Will it be too late? No, not at all. Are you intending to keep it in a container or plant in the ground next season? Others are more familiar with the diseases in your area, but you normally don't want to prune within several weeks of the rainy season. Many folks mid/late summer prune in-ground trees, but don't wait until end of summer if Fall rains come early in your area. If it were mine, I'd pot up immediately. I've purchased cherries before (from prior seasons) are they are severely rootbound (in fact, the roots are probably very tangled inside that container, mid-sized roots going every which way). I wouldn't sort any of it out now. If it's staying in a container permanently you can untangle roots next dormancy, since it's much too late to deal with roots now that it's leafing out. Either way, I'd put it in a larger container, adding fresh soil around the sides to fill the space. Make sure it is well watered first and do it quickly, in the very early morning or evening.

Pruning a new tree is done at planting time when it is still dormant. The problem is the tree is trying to get established now and if you prune off that new growth you are going to set it back. The instructions you are reading are not about the new shoots like c-f, its about the limbs that were the dormant ones, a-b. You also need to decide how tall you want the tree, if you want to pick from the ground you will need to lower it. Given the fact that you didn't prune it at planting you could either wait til next year or since the tree is looking reasonably happy give a go now. I keep my trees low for picking from the ground so if I were to prune it now I would cut off b right above f to make that a more outward-growing scaffold and cut a off right above d for the same reason. I put in a potted cherry this year that was already about as far along as your tree and I just left it as-is, I will prune it back next spring. Once you have good roots you can butcher a tree in dormant pruning and it will pop back in spring with a vengeance. Scott

Brian: Gee that's an ugly looking tree you just planted. Looks like it sat in a pot for three years. I don't like three main laterals all coming from one point. But the tree looks too old to start over that low. So I'd cut to laterals facing in the direction you want growth. And balance up the sides by cutting more on the taller lateral. In your country any apple will bear well if it doesn't break down. So your tree has hope. Just thin well and try not to overload any limbs. You could even tie the limbs together. The Fruitnut

The gummosis (weeping sap) is a result. On your tree, it's a result of a canker (the longitudinal crack on the trunk), most likely caused by a fungal disease. Members of the prunus genus are well-known for this, and it's one of the main reasons most prunus species tend to be short-lived. The bad news is that while young vigorously-growing trees are less likely to become infected and, when infected, can often outgrow the infection (at least for a few years), your tree seems to be suffering pretty badly already. Low-vigor, pruning at less than optimal times, improper pruning, and high disease pressure can all contribute to the problem. When your tree was planted, it probably took a little while to get established and then, because it's not in full-sun, it probably continued to grow a little more slowly than it otherwise would have. I don't know when your tree has been pruned in the past, but the best time is early-spring just before most growth occurs. Your tree has obviously not been pruned very well; the subs left on most pruning cuts should not be there and need to be removed. Always prune immediately outside the branch bark ridge/collar. The other side of the high-disease-pressure coin is plant susceptibility, and sweet cherries are known to be more susceptible to disease (especially fungal infestation) than sour cherries. Because your tree seems pretty badly infected already, it might be worth considering a replacement. If you can get the tree's vigor up, it may be able to, at least for a while, outgrow the canker (of course, fast growth may also lead to other problems), but a new tree might have a better chance in the long run. It's impossible to really know how your tree will do in its fight against the problem, so replacement isn't necessarily the only right answer (although I probably would replace it). The fact that the tree's form is a little awkward is another thing to consider, when considering whether to replace the tree. ________________ If you are going to keep the tree, I would remove the stake if possible. Trees are better off when allowed to move freely. There's also less chance of damage from the ties or from the trunk hitting the stake in high-wind conditions. ________________ I'm not great at putting detailed pruning instruction in print. I've been thinking about writing a set of guidelines for quite some time, but haven't because it seems like such a big job. I'll give you some general guidelines and then you can ask specific question if you still have them. First, know how to make a proper pruning cut. On a small tree like yours, this mainly means knowing where to make the cut. At the bottom of this (click for link) page, you'll find a pretty good picture that shows where to make a cut. Notice the swelled area, along the bottom of the limb in the picture, that is the branch collar. Sometimes this area is harder to spot on a real-life tree, but the picture will give you a good idea of what to look for. Never leave stubs, but, on very small limb tips, it is possible to leave a lateral bud to form new growth. Second, prune for balance. If there's a limb on one side (of the trunk or of a parent-branch), there should be another of approximately equal size on the other, or two at somewhere like 120 degrees from the first branch (picture a Y-shape, looking from above). The limbs don't have to be (and often even shouldn't be) directly across from each other. If there's a dominant unbalanced branch, pruning can be used to slow its growth to allow its corresponding balancing branch(es) to catch up. Third, select branches with good branch angles. Your tree doesn't appear to have a problem with narrow crotch-angled branches, but it is something you need to watch for in the future. Narrow crotches can be removed (prune off the branch) or corrected with crotch spacers or ties. Narrow crotch angles are more likely to result in failure as the limbs get larger and heavier. Fourth, choose a pruning style. You don't have to stick rigidly to a certain style, but it helps to give you an idea of your pruning goal. For your tree, and especially since it's not in full sun, I'd choose an open-vase/open-center form. Picture your tree in the shape of a "Y", or an umbrella that got blown inverted in a powerful windstorm. This form allows for much better light penetration because the center of the tree (looking down from the top) is a hollow cone. Another important factor here is the desired size of the tree. You don't want branches to originate from too low on the trunk (mowing nightmare, difficulty of harvest, etc) or from too high (difficulty pruning, spraying, and harvesting). You do want to have the branches leaving the trunk in a well spaced manor so that you don't have multiple branches originating from close proximity (no ). Well, I think there may be some other things I was going to add about pruning, but I seem to be loosing my thought outline and have probably written too much already. If you have questions, I will try to answer them. Hopefully I've given you a start.