Young cherry tree pruning

[bario1]

This morning I pruned my cherry tree... I'd watched a few videos and read a few articles, so I felt confident enough, and hopefully I haven't wrecked it - but here are a few questions based on my observations....

It's a 3rd year bush Lapins Cherokee btw, bought as a two year old and planted last season, so the central stem had been lopped already.

Some new branches had bunches of blossom only at the bottom where they met the old stem - others had blossom only on the end instead... what's that all about?

Some branches that were growing toward the centre of the tree I wanted to cut off, but they had blossom on, so I left them on or cut them above the blossom - i figured I might as well let the fruit develop this year at least?

There are some new small branches coming off the stem below the main branches that the supplier left on... I left these for now as they have blossom on the end - should they come off though?

Hope some of that makes sense, any advice appreciated!

[nickdub]

What type of shape are you intending to achieve when the cherry reaches maturity ? eg espalier, bush, spindle ...

[bario1]

Bush, it came as a bush trained tree.

[nickdub]

OK - the main aim then is two fold at this age of tree 1) try for a strong set of branches radiating out from the trunk of the tree starting at roughly the same height and heading towards different directions, 5 or 6 is a good number 2) stop any one main branch becoming dominant by tying it down, and remove anything large that wants to go back towards the centre ie you are trying to keep the middle open - sometimes referred to as a "goblet shape"

a few other points a) I wouldn't prune a cherry now, usually best to wait until June/July because of disease risk (you can of course rub out new green shoots of they are small and can be taken with finger and thumb only) b) Cherries usually spur up quite naturally for fruiting points on the branches, but if you do have any trouble with bare bits of branch with no spurs there are a few remedial things which can be done like "nicking and notching " and also bud grafting.

[bario1]

Thanks Nick, something to look into.

RHS advice on cherries says formative pruning of young trees should take place in Spring, so hopefully it'll be ok.

[nickdub]

You're very welcome - as for the RHS, I'm sure if I got one of their advisors round in my garden, I'd just do as they directed, as they're obviously experts - however I'm always conscious on forums like this that many amateurs read our comments, so I tend to err on the side of caution where I think its sensible. I'm sure you're right in this case, that your tree will be fine, but as for general consumption I'd just say that as I can't see any down side to doing necessary Cherry pruning in the Summer only, that's my take on what I'd do and what I'd advise others to stick to.

Happy gardening - Nick