sick, less often affected by insects.
If you just remove dry branches on fruiting cherries, you should not count on high yields. Horticultural crops are pruned in 3 ways. Shortening shoots strengthens the tree, accelerates its growth. When thinning the crown of a cherry or sweet cherry, it is better illuminated, receives more air.
Before you start pruning, you need to know all types of shoots. Fruits are formed on the bouquet branches. The cherry skeleton is formed from the vegetative variety. During the entire period of development, the length of the growing branches increases.
With thinning, some shoots are completely removed, with selective pruning - only partially. To make the cherry more voluminous, new shoots have appeared, they get rid of the branches above the bud.
Terms of work
Experts say that the time at which the stone fruit crop is pruned affects its growth, development, flowering, ovary formation, the number and size of fruits. The procedure is resorted to both in the fall and in the summer, and always the places of the cuts are lubricated with garden varnish, treated with glue so that they do not get an infection, and new shoots do not grow.
In the southern regions, cherries are pruned in March or even February. In those areas where autumn comes early, work is finished in the last days of September, in the Krasnodar Territory, the Transcaucasus, procedures continue until December, if the temperature is above zero at night.
Spring circumcision
In order for the crown to form correctly, cherries delighted with the harvest of berries for a long time, there was no need to remove shoots in winter or summer, pruning work is carried out in spring. It is better to do this when the kidneys are no longer asleep, but have not had time to fully open. Usually this phenomenon is observed in the second month of spring, in the northern regions - in May.
During the operation, the top is cut, consisting of branches, due to which the crown thickens. Shoots that grow perpendicular to the surface of the earth are removed, shoots shorter than 30 cm are left. The trunk itself is necessarily cut off. It should only be slightly higher than the frame - about 20 centimeters.
In the first year after planting the felt cherry, the branches are shortened to 0.5 m, the next spring they get rid of ¼ of the lateral shoots.
Summer
It is better not to touch the tree with berries, since the cuts take a long time to heal during the fruiting period. In July and August, only dry or diseased branches are removed. They must be burned so that the infection does not spread to healthy cherries. Sometimes in the summer you have to cut off shoots that hinder the growth of others, but they are shortened only slightly.
Autumn
After fruiting, gardeners should prepare cherries for the cold weather. Work is performed when the movement of the juice slows down. Pruning for the winter must be completed before the air temperature drops below zero at night. Shoots should not be shortened, even with light frosts, as the plant may not survive the cold winter.
In autumn, young cherries planted in spring are not pruned. The tree does not have time to adapt well to environmental conditions in such a short period and may die during frosts.
What tools will be needed
To carry out pruning work in the garden, you need to purchase special equipment. To eliminate thin twigs, a pruner is suitable; to get rid of a thick shoot, you will need a saw. The entire inventory must be sharpened well so that no chipping remains on the cherry after cutting.
When removing branches affected by a fungal disease, the instrument must be thoroughly cleaned and treated with an antiseptic. If the requirements are not met, a healthy plant becomes infected, pathogenic microorganisms are transmitted along with the juice.
Features of pruning according to the variety
The crown of tree and shrub cherries is formed identically. And for one and for the other type, it is necessary to leave skeletal branches, thanks to which the plant will develop well. Cutting different varieties has its own nuances.
The crown of undersized cherry thickens strongly, therefore it is more often formed by the method of a slender spindle, in which only young shoots up to 2 years old are left. Those that already had berries are removed.
Low-growing cherries grow quickly, and so that they bear fruit well:
- The branches that are bare at the ends are shortened by 1/3 of the length.
- The crown is thinned out regularly.
- With a significant increase, all shoots are not cut at the same time, the procedure is performed several times.
Insects start up on dried up areas to prevent this from happening, such branches are burned. On undersized annual seedlings, shoots are shortened.
Dwarf cherries are pruned in early spring before the buds open. Thanks to this, before flowering, it manages to get stronger. The crown is formed immediately after planting. The shoots are shortened at a distance of 40 cm from the ground.
The cherry tree also requires crown thinning. If you cut off the shoots correctly, the fruit branches are strengthened, no forks are formed.
When the growth length exceeds 15 cm, and the tree has reached 5 years of age, skeletal branches are exposed, and rejuvenating pruning is performed. For cherries with a height of 3 meters, further growth is limited.
Crown formation schemes and technology
The yield of stone fruit crops decreases over time. In order to prevent crushing of the berries, to improve the fruiting of cherries, crown formation is required, since it thickens very quickly. For beginners, this procedure seems complicated, but it is possible to learn how to trim. Different technologies are used to form the crown, one of the ways is shortening:
- weak;
- the average;
- strong.
In the 1st option, 1/4 of the growth of shoots per year is cut off, in the second - 1/3, and in the third - half.
The crown is also formed by thinning, which makes it possible to reduce its diameter, prevent thickening, and increase the number of fruits.
Another method that requires skills and knowledge, fan palmette, involves fixing the shoots with a trellis, the old branches are untied every year.
Young seedlings
Cherries, which will winter for the first time, are not pruned in autumn, only shoots are removed, which impede the development of the tree or move away from the trunk at an acute angle. The crown of the seedling is formed in the spring. For this, the strongest branch growing vertically is separated. 5 more shoots are left, which are directed in different directions and are 10 cm apart from each other.
Tree cherry
The crown of such varieties of garden culture is formed like a bowl. Branches that are located at a height of 70 cm and below must be removed. In order for annual shoots to branch out laterally, they are slightly shortened. Not everyone knows how to properly prune a tree cherry. This must be done at an angle, freeing the plant from processes that intertwine with each other.
Bush
This variety of cherries thickens quickly, which leads to crushing of the berries, deterioration of fruiting. The crown is formed around one powerful skeleton, shoots are cut off, which are located next to the main trunk.
In biennial bushy plants, branches are shortened, which tilt downward, as well as processes longer than 50 cm.
Nuances of rejuvenation
To increase the yield of mature cherries, shoots are cut in the spring, but you do not need to touch a large amount right away, since the culture does not have enough strength to bear fruit. Pruning of old bush cherries is carried out when the branches are bare. They are shortened by half or one third, and skeletal shoots - to the very buds.
To rejuvenate the tree-like variety, dry shoots are removed, the annual branches on which the berries are tied are slightly cut off.
Care after the procedure
In the spring, work on forming the crown and shortening the shoots must be completed before the juice begins to move. In autumn, cherries are pruned at above-zero temperatures throughout September, in the south - October, November. On the second day after the procedure, the cut sites are treated with a disinfectant, lubricated with garden varnish or oil paint. For the winter, the plants are watered abundantly, during the growing season they are fed, sprayed with Bordeaux liquid to prevent diseases, and fight insects.
