"McBad" wrote in message
...
Hi, we have a large flowering cherry in our garden which is getting too
big.
I need some advice on pruning it. I'm guessing now might be about the
right
time as it is shedding it's leaves all over our and our neighbours
gardens.

The main trunk must be about a foot in diameter and comes up to about five
feet height where, through some horrible arboricultural wizardry, the
trunk
splits into eight to ten major branches. These branches go up in a
roughly
conical overall shape to a guesstimated overall height of thirty feet
plus.

....

Speaking from experience this is going to be a continuing problem.
No matter how many of the individual branches you cut out, they are
going to continue growing upwards. So that they may reach 40 feet
overall in five years time. And put an increasing strain on the main
trunk through the extra leverage they're exerting.

Maybe when the tree was planted, like some people with flowering
cherries you didn't anticipate it growing this large. Unfortunately
just hoping it may stop growing at the present rate is of little
use.

From the tenor of your post it appears you're thinking of doing the
work yourself. The short answer is don't even try. If it's possible to
prune the tree in such a way as to both save it and prevent it
from totally outgrowing its position, or becoming a danger then
the only person who can advise on that, and do the necessary work
is an experienced arboraculturalist.

If you start lopping off odd branches, all you may end up doing is
render the tree unsightly, and stimulate the remaining branches
into even faster growth.

The arboraculturalist/tree surgeon will advise at to the best time to
prune but speaking for myself I've lopped branches off a flowering cherry
after leaf fall in Autumn and in Spring before bud break with
no deleterious effect. Unfortunately - I'm almost ashamed to say.


michael adams

....


Any comments or advice would be apreciated. Is this the right time of
year
to do it for example?

Thanks,




M