Help needed how do I Fan train a cherry tree?

[Bristolbelle]

I bought a Morello Cherry from q&b last week. And I would like to fan train it. I have planted it 1ft away from the wall and at a slight angle. Where on earth do I start to prune? I dont know what root stock it has either. All that it says is that it will grow 16ft if not trimmed.

[oldjerry]

It would help to know the rootstock,but your wall will need to be a decent height and you'll need to attach canes or wires to it to train the tree against With all training you need to identify what you're going to use as a leader.The VERY best advice I can suggest is that you go to the library and get out the RHS Guide to top fruit (little Green Paperback) it shows you diagramatically exactly where to prune for any sort of training,as well as everything you need for for succesfull cultivation.Pro growers I know refer to this series of guides, and they are set texts on most horticultural courses but still very easy to use.

[Bristolbelle]

Aw thankyou i'll pop along to the library next week.

[Davie Crockett]

I've got the RHS books. (I'm at work at the moment, but will report back when I get back to them).

From memory, it's a 2 or three year process. Train your leading shoot vertically and pinch out side shoots down to about 12" from the ground.

Allow opposing side shoots to develop at the 12" point. These will become your "Fan" and will develop when you pinch the tip of the leader out when it is as tall as you need it.

As mentioned by Jerry, you'll need to put support in the form of a frame or wires.
The RHS Has a very good web page on the subject: http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/pro ... px?PID=626

[kit-e-kate]

Hi, I don't know anything much about cherry trees, but I have read somewhere that you shouldn't prune trees that produce fruit with stones (cherries, apricots etc) at this time of year (apples and things are ok though). So don't do anything rash!

[Bristolbelle]

Thanks for all of your help. I just needed to get some info ready so I can prune in the spring.