TJ, Looks like the roots are exposed above ground. you can take off a couple of lower leaves and burry the whole entire root system when you re-pot them. The tree probably needs more sun light or else it will grow thin and tall. Tony

Dormant pruning will allow your "bad" wood to feed the roots a little longer which should generate somewhat more vigorous growth out of dormancy next year. For young trees I tend only to prune with tools when dormant and steer growth by pinching when they're growing. Once trees are producing adequate crops I prune "when the sheers are sharp". It is only dangerous to prune when wounds have inadequate time to harden off before severe cold weather. For apples I've often read that 2 weeks and -25F are the 2 important numbers on this issue. I would guess that cherries are more tender. Late winter or very early spring would be safest. Around here, peaches are best pruned around bloom to reduce the risk of canker, although I usually prune them well before without apparent consequence.

Yes, and how often have you tried to move a tree any way but the way you believe in? I can't wait until full dormancy to begin moving trees and have moved thousands of fruit trees over the years not fully dormant, bare root. I watch them come out of dormancy and with many of them for years and years after that. I believe this is one of those horticultural issues that has never really been researched. Cornell recommends stripping the leaves when moving them bare root, not fully dormant, but in my opinion, it is just one of those logical leaps often made in horticulture (and most applied sciences) that has never actually seen the light of research. They also recommend against fall planting fruit trees (or at least did up until recently). The trees that I move earlier, when they have some leaves remaining, seem to do a little better than trees I move later when fully dormant, but it is not a controlled experiment and the trees are not equal to begin with. J. plum trees are particularly easy to transplant and respond without hardly skipping a beat. They are a nurseryman's best friend in this regard. I've even moved a couple when they'd already begun leafing out in spring, knocked off the soil from the roots because they were in in-ground growing bags and clay soil that made them too heavy for me to deal with. I threw them into my truck, drove them 100 miles on a clear dry day without protecting the roots in any way, yet, by mid- summer they were completely recovered. At the time I wasn't really expecting them to even live. So you can ignore my experience, but if you always do things by the book there's a lot you will never learn.

Actually, young trees should be allowed to keep their lower foliage in order to build healthy root systems and stocky trunks. You can remove crossing or inward growing branches from the upper canopy....the sooner the better. Newly planted trees really need all of their healthy foliage or the establishment process will be dramatically slowed down. Remember, the leaves are responsible for manufacturing all of the carbon resources needed to make roots and add to the tree 'body'. In a year or two, you can limb your trees up to expose the trunk.