I am a complete novice with garden.

I bought a fruit tree that I really wanted (Chinese hawthorn) early this year(2014) and planted it. Now it is first winter, I am thinking maybe I need to do some pruning. After I searched the net I found out I completely did the planting wrong.

All the information says the newly bought tree should be cut down to very short at planting but I just put the tree in a hole.

Now what should I do for this winter? Can I still cut it down as if this is a first year tree?

Thanks in advance.

PS. I am not sure this is the right forum for my question. I first posted at "tree" forum but they suggested to move to here.

In general (and especially at this point a year later), I think the decision of how much (and where) to prune will come down to what shape you want the tree to take.

Thank you for your replies.

I attached a picture here. The height of the center trunk is 4 feet (where the red arrow points). The tallest branch is 5'8".

RedSun, I got it from Raintree nursery in WA, variety is red sun. So you must like it too?

I may go the slow way. I think I'm going to grow some wild Chinese hawthorn, then try to get some scion wood and try to graft it.

The original Chinese hawthorn fruits are very sour. There are new varieties, but I've not tasted them, so I do not know if I like them or not.

So I may ask either Bob or you to send me a few fruits when they are available.

This Big Ball is the same variety Bob has. It is also called Da Mian Qiu. In Chinese, this means Big Soft Ball.... So the fruits must taste soft....

You tree looks fine. Some people top the tree very low, so the branches come out low for easy picking. Your tree branches high, so the tree would grow tall. Just make sure there is room for the tree to grow. The tree can grow large when get old...

At spring time, make sure to add some root stimulator to help the roots to grow. For the first two years, shape the tree and get the tree grow more roots...

RedSun, of course no problem I will send you fruits. But I am not sure if it will be successful.

I don't want the tree to get too high. So Bob how high is your tree now? Does it bear fruits?

I didn't see your latest post when I posted. The photo was taken yesterday. So I guess there is nothing I could do now to make the tree lower. Do you think there will be branches coming out lower than the current branches?

In the backyard, it can grow large because of the favorable condition. This tree itself is a excellent landscape tree, just like a crabapple.Give it plenty of room. You can prune hard and let it grow as a fruit tree as opposed to a landscape tree, but that can be some work and the tree may not look good.

Here are some photos of the large trees:

Again, if you have no room, then just grow it as a fruit tree. Train it as a open center shape. Force the tree grow wide, not tall. When the tree grows large, you'll have to trim old wood and renovate the tree to stay the same size....

Keep in mind that you can graft them onto quince (at least that is what mine is on, per Burnt Ridge) and you may be able to find that online (Raintree, I believe).

Regardless, you need to get the tree some room to grow. You do not want to grow a 40' tree in 10' space....

I'll need to taste the fruits first, before I invest $$ in this tree. But the fruits are nowhere to be found for the varieties they sell....

It grew like a beast this year, here it is in October. I need to do some pruning late winter!

Drew5, yes I want the height of your tree, maybe a little higher. Same question for you, should I cut it down and hope it survives?

For my tree, it really didn't do much in this first year, got some leaves that's it. It probably got affected by the California drought (worst in 1200 years some say).

You can head it low, but the tree still grows wide. So it will just grow to whatever the room and shape you want to train it for.

To confirm my ids I also checked your images on Google. The first appears on many websites with no name other than generic 'Hawthorn' but the background looks typically British or Irish and therefore not C pinnatifida. I believe that the bayflora use of the photo, where it is labelled as 'Chinese hawthorn', is simply incorrect use of an image from the web. The second is the Wiki illustration for the entry on C monogyna. The third is from a UK website simply labelled 'Hawthorn in Autumn' so therefore highly unlikely to be C pinnatifida. The last is a picture of wild Hawthorn blossom in Allesley, UK so not C pinnatifida.

I`ve seen you posted this kind of things many times, to many other people also. It is just a bad way to continue any public discussion.

If you read the first few words, what he/she is saything that I'm posting the wrong pictures.... It is just hard to continue any conversation with such strong statement. And this is not the first time this happens...

Here this is a online forum and we are not doing Ph.D thesis. I try to help a fellow GWer. I do not have the time and energy to pin-point the source of each photo.

In general, I know this plant pretty well. I've seen so many of them. This tree grows common in China and it is in popular culture for a long time, in movie, painting and some media. Here are some pictures from a very recent Chinese move "Under the Hawthorn Tree" or "Love Under the Hawthorn Tree". Again, I do not know what hawthorn tree that is. But I assume that is Chinese Hawthorn tree. Enjoy the pictures.