Young Juliet cherry tree - pruning and staking questions?

4 years ago

last modified: 4 years ago

Hi everyone,

I am in Edmonton, Alberta (Zone 4a) and I planted a couple of Juliet cherry (tree form) a couple of years ago. They were only in 5 gallon pots then and were very small. In fact, the trunks were very skinny and bending over so badly that they continued to require staking over the last couple of years. This year, the trees have grown substantially but the trunks are still rather weak and are leaning over a lot. I tried not to stake as much as possible but they just bend so much in the wind that I had to stake them. Despite my effort, the trunks are curving over and are not straight. At the same time, there is so much foliage and branch growth that I wonder if they require pruning. Obviously, the weight of these branches don't help with the trunk leaning over.

I am wondering if anyone can advise me as to whether I should be pruning these very young tree form shrubs and if I should do the staking differently to make the trunk grow straighter please?

Thanks in advance!

Featured Answer

weeper_11

3 years ago

last modified: 3 years ago

Hi Ostrich, I'm not sure that your Juliet cherries will ever develop a strong trunk. I don't think the U of S cherries grow well in that form. My Juliet (and all my U of S dwarf sour cherries; I put Evans in a different category, although it is also dwarf...) doesn't seem to develop really strong branches anywhere. The other thing is, I thought I had read that they recommend pruning out old branches after 6 years or so to reinvigorate the shrub (which wouldn't be possible with a tree form).

Anyway, I'm not saying it can't be done (I just don't know!) but my observation is that I don't think these shrubs are well suited to being trained that way. If you would like a tree form sour cherry, I think Evans is a better fit!

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Comments (8)

ostrich
Original Author
4 years ago
Sorry that I forgot to attach photos, which would help, right!? :-)

These first two trees are the same one but from different angles. You see how "overgrown" it seems to be, but the trunk is hard to see though.... I have a stake next to it but only loosely attached so that the trunk can sway and move.

Now this is the other one which does not look as "overgrown" but the trunk is even weaker here:

I would really appreciate your advice! Thanks.

P.S. Should I have allowed these trees to bear so many cherries when they are so young?
ostrich
Original Author
4 years ago
Thank you, Jordan! Really appreciate it. Jordan, would this 3 stake technique work for a trunk that is already curved? Or would I need a strong stake to be right by the trunk to help it to straighten out first?

Also, for a young fruit tree (shrub being trained as a tree!) like this, should I prune it to shape even just a couple of years after being planted???

Thanks again!
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ostrich
Original Author
4 years ago
Thanks, Jordan! I appreciate it and will follow your advice! Thanks.
Virginia Crawford
4 years ago
My juliet cherry has only grown horizontally until recently. I am wondering if I should stake some branches to encourage upward growth? It is quite flat. In the 2nd pic you can see an older branch that has arched over.
ostrich thanked Virginia Crawford
HU-763594092
4 years ago
these are meant to be bush cherries, not standards

they will not correct themselves, stake the as high as you can to achieve the deisred height, then prune out the leader once a year

i am shocked they claim edmonton is a 4a now, i lived east of the city and we were a 2b

try growing a bosc pear, or a mulberry, or a honeycrisp apple, or marechal foch grapes in edmonton
ostrich thanked HU-763594092
ostrich
Original Author
4 years ago
HU, thank you! I was wondering about that too - since Juliet really was a shrub, how can I make it more like a tree!? It already has a central lead in my case, but it is just curving. How can I straighten out the curved central lead? Is there a good way of doing it, other than really staking it to a very strong post and forcing it to be straight? NOT sure if that is the best way but I am open to suggestions! Thanks.
FrozeBudd_z3/4
4 years ago
As for zone rating, I live on a ridge just north of Spruce Grove, had moved here 15 years ago and had great success with several things somewhat better suited to zone 4, such as most of the paniculata hydrangeas and some maples .... then, along came a few extraordinary extreme early fall severe freezes and winter lows the likes of not seen in years, well talk about pushing our zone rating back to a solid zone 3, whereas I do believe Edmonton has a few degrees of buffering that maintain it within a zone 4 rating, almost, LOL. A very tough climate none the less! Whereas, thankfully, for the most part winter snow cover is rather reliable and allows me to grow some perennials that sometimes are known to succumb even in zone 5 due to their troubles with winter wet.