i am leaning toward ignoring it ... flowering trees.. do not need the strong single leader/trunk ... that a tree that will grow 60 or 100 feet might ...

btw.. where are you??? ... and whats your zone?

im not happy about the amount of growth you got on a recent transplant either.. i hope you didnt and wont fert it ...

ken

I am on Long Island (zone 7a) and never added fertilizer. Just planted with a mix of compost, peat, and soil from the hole..and watered often through the summer months.

As in all newer transplants, if you can bear to do little or nothing for a year or two, the tree will be better for it. As to the "how" to prune....people like myself spend lifetimes learning this. It is almost prohibitively difficult to suggest in a few words what to do. But my main message is, why be in such a hurry? There's all kinds of time in the years ahead. For now, let the thing have all its leaves and growing tips, as it is chemicals (called auxins) in these growing tips that signal the roots to grow, and we know a new transplant needs to regrow a root system. All else is secondary at this point.

Thanks very much for the help! I was worried that I needed to prune it, and I am happy to do nothing but watch.

Good deal. Now I'm not saying no pruning ever. Just that at this stage, it is not only not needed, it is probably best to leave the tree be for now.

Just a couple more general comments: It may sound funny coming from a guy who has literally pruned perhaps hundreds of thousands of trees in his time, but for the most part, trees know how to grow. So for example that exuberant burst of growth your cherry put on-it's all good. The stems will thicken, especially if the tree is allowed to wave around in the breeze. Later, like one or two years form now, you may in fact want to do some pruning. But most of the pruning we do on trees is for our needs, not those of the tree. So for example, someone might've planted a young oak tree in their yard, for eventual shade as well as all the many other benefits. So in time, they will want to "raise it up" some, which simply means removal of lower branches, so as to allow walking under the tree, mowing the lawn, etc. But these are human needs, not something the tree needs to have done to itself. And whereas forest-grown trees self-prune on their own, our open-grown trees, sunlight hitting them from every angle, will tend to develop lots of low, stout branches. This isn't "wrong" per se, but it might not meet our needs. One thing we do like to do is something called "leader training" which is basically setting the tree up with a strong structure, so as to allow it to function in the landscape for as long as possible. A technique you might want to look up, called subordination pruning, comes into play here. But those are mostly concerns with shade trees, not your ornamental cherry trees. Some overlap, but not completely.

In any case, right now is not the time to do any of this1

"Just planted with a mix of compost, peat..."

Hopefully the tree will not suffer significantly from that decision. Maybe it'll be OK if the added amendment was only a minor percentage of the backfill. Amendment is almost always contraindicated when planting trees and shrubs. Take a look at this webpage (especially section 7): Planting a Tree or Shrub

"...for the most part, trees know how to grow..."

I generally agree that newly transplanted trees should be pruned sparingly if at all, but sometimes a small snip here or there can make a big difference in the good form of the tree later on. Many trees in nature (left to their own natural growth) do not end up with very good form. Careful intervention can sometimes be very beneficial to cultivated trees and shrubs.

If the tree in the picture were my tree, I'd probably do some very minor pruning now, but (as something Tom said suggests) describing what to do would be more work for me than it would be worth to the tree at this point. Don't be afraid to prune...be cautious and conservative with what/how you prune...but never be afraid. It's the only way to really learn how to do it.

One of the difficulties in boards like this is conveying fairly complex ideas. So, Brandon and I are both old hands at this stuff. He suggests a bit of judicious pruning, and in fact, if the tree was mine, I might well do exactly the same. But we both have oodles of experience and have "a feel" for what to do. There is both art and science in this stuff. So.....don't get paranoid that Brandon's little snip here or there is going to set some catastrophe in motion. Same way with fertilizing new plantings. No, it's not necessary, no it is probably not even helpful, but if the app is minor, or better yet, an organic, slow-release material, you know what? All will be just fine. It's when we go way overboard with these practices that we set in motion an unintended chain reaction. I don't see much likelihood of that happening here.

easy pruning rules .. lol ...

anything broken gets properly pruned off ... pix when that happens...

second... in my yard ...i start pruning up ... so the darn thing doesnt poke my eyes out ... starting in fall ... or next winter ...

the only trees that need annual pruning.. are what we might call fruit production trees .. to increase harvest ... this is not that.. so get that thought out of your head ... here.. we prune for a goal [eyes] or aesthetic .... but not just for the heck of it.. every year ...

lastly ... get rid of the grass in a 3 foot ring around the tree... and add a good mulch.. but not touching the trunk ... mostly this is to keep the goon with the weedeater away from it ...

ken