Sour cherry cut - instructions and hints

• plant section
• Educational cut of sour cherry
• Conservation cut in the sour cherry
• Rejuvenation cut of sour cherry
• exceptions

Sour cherry trees are more delicate than sweet cherries, even though they are refined on the rootstock of a sweet cherry. But they have the advantage that these trees pollinate themselves to fertilize, so you do not need two of them. Sour cherries carry most of their flowers and the best fruit wood on annual shoots. The ideal length of these shoots is between 20 and 40 cm. If the tree is not cut regularly, the fruit shoots will be forgiven after just three to four years and the harvest will be significantly lower. Forgotten shoots carry hardly any flowers and consequently no cherries. Only an annual, strict cut keeps the fruit wood vital.

plant section

The sour cherry is cut like the sweet cherry. When buying the sour cherry tree, make sure that the tree has a straight trunk and five to six year old shoots. From such a tree can form a good round crown. Immediately after planting, four scaffolding drives are defined. The vertical central drive is the first, in addition to three further side shoots, which ideally branch off at an angle of about 60 degrees from the central drive. All other shoots are completely removed, directly on the trunk. The remaining side shoots should be shortened by one third. It is important that the topmost bud points outward on every shoot. Only then will the extension of the drive be carried out to the outside and not into the interior of the crown next year. The center drive is also shortened, so strong that between him and the side shoots an angle of 90 to 120 degrees arises. Especially this promotes a uniform development of all scaffolding drives.

1. Only the center drive and three strong side shoots stop, all others are removed on the trunk
2. Shorten side shoots by one third
3. The topmost bud must always point outwards
4. Shorten center drive
5. The angle between tip center drive and end side shoots - 90 to 120 degrees. The center drive is the angular point.

Educational cut of sour cherry

The sour cherry is also cut like sweet cherry and apple. Sour cherries also form the classic round crown, which is why a central drive and four side shoots are needed as a framework. In order to make the framework strong enough for the tree, the framework drive extensions are shortened by half each in the first five years. The crown is built after five to seven years, which is why the cut can then focus on the preservation of the fruit wood. The young shoots are conveyed close to the scaffold. All steep and competitive drives have to be cut out at the tips. In addition, the fruit shoots are auszulichten. It is expected that per 10 cm frame drive length three 20 to 30 cm long one-year shoots may stand still. In addition, all other annual or perennial shoots are cut on small cones close to the scaffold. Even if the cones dry up, later young shoots form there. If cut directly on the frame drive, no new shoots form on the dried-on interface. Tips of scaffold shoots that are not elongated are treated like fruit shoots.

1. Shorten the scaffold drive extensions by half in the first five years.
2. After five to seven years, the crown is built, then cut only to preserve fruit wood
3. Promote young shoots close to the scaffold
4. Remove all steep and competitive drives at the tips
5. Excite fruit shoots
6. For each 10 cm of stand length, leave three 20 to 30 cm long one-year shoots
7. Cut all remaining annual and perennial shoots close to the scaffold on cones. Do not cut directly on the shoot!

Conservation cut in the sour cherry

The conservation cut in the sour cherry is uncomplicated. All steep shoots are cut out. In addition, you remove all shoots that make the framework spikes competition. Two-year shoots are redirected to near-frame annuals.

1. Cut out too steep shoots
2. Remove competitive drives to scaffold drive tips

Rejuvenation cut of sour cherry

Without a cut, a sour cherry tree will age within a few years. Typical is the formation of overhanging shoots, similar to a train. It needs to be cut urgently. The best time is in the summer, right after the harvest. The old scaffolding drives and also the tows are transferred to young side shoots. It is important that these young shoots are as close as possible to the scaffold shoots. If the tree is so obsolete that there are simply no young shoots left, shorten the bald shoots on a pin about 5 cm long on the scaffold. There will be new impulses next year.
Just as with other fruit trees, a very strong pruning should be done in stages. You cut for three or four years, but only about a third or a quarter.

exceptions

There are sour cherry varieties in which the fruit wood develops similar to sweet cherries. They have the advantage that they not only feed on the one-year long shoots, but also on short shoots, the so-called bouquet shoots. These sour cherry trees are cut less severely. You only cut them every two to three years. These sour cherries include: Morellenfeuer, Ludwigs Frühe, Koröser Weichsel, Gerema and Beutelsbacher Rexelle.

Tip - If individual shoots dry out soon after budding, caution is advised. A fungus may be the cause, the Monilia mushroom, exactly. He triggers the Monilia lace drought, which can affect numerous varieties of fruit. Affected shoots must be immediately cut back to healthy wood to prevent the fungus from spreading. The clippings are best burned or disposed of as residual waste. To avoid this disease, only highly resistant varieties of cherries should be selected.

If you would like to know more about the different cuts and growths of the cherry tree and if you want to find out what to look out for when cutting the cherry tree, the cherry trellis or the cherry tree, click here:

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• Cut cherry tree to trellis fruit
• Cutting the cherry stalk - tips and hints