How to Prune a Plum Cherry Tree

A cherry plum tree is an ornamental variety that produces beautiful pink flowers in the spring and purplish leaves in the summer. Even though it is considered ornamental because of its small size, it does offer up edible plums about the size of cherries. If you have one of these trees, care and maintenance is minimal. They do not grow very tall, so pruning is needed only sparingly, and watering is not required unless there is a drought.

Things You'll Need

• Pruning snips
• Loppers
• Tree trimmer

Instructions

1. Snip the top off the plum cherry when it is planted in the summer. Cut back to about 3 feet.

2. Snip off the top again in the winter. There should be additional branches below it now. Leave these alone.

3. Wait one year from planting and select four or five evenly spaced branches. Trim off all others. Select one top branch to keep as the leader and trim out any others near the top. Trim again in the second summer, cutting out any branches that try to grow off of the main trunk besides the four or five that you selected.

4. Cut out dead branches any time of year that you notice them. Small branches can be cut out with loppers, and larger ones with a tree trimmer. Snip off with loppers about 1 inch out from the trunk or other branch it is connected to. For larger branches, cut halfway through the branch from the bottom, and then cut the rest of the way from the top. This way the branch won't tear.

5. Trim out diseased limbs any time that you notice them. You don't want disease to spread. Cut back a branch about 6 inches or more from the diseased area to ensure that you get it all. Rake up leaves to keep the disease from spreading to other trees.

6. Prune out all branches in the late winter or early spring after the main shaping of the tree has been done. Cut out one of two branches that are overlapping each other, branches that are growing in a downward direction, and broken branches. Do all of these first, since that is required for the health of the overall tree. Afterward you can step back and see what else needs to be done.

7. Trim all branches back to about half of the new growth from the previous year if you are trying to keep the tree low. Cut just above a node where a leaf would grow. If you want the tree to grow in a more upward direction, trim to nodes that are facing in toward the tree. If you want the tree to grow wider, trim to nodes that are facing out from the tree.

8. Cut out some of the upward growing branches to open the tree up and allow air to circulate. Trim back to a branch that is growing in a more outward direction.

References

• Demesne: Pruning Fruit Trees and Bushes
• Clemson University: Landscape Trees
• NC State University: Training & Pruning Fruit Trees