How should I prune my new low chill cherries?

My low chill cherries, from Raintree Nursery, just arrived. I got a Minnie Royal, a Royal Lee, and a Lapins (I know.. the Lapins isn't really a "low chill" cherry but I've heard that people succeed with it anyway here.)

The Minnie Royal, and the Royal Lee are both on Citation (Yeah the peach rootstock), with an interstem (Zee Stem?) between the rootstock and the cherry. I read, at "Cloudforest Cafe", that this is done to make the tree super dwarf and precocious.

So any recommendations on how I should prune them?

Rich

Yeah, those are the ones to have in your location!

Rich, mine arrived so early in January that it caught me unprepared. I kept them in the dark in the garage at about 60-65 deg-F for a week while I prepared the new planting bed.

Within a few days after planting they were putting out new growth like gangbusters. The main leader on the trees had already been pruned by Dave Wilson Nursery some time last year at the 32-inch mark. Each tree had 2-3 whips about 30 inches long from that point. The only pruning I'm doing now is rubbing off new growth below the "head cut" at 32 inches. If the new growth exceeds 8 feet this summer, I will give them a crew cut at that height by August. When they are dormant next December I'll resume training.

Here's a link to a short intro to pruning I wrote for the Horticultural Society, I highly recommend reading (esp. you Rich!) the book mentioned there: www.frostconcepts.com/horticulture/PlantsThatProduce.html

I'm not sure how to prune them, but I'm really excited about the prospect of cherries in coastal Southern California!!!!!!!!!!! I too purchased minnie royal and royal lee! I cut and dug out a plum that wasn't producing up to snuff in order to make room.
I have some new growth but no flowers, my experience is that this is normal for first year bare root fruit trees.
I can't wait!
Mitch:woohoo:

I'd best get in on this too as my pair of trees are sitting pretty in their raised beds. I have a bit of leaves. From what Mr. Frost said, I should take off the leaves below where? Better yet, I guess I should read his article again. The nursery where I purchased mine did a bit of snipping for me to gte started. Like Mitch, I'm oh, so optomistic.
Louise a.k.a. spinner

Richard,

I'll have to get that how to prune fruit trees book.

I started to write a long post about different pruning methods I was familiar with but I lost the post when something went wrong. Perhaps tomorrow I'll start a seperate post about pruning.

I'm suprised that so many books focus so much on winter pruning and don't discuss spring and summer pruning (To control size and shape, and promote and position spurs).

Anyway I'll write a rambling post on pruing tomorrow.

Rich, keep in mind that most homeowners think that pruning once in winter and once in summer is already a lot of work. I like the book (pamphlet really) by R. Sanford Martin because it is very concise, approachable, has great before & after drawings, and a priceless 1.5 pages near the end on training young trees. You can get it for $6 at your local nursery or pay a hefty $25 online.

If your average homeowner would follow Martin's basic directions for winter pruning and then give their tree a "crew cut" at the 8-foot height after the summer growth spurt, I know they will be pleased with the results.

Of course more can be done if you are a devoted hobbiest and I look forward to hearing what you do! Another option is to pay for expert servicing of your fruit trees. In the San Diego area, the person to contact is Richard Wright at Edible Eden, 858-748-3316.