When and How Should I Prune My Cherry Tree?

Pruning a cherry tree correctly — particularly getting the timing right — is more critical than with almost any other fruit tree. While apples and pears can be pruned through winter without serious consequence, cherry trees pruned in autumn or winter are highly susceptible to bacterial canker infection through the fresh wound sites. The golden rule for cherry pruning is simple: prune in summer, on a dry day, using sharp and sterilised tools.

Why summer pruning is essential for cherry trees

Bacterial canker (Pseudomonas syringae) infects cherry trees primarily through wounds. The bacterium is most active and its spores most prevalent in autumn and winter — exactly when most gardeners instinctively reach for the pruning saw. In summer, the bacterium is largely dormant, wound-healing is at its fastest, and the tree can callus over cut surfaces before autumn spore loads build. This is not merely a preference but a genuine requirement for keeping cherry trees disease-free: winter-pruned cherries in areas with bacterial canker pressure will develop infections at a significant proportion of wound sites.

What to remove when pruning

The priorities for annual summer pruning are: dead, diseased and dying wood (removed to healthy tissue at least 10 cm beyond visible discolouration); crossing and rubbing branches that create wound points; inward-growing shoots that congest the canopy; and long, whippy extension growth that can be shortened by half to encourage fruiting spur development. Avoid removing more than 20–25% of the canopy in any one year on established trees — large cuts made simultaneously stress the tree and create many wound entry points.

Formative pruning of young trees

In the first three to four years, summer pruning focuses on establishing the framework: choose three to five well-spaced scaffold branches at wide angles from the trunk and remove competing leaders that would result in a crowded, multi-stemmed top. The aim is an open bowl or goblet shape for bush trees, or an open fan against a wall. Remove suckers from the rootstock immediately whenever they appear — they should be pulled off (not cut) as close to the root as possible to prevent regrowth.

Acid cherries — a different approach

Acid cherries such as Morello fruit on the previous year's wood, not on old spurs. They require a slightly different pruning approach: after harvest, remove a proportion of the older fruited shoots (about a third each year) to encourage replacement growth that will carry next year's crop. This is similar in principle to the renewal pruning used for peaches and nectarines.

Tool hygiene

Sterilise your pruning tools between every cut when removing diseased wood, using a garden disinfectant spray or a wipe with 70% methylated spirits. For general maintenance pruning on healthy wood, sterilise between trees. Sharp tools make clean cuts that heal faster and provide less surface area for pathogen establishment than ragged, crushed cuts.