I would welcome ideas on how to prune my weeping cherry. I may have overfertilized it when I got it last spring, as it now has long branches and large leaves. I don't know where to begin. Any ideas would be appreciated. Thank you.
Jacki T
Ithaca, NY
Help pruning my leafy weeping cherry bonsai
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rainbowgardener
- Super Green Thumb
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I think cherry trees in general are hardy trees, rated hardy down to zone 4. Ithaca is in zone 5. However, cherry trees rated down to zone 4 would be trees growing in the ground, not in a tiny bonsai pot. So I doubt Jacki's bonsai could survive the winter outdoors.
But what tom would be getting at is that cold hardy trees like cherry, require cold dormancy. As the days shorten, and the weather cools toward winter, they go dormant. They will not wake up again until they have had sufficient chilled down time.
It is unfortunate that you don't know your variety of cherry, because there is a wide range of how much chilling the different varieties need. Cherry trees with low chilling requirements, appropriate for the warmest climates in the cherry-growing range need just 300 chilling hours. Those with low to moderate requirements require 250 to 400 hours, while moderate chilling requirements range from 500 to 700 hours. Cherries with a moderate to high chilling requirement of 700 to 900 hours will only yield cherries if they are grown in northern states with long cold winters. Chilling hours are the total number of hours when the ambient temperature is between 32 degrees and 45 degrees. If your cherry seedling was grown somewhere near you in Ithaca it probably has at least moderate chill requirement, say at least 500 hours. I looked at your weather -- it is 39 now, so probably has been below 45 for a few hours. Won't get back up to 45 until noon tomorrow. So that is maybe 15 of those chilling hours -- IF your tree were outdoors. So you would need another month or more of days like that for your tree to be chilled enough to produce fruit next year -- if you care about your bonsai producing fruit. Even if you don't care about that, just for it to stay healthy, it is going to need a fair amount of chilling.
It should have been outside and stay outside until the night time lows are consistently down to freezing and the tree has had no leaves for awhile. Then it would be brought in for protection, but only to some unheated space like a garage, where it is protected from ice and wind, but still is chilly. But if your tree has been inside all this time, you can't just plop it out in the cold. I would start by finding the coldest place in your house, away from all heat vents and as unheated as you can get it. Is there a room where you can close the heat vent? While it still has leaves, it will still need some light, but less is fine. After it has been in that spot for 2-3 weeks, then move it to the garage or whatever really unheated place you can find where it is still protected. Once it has dropped its leaves, then it won't need light and will need very little water.
You are not going to be pruning it now. Once things are warming up in the spring, bring it outdoors (where it should live much of the year). Once it is growing well again in spring, you can prune it. You don't care what those leaves look like now, because it will be losing them. In the spring, having LOTS of bright sun will help keep the leaves smaller. Big leaves and long branches are because it hasn't been getting as much light as it really needs, so it is stretching to find it.
But what tom would be getting at is that cold hardy trees like cherry, require cold dormancy. As the days shorten, and the weather cools toward winter, they go dormant. They will not wake up again until they have had sufficient chilled down time.
It is unfortunate that you don't know your variety of cherry, because there is a wide range of how much chilling the different varieties need. Cherry trees with low chilling requirements, appropriate for the warmest climates in the cherry-growing range need just 300 chilling hours. Those with low to moderate requirements require 250 to 400 hours, while moderate chilling requirements range from 500 to 700 hours. Cherries with a moderate to high chilling requirement of 700 to 900 hours will only yield cherries if they are grown in northern states with long cold winters. Chilling hours are the total number of hours when the ambient temperature is between 32 degrees and 45 degrees. If your cherry seedling was grown somewhere near you in Ithaca it probably has at least moderate chill requirement, say at least 500 hours. I looked at your weather -- it is 39 now, so probably has been below 45 for a few hours. Won't get back up to 45 until noon tomorrow. So that is maybe 15 of those chilling hours -- IF your tree were outdoors. So you would need another month or more of days like that for your tree to be chilled enough to produce fruit next year -- if you care about your bonsai producing fruit. Even if you don't care about that, just for it to stay healthy, it is going to need a fair amount of chilling.
It should have been outside and stay outside until the night time lows are consistently down to freezing and the tree has had no leaves for awhile. Then it would be brought in for protection, but only to some unheated space like a garage, where it is protected from ice and wind, but still is chilly. But if your tree has been inside all this time, you can't just plop it out in the cold. I would start by finding the coldest place in your house, away from all heat vents and as unheated as you can get it. Is there a room where you can close the heat vent? While it still has leaves, it will still need some light, but less is fine. After it has been in that spot for 2-3 weeks, then move it to the garage or whatever really unheated place you can find where it is still protected. Once it has dropped its leaves, then it won't need light and will need very little water.
You are not going to be pruning it now. Once things are warming up in the spring, bring it outdoors (where it should live much of the year). Once it is growing well again in spring, you can prune it. You don't care what those leaves look like now, because it will be losing them. In the spring, having LOTS of bright sun will help keep the leaves smaller. Big leaves and long branches are because it hasn't been getting as much light as it really needs, so it is stretching to find it.
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rainbowgardener
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 25279
- Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
- Location: TN/GA 7b
Here's an image of weeping cherry bonsai:
You understand that what gives a bonsai tree the illusion of being a mature tree in miniature and contributes to making it beautiful is in large measure that thick trunk. Your tree will not develop that staying in a small bonsai pot. If you want it to end up looking something like the picture eventually, in the spring you would get it out of the bonsai pot and into a large (1-2 gallon) nursery pot. Let it grow there for a few years unpruned, and then start shaping it into bonsai.
You understand that what gives a bonsai tree the illusion of being a mature tree in miniature and contributes to making it beautiful is in large measure that thick trunk. Your tree will not develop that staying in a small bonsai pot. If you want it to end up looking something like the picture eventually, in the spring you would get it out of the bonsai pot and into a large (1-2 gallon) nursery pot. Let it grow there for a few years unpruned, and then start shaping it into bonsai.