Another thing that doesn't give me hope is another one I saw today more grown and it doesn't look that much better imo...t

Yeah, like Playboy nurseries use pictures of "the perfect tree" or whatever. Sometimes it leads to unrealistic expectations. Thank goodness the internet is making real to life pictures more readily available.

IMO that 2nd tree looks pretty good for its situation. Yours would look better or at least more conventional with that lomg limb trimmed though I agree.

Yes it will even out. In the meantime it looks like you have it kind of down in a hole, with the crown too deep, and rocks tumbling down over it - appearing visually as though it were in a sump. Also there should be a grass free area of some size around it, while it is in the early stages. If you want it to do well and look nice as soon as possible you will make improvements in these areas - notice that the full looking one in the last picture is sitting on a little hump.

Notice also that the previously shown, irregular looking one is in a narrow strip at a store where it probably gets no mulch or irrigation, and may have a constricted rooting area.

Another thing I will point out is that if your example is grafted on one of the Gisela series dwarfing root stocks it is not ever going to produce a large, full top - or at least not a large one. I grew an 'Accolade' grafted onto one of these for some years and it never did become more than a few main branches, that slowly got longer.

If instead the one you have is grafted onto sweet cherry roots, as still too often seems to be the case, then you can expect in time to have that small patch of lawn spoiled by bony, emergent surface roots - and perhaps suckers that appear away from the parent tree. Otherwise you may get suckers on the parent tree, which you will have to keep cutting off if you don't want the entire top to eventually become sweet cherry.

I would be stuck asking who sold it to me.

Looks good!

Since there is a 'Kanzan' sprout at rock level in the close up shot the tree is 'Kanzan' down that far at least. However the knob at the base in the last picture implies a graft. Grafting flowering trees at near ground level, with the trunk as well as the branches all being the scion does not seem to be that unusual. That way the presence of the stock is almost limited to the root system.

It also raises the possibility that gradually burying the base of the scion, over a period of many years might result in it rooting out on its own, perhaps eventually divorcing itself from the stock. As long as the stock was only functioning as a vehicle, a means to quick propagation and production, as in the use of sweet cherry, then this would be advantageous.

Where it could be counterproductive would be if a dwarfing stock such as one of the Gisela series stocks was used, as the scion would be expected to become invigorated after freeing itself from the influence of the scion to a sufficient degree.

Unless you want yours to become a full sized 'Kanzan'. Here in Zone 8 this cultivar grows over 50' tall.

Bruin, you, like others here, are picking up on the concept that we don't want to whittle too much on a newly-transplanted tree. This is progress! That said, I'd hate to see everyone get locked into this rigid mentality such that something so simple as shortening up an errant branch becomes a no-no. Simply put, if you would cut that extra-long branch back, preferably to a side branch or branchlet facing outward from the trunk, you would in effect cause it to slow down in growth-exactly what you need to have happen, no? Far better to cut it back (in the manner described) than to remove the whole thing. There is simply no need for that.

bunch of random thoughts ....

dont compare the poorly sited tree next to the bigbox ...

snip off the little shoots for the first 3 feet ...

if you fert'd dont ever fert again ... it can lead to those weird huge growths ... go figure ...

mother nature is unpredictable ... for some reason yours bolted.. and leafed before flower ... again.. could be fert ... but on the other hand.. it may never do that again ...

even though i usually dont not prune... for a year or two after planting.. i would prune back that wild one .. to about the eave way behind.. to match the one on the other side ... remove a lot of the hanging weight first.. before the last cut .. mostly becasue.. in a huge wind storm ... it might break anyway .. i would prefer to be a bit proactive ... and make the selected cut.. rather than opening a gaping would ...

good job on clearing that all out.. get some good wood mulch ... but dont pile it on the trunk ...

bottom line.. you have a lot of expectations on a tree just planted ... start thinking about it in tree year terms.. rather than you expectations of instant gratification ... in that regard ... we start thing in terms of 5 to 10 year plans ...

good luck

ken

ps: in the future.. tell us where you are ... maybe i missed it .. but sometimes it matters ...

. Never used any fertilizers except an organic starter fertilizer

==>> fert is fert ... never fert again

ken

Bruin, it is hard, nay impossible to equate flower to foliage ratios in a mature specimen with what a very young plant will do. No obvious relationship. I'd strongly suspect that once this guy is up and growing-think Ken's "tree years"-it will behave pretty much just like all the others of its type.

Lawn, being a lawn is likely to need fertilization. Whether tree needs it later or not depends on individual situation and not sweeping generalization.

Cherry trees do not come back well from heading cuts, tend to grow off at right angles when lopped. Also there is the problem of their disease susceptibility, introducing pathogens through pruning. The tree has a genetic blueprint to even out the top as it grows, does not need to be cut on for this to happen.

The way for it to fill in nicely is to have it grow vigorously, not be dwarfed and deformed by arbitrary top pruning and subsequent small, badly angled replacement sprouts. The fact that the one branch grew like a weed on a prior occasion is not made up for by the other branches growing more slowly now.

Quite the opposite, in fact.

once this guy is up and growing-think Ken's
"tree years"-it will behave pretty much just like all the others of its
type

Yes, definitely - trees have a growth phase and then a reproductive phase during their lives. This is why so many trees have crown shapes that are more upright and pointed for a time and then more rounded and spreading later. Seedlings (specimens grown from seed rather than grafts or cuttings of already sexually mature examples) of wild species trees often do not flower at all for perhaps decades while the top is developing.

I am in love with the Kwanzan, and always wanted one at our home. My parents had an absolutely gorgeous one at the highest point on our front lawn, from then, that was my favorite tree. We’re landscaping the backyard now, I’m getting my Kwanzan. Wish me luck.

What did you end up doing? and how is your kwanzan now? mine is doing the same thing now and I dont know imif i should prune or not.

You appear to have two cherries planted too close together and under the shade of trees. They don’t need pruning, they need more light and more space. In short, they need moving.

omg how does the tree look now 6 years later?

I want to know too!!!! hos does it look now?

Same here. What does the cherry look now?

I have one and you have to prune it every year. Get rid of any branches that grow inwards and trim back the long out of control branches. Mine started as a little twig and looks great now. Growing at a good rate.

There is absolutely no need to prune a Kanzan every year. Or in many cases, ever.