How to properly trim a cherry or weeping cherry?

[Ramairfreak98ss]

Apparently the other day, on a cleanup job, we trimmed a few overgrown barberry and several other bushes along with a 6' tall weeping cherry at a house. Customer asked for a bed cleanout and usually asks if we can trim up anything so it wasnt even something invoiced on a pruning and cleanup $400 job.

Calls up 4 days later "today" flipping out about how her cherry tree took 4years of pruning to make it weep like that and now its ruined and how its going to be bottom heavy. I had two guys on site with me, remember them doing it and they didnt take much off, maybe 6" at most, i remember seeing them trimming it and honestly i myself didnt know right from wrong.

Since ive done several in the past 5 years or so similar during trimming jobs if they were weeping all over and a complete mess... was this totally wrong to do ? How do you trim them then?

I can see another $400 loss and loss of customer right here. Theres not much i can do about the tree. We trimmed all the stuff without any extra charge over $400 either :/ Sometimes ya cant win i guess.

[highlander316]

did you selectively prune it? Or use gas trimmers?

[Ramairfreak98ss]

did you selectively prune it? Or use gas trimmers?

no it was nothing special or specific, gas hedge trimmer along the bottom most pieces hanging lowest, i wouldnt call it pruning anything, just trimming.

[SimonCX]

Weeping cherries should not be trimmed this time of year because they have a high chance of getting silver leaf disease.

[mdlwn1]

I dare you to take somes pics and post them.....

[Ramairfreak98ss]

I dare you to take somes pics and post them.....

lol, i have pictures of the property but not the tree.. would it really help with a picture ?

thanks simon.. ill just have to note cherry trees or something that weeps in the future in case of diseases etc.

[Smallaxe]

Diseases are the least of it... I have never pruned a weeping tree, unless it is not properly weeping... That is something of a novelty and they grow slowly and the greater the mass of weeping branches, the greater the value of the tree...

It's like the size of the beard on a turkey, or the size of the antlers on a whitetail buck. I am not trying to make you feel bad , but the word should be out there, that one never messes with a novelty , anything...

That is the number one reason I stayed a solo operator, for my entire career.

[hackitdown]

Oops. I gotta say, I would never take a hedge clipper to a weeping cherry. Maybe prune off some dead wood with some hand pruners. Oh well, lesson learned.

Tell her no charge on the pruning!

[JFGLN]

Those weeping cherries are a tough one. I don't touch them unless the customer request that we do. Some people like them natural looking, others like them trimmed like an umbrella.

[BrandonV]

prune dead wood, anything below the graft or anything that comes out of the top going straight up. NOTHING MORE

[HenryB]

I always trim them. Only one guy flipped after we trimmed his. Three years later it's not a weeping cherry any more. It looks like a wild weed. Now the jerk wants us to get back the umbrella shape. My answer call another arborist. After his little hissy fit, never again.

[phasthound]

no it was nothing special or specific, gas hedge trimmer along the bottom most pieces hanging lowest, i wouldnt call it pruning anything, just trimming.

Sorry, I'd say you made mistake by "trimming" that way. Pruning ornamental trees should always be discussed with the client before hand to avoid unexpected conflicts.

http://www.essortment.com/home/pruneweepingch_szjb.htm

[Smallaxe]

... Three years later it's not a weeping cherry any more. It looks like a wild weed. ...

That is why you don't trim the branches that ARE growing in the right direction. Only the ones that are unruly, and that is done carefully and annually.
You prune the tips of anything, it automatically spurts lateral growth. That is caused by a concentration of hormones in lateral buds, because it is responding to the loss of the leader.
Been a long time since I was in Botany... Does anyone know what that particular phenomenon is called?

[HenryB]

That is why you don't trim the branches that ARE growing in the right direction. Only the ones that are unruly, and that is done carefully and annually.
You prune the tips of anything, it automatically spurts lateral growth. That is caused by a concentration of hormones in lateral buds, because it is responding to the loss of the leader.
Been a long time since I was in Botany... Does anyone know what that particular phenomenon is called?

The problem is the shape of a WCT (weeping cherry tree) is not a natural phenomenon. I've worked with growers they are constantly being nipped tucked, trimmed and stringed. In CTF's christmas tree farms the trees are constantly being sheared for that triangular shape. So many of these "ornamentals are trimmed constantly and then once they are sold the "experts say never touch this tree or that. Kind of silly. Then we wonder why they look so bad and no longer resemble the Species tree we bought a couple of years earlier.

[mdlwn1]

Just a thought. We're all assuming it's that loose pink variety. What if it's that "snow fountain"? Not that you would shear across the bottom, but an umbrella shape on a snow fountain is very common.

[Ramairfreak98ss]

Just a thought. We're all assuming it's that loose pink variety. What if it's that "snow fountain"? Not that you would shear across the bottom, but an umbrella shape on a snow fountain is very common.

Yeah its a white one, and most of the info listed from you guys in the above posts i never knew about myself.. but i guess its why i thought nothing of it because its common for me to see this and my trimmer guy there has done a lot for us and never had an issue and he knows at least as much as i do.

[rickcrisbalthis]

Usually when we prune a weeping cherry, we prune to keep it under the 20 ft mark. Most of our customers want a 12-15 ft. tops. Usually we just prune the unruly sprouts as someone here put it. Also the phenomenon you mentioned is actually a result of the terminal bud being cut. It has a hormone suppressing lateral growth until the limb is long enough to absorb the hormone enough to allow the lateral growth. Removing the terminal bud eliminates the hormone, auxin, from suppressing lateral growth which makes a plant bushier.

So in short, you should remove improper leaders, thin out necessary limbs if they want it looser, and always selectively prune to avoid cutting a lot of terminal buds as well as risking the damage of bark on the remaining limbs. Hope that helps.

[grassman177]

prune dead wood, anything below the graft or anything that comes out of the top going straight up. NOTHING MORE

this pretty much sums it all up 4 me

[Dstosh]

That is why you don't trim the branches that ARE growing in the right direction. Only the ones that are unruly, and that is done carefully and annually.
You prune the tips of anything, it automatically spurts lateral growth. That is caused by a concentration of hormones in lateral buds, because it is responding to the loss of the leader.
Been a long time since I was in Botany... Does anyone know what that particular phenomenon is called?

Apical Dominance


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apical_dominance

[OrganicsMaine]

I think that the first thing we should do is define pruning vs. shearing. Shearing is what you do w/ the hedge trimmers, both gas/electric and man powered. Pruning is what you do with a small pair of pruning shears. When pruning you are looking first at dead wood. Then you look at the architecture of the plant. For those snow fountain cherries, I would maintain the shape while also allowing good airflow. That means I would selectively prune the least impactful branches out along with branches that are rubbing and creating wounds. This would help with many fungal diseases and allow the plant to be generally more healthy.

I, personally would never shear these plants....but i know why you did what you did, I started my career in central NJ, the home of green meatballs and weeping lollipops! :laugh:

I would consider looking into the Cook College winter courses. I know they used to have one on woody plants and the general care of them. It used to be taught by a professor that I had, Dr. Bruce Hamilton. Check these out, the knowledge will help you to do the right thing for the plants while still achieving the results that your customer wants....good luck!

[Smallaxe]

Apical Dominance


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apical_dominance

I believe that's it. Thank you. :)

[FYS777]

Usually when we prune a weeping cherry, we prune to keep it under the 20 ft mark. Most of our customers want a 12-15 ft. tops. Usually we just prune the unruly sprouts as someone here put it. Also the phenomenon you mentioned is actually a result of the terminal bud being cut. It has a hormone suppressing lateral growth until the limb is long enough to absorb the hormone enough to allow the lateral growth. Removing the terminal bud eliminates the hormone, auxin, from suppressing lateral growth which makes a plant bushier.

So in short, you should remove improper leaders, thin out necessary limbs if they want it looser, and always selectively prune to avoid cutting a lot of terminal buds as well as risking the damage of bark on the remaining limbs. Hope that helps.

this ............

[GrazerZ]

I have seen them trimmed a number of ways, we hand prune them. First we remove vertical leaders that ruin the weeping effect. then we look for cross overs, wounds, visual balance issues. then when that is all done I will on occasion trim up the low hanging branches. but I would normally ask first. I do always tend to trim them up if they are planted with companion plants under them that are obstructed. They are very vigorous growers when healthy and I would not get to worried about it.
A perfect example is pruning crabapples. which I hate by the way. How do you prune them?
Some guys take a hedge trimmer to them and create balls, umbrellas, etc. and customers love it.
I don't do it that way unless the tree has been trimmed that way for years. we hand prune then, which takes forever mind you, and is exactly why I won't plant them unless requested. And while I'm at it, I hate cotoneasters as well!

[Smallaxe]

Crabapples usually don't need pruning, unless they were planted in too small a space. Trimming trees to look like giant bushes, is silly, but I realize their are home owners out there that think that way.

I remember having to hand prune, with a tree saw, several trees in order to bring them down to about 2/3 their present height. Over the course of 3 years I was able to stimulate lower growth with a bushier symetry at the new height. Very tedious and I hated it as well, but I only did it for the one client.

[GrazerZ]

We had a commercial building with 5 crabs in front that had not been pruned properly. it toke us years to get them back in shape. ever year it would take me almost a whole day to do these 5 trees. It ruined me on crabs.
I will say though that there are a few variates that don't really fruit and stay relatively small that would be the exception.