Maintaining a cherry tree - advice for newbie please

[monkeyboy]

Hi all. We moved into our first home two years ago. There were a few trees at the back and I didn't take much notice at the time, especially as they were quite short (about 1-1.5m).

Last year, one of the trees produced cherries - red skin, yellow flesh, sweetish taste. But the birds got to them all before they were ready for harvest. This year, I used fruit tree sleeves and managed to harvest ripe cherries twice.

1. What can I do to ensure the tree is successful again next year? I didn't do anything for the first two years.

2. I was originally planning on covering the base of the trees with bark chips as the ground has a lot of weeds and I'm keen for a neater look. Would bark chips impair any feeds or watering of the tree?

3. Have I completely missed the window on trimming the branches back? The tree will be far too large next year for sleeving even if I used a ladder.

Any advice would be appreciated.

[veggiechicken]

Growing Cherries | How To Grow | Grow Your Own

This may help you. Bit late for pruning now.

[bario1]

Do you know if they are established trees, or planted just before you moved in?

[monkeyboy]

Do you know if they are established trees, or planted just before you moved in?

Honestly don't know but I'll put some photos up over the next few days.

[nickdub]

One thing to bear in mind is to only prune them as a last resort, and then only when they are growing - say June or July, this is because of the risk of disease.

If they are going to grow in to big trees, which is possible, you can either leave them and enjoy the looks or remove them and plant more dwarfing fruit trees instead - you can't make a good big tree in to a good small tree by chopping chunks out of it.

[veggiechicken]

Instead of pruning to reduce the height you could try http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...tooning-2.html Unfortunately most of the images have been lost from the thread but the advice is still sound.
I've done it to most of my fruit trees - now I can reach to pick and prune without needing ladders!!

[Kirk]

Pruning cherries at this time is a bad idea. They are prone to virus that is more common at this time of year. The virus like cold+damp and any cut in the wood can allow it to enter.

Not sure how to suggest getting more next year, those birds will check the tree out every day, and they can eat a lot between dawn and when you get out of bed.

I gave up trying to get any off mine, tree is just too big to do anything to prevent very happy cherry stuffed birds.

[monkeyboy]

Not sure how to suggest getting more next year, those birds will check the tree out every day, and they can eat a lot between dawn and when you get out of bed.

They didn't get any this year. I bought this >clicky< which stopped the birds pecking at them.

[Zelenina]

I have a large cherry tree that has plenty of fruit every year without me doing anything to it. The trick I learnt from my neighbours to get the cherries (and other kinds of fruit) before the birds do, is to harvest them just before they are fully ripe. Then you can use them for cooking or let them ripen further indoors for fresh eating. It can be tricky deciding on the right time, because if you do it too early they will shrivel instead of ripening, and too late they are all eaten. I guess it's when they are still firm but starting to sweeten. A bit of trial and error is needed. The birds eventually get the ones that are too high up for me to pick.

[monkeyboy]

let them ripen further indoors for fresh eating.

That's a great idea. I hadn't thought about harvesting them a bit earlier. I've waited until they're ripe which means that sometimes they've split.

[Jungle Jane]

Those sleeves look good! My dad has bark chips on top of weed fabric under his cherry trees,it's good & very low maintenance. Have you got a grease band around the tree to protect from moths/caterpillars?
https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=518#section-2

[monkeyboy]

Those sleeves look good! My dad has bark chips on top of weed fabric under his cherry trees,it's good & very low maintenance. Have you got a grease band around the tree to protect from moths/caterpillars?
https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=518#section-2

The sleeves were excellent. Didn't know anything about tree bands. Will look into this. Thank you for the advice. I'll probably end up doing the back of the garden next year unless November weather is reasonable.

[monkeyboy]

Right, managed to get round to taking a photo:



Looking to trim this soon. Any suggestions on pruning it?

[veggiechicken]

Follow Nickdub's advice at #5.

[TrixC]

That tree isn’t a bad shape, formative pruning has been appropriately done. If it was my tree I’d wait until summer after it’s fruited and cut the main branches back by 1/3 to 1/2 for ease of picking next year. Basically cherries tend to want to grow vertically, so pruning is mainly to discourage tall upright growth. What sort of tree is that on the right?