Q&A for How to Prune a Cherry Tree

Yes. Cherry trees should be pruned regularly, usually during the winter, to remove dead, diseased or damaged branches and to open up the canopy. Remove about 1/3 of the branches annually or every several years. Rejuvenation pruning can be completed on an old neglected tree.

Prune in the winter when the tree is dormant. For sweet cherries, some sources recommend pruning lightly in the late summer.

It is not recommended as the tree will become stressed and fruit set will be dramatically reduced. However, thinning of overcrowded fruit can be beneficial to fruit size. Plan to prune in the winter when the tree is dormant.

The time frame to get a cherry tree to grow and produce fruit varies from sweet cherries and sour cherries. Sweet cherry trees take 7-10 years to produce fruit, while the sour cherry can see fruit in 4-5 years.

Placing moth balls or cayenne pepper around the base of the tree.

You have to cut the tree slowly over a three year period. Pruning such a large tree also opens it up to infectious disease. Pruning such a large tree takes skill and expertise so you should refer to a tree specialist.

Refer to a tree specialist if your tree is already mature. You'll most likely have to prune your tree slowly, over the span of three or more years, to avoid killing the tree altogether. Explain to your neighbor that over-pruning the tree in this stage of maturity may kill the tree.

That is the sap from the cherry tree. The sap should not be leaking from the bark of the tree. Your tree may have Phytophthora gummosis.

You can prune the mistletoe off or use a chemical solution to prevent the mistletoe growth.

For sweet varieties, it should be 8-25 feet apart. For sour varieties, you should plant them 8-18 feet apart.

You can apply a preventive fungicide over the cuts to avoid disease. Make sure that next time you have this handy.

Yes, you need at least two cherry trees so that they can pollinate each other.

Natural predators of the aphids like the black fly include ladybirds, hoverfly larvae, lacewing larvae and several parasitic wasps. If you're growing your tree in a closed environment, you could include these insects to naturally destroy the black flies. Do not plant your cherry trees near running water, as this is where flies lay their eggs. You can also use a non-DEET repellent.

Yes. Removing less than 10 -20% of the canopy on a cherry tree will not kill the tree. If the pruning you are suggesting will remove more than 30% of the overall tree canopy, then it would be best to limit the removal.

Ants are milking the black fly so if you stop the ants, you will stop the black fly. Don't use a grease band around the trunk as it will damage the bark. Instead, get a plastic funnel, cut off the spout, then cut down to make a comb all the way around where you cut off the spout, spray out the comb to a similar size to trunk, keep cutting till you get the right trunk size. Then cut right through to the big funnel end, open up and put around tree wide side up. Use a tie around the comb and put ant powder in it. Then place a bigger funnel face down on top to stop rain, leave 10mm between top and bottom funnels to stop ants and tie it as bottom one. This will work well.