Before you know it, autumn will be here and the fruit buds, or lack of fruit bud clusters, will be evident.
But even now there will be some limbs that are over–vigorous with hardly any fruit buds for the first metre and a half.
There will be limbs that cause too much shading, not allowing fruit buds to form in the lower part of the tree. And limbs that are visible now with the tree in leaf that are twice as thick at the base, robbing the rest of the tree of nutrients and production.
Remove unproductive limbs
These are the limbs that should be removed anytime before winter—before it becomes cold and wet and the job gets abandoned. To help create new vigour, remove the limbs in spring.
Removing these limbs will regenerate the tree with new growth, and in time new fruit buds, resulting in a more balanced tree.
Remove old limbs
Once the base of the fruit bud cluster becomes long with the annular rings of growth, fruit quality suffers because the calcium content of the fruit is lower, therefore shelf life of the cherries will suffer.
So, if your limb is looking that old it might be time for it to go.
Weak trees
In the case of a weak tree, consider cutting all the limbs short in spring in order to regenerate the tree. Should this not re-grow to your satisfaction then remove it and replant.
There is no economic reason to continue with trees that are not productive or earning a profit in the orchard.
Profits today are difficult enough to come by without having non-producing freeloaders in the orchard that soak up your water, sprays and fertiliser.
See this article in Tree Fruit Feb 2017
