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| I have a white gold cherry I planted this spring as a whip. I really should have headed it back more aggressively at planting...it threw out only two laterals this season and they are both substantially higher than I would prefer. With an apple I wouldn't hesitate to hack it back and start over....safe to do with cherry as well? |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| MSU mentions doing this on tart cherries, but doesn't say anything about sweet cherries concerning starting over in the 2nd year. MSU has been working a lot with Gisela rootstocks, and has figured out the best way to train cherries on this rootstock. Dave Wilson nurseries doesn't like it, because it is too precocious and I think they want to promote their own cherry dwarfing rootstock. Which IMHO will have the same problems. Anyway I saw (and saved) a video about the pruning techniques for older trees to keep them productive. Search for "Pruning the Mature Cherry Tree on Gisela Rootstock" OSU and MSU worked together on my cherry projects Let's hope we will all need to know this! Here is a link of some PDF's from MSU on pruning young cherry trees. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Pruning young cherry trees.
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| Rob, I have little experience restarting cherries, but I'll offer what little experience I've had restarting tart cherries. Last year I had a couple pie cherries the deer completely de-limbed (I subsequently pruned one down to a short stump.) Both recovered and did fine this summer. I once had a tart cherry which was beyond its second year. I decided the scaffolds were started too high, so I hacked it back to nothing. I can't recall for sure if I literally took all the scaffolds off, but I think I did. The tree threw out new growth from the trunk from which I chose new scaffolds. The tree is still doing fine today. Hopefully more will chime in with specific sweet cherry advice/experience in this regard. |
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- Posted by windfall_rob vt4 (My Page) on Sat, Nov 30, 13 at 11:09
| thanks guys, Hopefully someone will chime in with experience on sweet cherries, but the MSU recs on sours and Olpea's own trials make me feel reasonably comfortable that I can just cut it back and start again. Olpea, it was a discussion you and harvestman had sometime ago regarding the reluctance of peaches to throw new scaffolds from dormant buds low that had me hesitant...for future reference any other stone fruit to be wary of this with that you know of? |
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- Posted by harvestman 6 (My Page) on Sat, Nov 30, 13 at 11:51
| You certainly can cut to first couple of buds on last years wood and score above lower buds to encourage low branching if it is already too high where the first of last years buds are. Score when trees are in bloom just deep enough to sever the cambium which delivers hormones from higher buds that slow or stop growth of lower buds. Then you can finger prune intermittently during the growing season to steer growth. |
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- Posted by windfall_rob vt4 (My Page) on Sat, Nov 30, 13 at 12:59
| That was the other approach I was considering. But on pommes my attempts to use scoring to stimulate branches have had rather lackluster results, branches spring out but do not become vigorous...I think my timing was too early. |
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| Take a look at the KBG pruning system. It appears they hack the trees a lot! So I bet you can do it. As long as it has buds below the cut, they should grow. |
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| "Olpea, it was a discussion you and harvestman had sometime ago regarding the reluctance of peaches to throw new scaffolds from dormant buds low that had me hesitant...for future reference any other stone fruit to be wary of this with that you know of?for future reference any other stone fruit to be wary of this with that you know of?" Rob, Except for peaches, all the pome and stone fruits I've experience with will readily throw shoots from adventitious buds. That said, sweet cherries are the one stone fruit I have the least experience with. I've had some sweet cherries but only for a couple years. They just don't do well in this area. I can only guess they will push growth from adventitious buds. At least if your tree were mine, I'd cut it back and see what happens. I place a high value on forgoing early fruit crops to build a tree structure long term which suits me. That is, a structure which is low to the ground and will support heavy crop loads. |
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- Posted by windfall_rob vt4 (My Page) on Sat, Nov 30, 13 at 19:09
| Thanks for the thoughts Olpea. I hear you on structure. We have intense deer pressure. I used to let everything get up above deer browse level before branching out. It let me protect them when young with a small wire fence ring. Those trees are manageable now, but it takes a fair bit more effort. I find if I invest in a substantially larger ring of fencing and get them branching lower, and then allow them to get above browse, I can get a lot more usable canopy at a more convenient height. |
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| I used to use the rings of fence to keep the deer at bay, but I didn't like the way the canopy turned out. With my new orchard I went ahead and just put the deer fence all the way around it. 8 wire high tensile electric seems to be doing the job. As far as sweet cherries go I wouldn't know. They don't survive here. The box stores sell them like hotcakes, Im sure there are lots of repeat customers! |
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