
Light heading stimulates branching when you train young trees. Heading back causes limbs to branch laterally and stiffen. Thinning out results in long, flexible limbs that bend down when loaded with fruit.Thinning out and heading back (figure 11).Stubs won’t heal and could be a starting point for wood rot fungi. Leave the branch collar but don’t leave stubs. To reduce the height of a tree that’s too tall, cut limbs at the top of the tree to a lateral branch that is the height you desire (figure 4).This increases fruit size and quality on the remaining shoots (figure 3). In a mature tree, thin out more of the shoots that grow toward the end of a well-pruned branch.Sweet cherry trees may be pruned in August when there’s less danger of bacterial infection. Prune when all danger from fall or early winter freeze has passed, but before full bloom in spring.Prune the top portion of the tree more heavily than the lower portion.



Lateral branch-A side shoot off of another branch, usually at a more horizontal angle.Heading (or head cut)-A pruning cut that removes only part of a branch.Crown-The base of the trunk where the tree meets the soil.

The strongest crotch angle is 45 to 60 degrees. Crotch angle-The angle formed between the trunk and a limb.It contains specialized cells that seal off pruning wounds from wood rot fungi. Branch collar-The raised tissue at the base of every branch.
