Should a 50+ years old cherry tree be pruned? If yes, how? - Ask Extension
Should this cherry tree be pruned?I live in an old inner Portland neighborhood where the houses are pretty close together. I moved to this property 11...
Knowledgebase
Should a 50+ years old cherry tree be pruned? If yes, how? #393695
Asked April 14, 2017, 4:45 PM EDT
Should this cherry tree be pruned?
I live in an old inner Portland neighborhood where the houses are pretty close together. I moved to this property 11 years ago. It has a very large old cherry tree in the backyard. It may have been planted when my house was built in 1918. The house next door was built at the same time by the same builder and with the same design. It also had a cherry tree in the backyard in the same location. (The owners took it out a few years ago.)
I have never pruned the tree nor even had it looked at by an arborist. Should I? It seems healthy. It blooms in the spring and sets very small cherries that are not very sweet - but not tart.
It is taller than my house - I'm guessing it's between 30 and 40 feet tall.
Thank you for any suggestions.
I live in an old inner Portland neighborhood where the houses are pretty close together. I moved to this property 11 years ago. It has a very large old cherry tree in the backyard. It may have been planted when my house was built in 1918. The house next door was built at the same time by the same builder and with the same design. It also had a cherry tree in the backyard in the same location. (The owners took it out a few years ago.)
I have never pruned the tree nor even had it looked at by an arborist. Should I? It seems healthy. It blooms in the spring and sets very small cherries that are not very sweet - but not tart.
It is taller than my house - I'm guessing it's between 30 and 40 feet tall.
Thank you for any suggestions.
Multnomah County Oregon
Expert Response
Thanks for your question and the photos. Pruning always has a purpose; to improve the health, shape, size, appearance, or harvest potential of a tree, or to change the landscape in your yard. Without a purpose, pruning is not needed.
Your cherry tree seems to be serving you well and produces dappled shade for your yard and neighboring yards. Removing the tree or severely pruning it could affect the understory plants by allowing more sun to reach them.
Your trees show evidence of past pruning that eliminated horizontal branching and resulted in the tree's strong vertical growth. The only pruning you would need to do now would be to remove any dead or dying branches (none of which are visible to me in the photos). To "clean-up" the trunk a bit, you could remove a couple of the small (2-3 inch diameter) vertical branches. One is visible in the middle photo, on the left side of the main trunk. Two others are visible in the right photo, on the right trunk, about 10 to 12 feet off the ground.
A big caution: It appears utility lines are in the immediate area on two sides of the tree. Do not make any cuts that could result in branches falling on utility lines without first contacting the appropriate utility.
Oregon State University Extension has a publication on pruning fruit trees that you can link here.
http://extension.oregonstate.edu/gardening/learn-correct-pruning-fruit-trees-osu-extension-workshops...
Good luck.
Your cherry tree seems to be serving you well and produces dappled shade for your yard and neighboring yards. Removing the tree or severely pruning it could affect the understory plants by allowing more sun to reach them.
Your trees show evidence of past pruning that eliminated horizontal branching and resulted in the tree's strong vertical growth. The only pruning you would need to do now would be to remove any dead or dying branches (none of which are visible to me in the photos). To "clean-up" the trunk a bit, you could remove a couple of the small (2-3 inch diameter) vertical branches. One is visible in the middle photo, on the left side of the main trunk. Two others are visible in the right photo, on the right trunk, about 10 to 12 feet off the ground.
A big caution: It appears utility lines are in the immediate area on two sides of the tree. Do not make any cuts that could result in branches falling on utility lines without first contacting the appropriate utility.
Oregon State University Extension has a publication on pruning fruit trees that you can link here.
http://extension.oregonstate.edu/gardening/learn-correct-pruning-fruit-trees-osu-extension-workshops...
Good luck.
