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lsoh_ohzone5

Forcing low branches on new sweet Cherry?

lsoh
10 years ago

I grow plants in pots, so I want low branching.

I just bought a black gold Cherry tree. (Normally, I buy bare root via mail order in the spring, but happened to be in the neighborhood of a "real" nursery while traveling.)

The tree is about 2.5 feet tall. It has a dozen leaves, each directly off the trunk, distributed fairly evenly about the trunk. There is a small hard bud-like spike in the crotch between each leaf steam and trunk. Will these become branches? (There are no other branches on the tree.)

I am generally aware that If I cut a young tree off, it should force low branches (or kill the tree). A couple of years ago I held my breath and cut a young plum tree off at about 18" and it did indeed force low branching. But maybe the existing features are in fact the beginning of actual branches. If so, the tree is already looking like it would have well distributed low branches and I won't cut the tree off.

What do you think?

Thanks.

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