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Lapin cherry tree prining #866408

Asked April 30, 2024, 12:45 AM EDT

I just bought and planted a lapin cherry tree from nursery. It is semi dwarf. I’m incorporating it into my landscaping. I have only worked with my apple trees which are central leaders. What do I do with this thing? It came central leader trained with two tiers of scaffold branches and a central leader. I want to keep it smaller and reachable for spraying and picking on this rocky mound. I was considering cutting it off just above the lower scaffold branches for open center. The graft was also buried in the pot it came in so I dug it out the best I could. Can I prune it now? Please help guide me. I’ve included pictures. I appreciate your time

Oakland County Michigan

Expert Response

It's good that you unburied the graft, the tree looks well sited and planted well! 

In regards to pruning, you should wait to prune until the tree is dormant during late winter or in early spring (Jan-Mar). The risk of your tree contracting a serious disease is just too high to do any unnecessary pruning.

Since you are keeping this tree as part of a home landscape, you can allow it to grow with it's central leader. It should produce plenty of accessible fruit this way while also serving as a beautiful landscape tree. Most cherry trees are pruned to have an open crown, though, so if you are really trying to maximize production and make spraying easier, this is what you would do. It's really up to you how you want to manage the tree, though. Neither way would be wrong or harmful to the tree's overall health.

Here are some resources for cherry tree pruning:

https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/late-winter-pruning-of-fruit

https://www.canr.msu.edu/uploads/files/Research_Center/NW_Mich_Hort/Training_Pruning_Varities/TrainingTartCherryTrees.pdf

https://www.canr.msu.edu/uploads/files/Research_Center/NW_Mich_Hort/Training_Pruning_Varities/TrainingPruningYoungCherryTreesE1744.pdf

Again, wait to prune until January-March!

Thank you for your question! Replied May 07, 2024, 9:19 AM EDT

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