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Oversize Cherry Tree

keatingsjkeatingsj Posts: 2
in Problem solving
I’ve got an old cherry tree in the garden (a mazzard) and I’m wondering what the best thing to do with it is. It’s too big so does anyone know if I cut it way down, if it’ll shoot again from the main trunk. It’s about 6 metres high and looks very bedraggled. Seems to be sound so I don’t really want to cut it down. Any help/ideas would be appreciated!

Posts

  • robairdmacraignilrobairdmacraignil Posts: 782
    Cherry are said to be liable to get silver leaf disease if pruned in the winter and cutting it right back might kill it. There was one after getting too tall in my parent's back garden and since they were happy enough to get rid of it completely we compromised and I cut it right back to about 2metre in height but it had a couple of branches from low down on the trunk that looked likely to be able to continue to grow with the top part removed and I think it may have a chance to survive. Going to find out if it worked in the next few months as only chopped it back in the autumn just gone but I have killed a cherry tree in the past when someone asked me to cut it back severely at the wrong time of the year.

    Happy gardening!
    https://www.youtube.com/user/sustainableveg/videos
  • keatingsjkeatingsj Posts: 2
    I’m happy to leave it until August after it’s fruited as that should reduce the chance of it getting silver leaf disease. Let me know what happens with your parents tree
  • borgadrborgadr Posts: 718
    A couple of my plum trees (very closely related to cherries, and the same care guidance) were very also big and scraggly. Tree surgeons told me it was fine to pollard them, which they did last July, back to about 2 metres of trunk, which promptly sprouted lots of new shoots through autumn.  Now there are signs of spring growth, so hopefully both are fine.
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