If you are following up on how my low chill, sweet cherry trees in a high density grow bed is going: the plants are doing really well. I did have to put shade cloth on them during our awful dry, super hot summers. The following video is from a Florida nursery and how they are pruning their trees. Great video that makes it easy to judge pruning. I will be using this method on my south Texas trees.
https://youtu.be/sLZQ7nb0g5A?si=ZPGQgQZ_iaJoX1hD
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Crazy Green Thumbs 
The only cherry tree we have is in the front yard… A Rainier Cherry tree. If we are lucky, the birds leave a few for us. (lol)
Rainier is my favorite cherry! I will be happy to get any fruit. I am always battling squirrels.
Oh my; I did not even watch the video. This technique became popular as larger homes were being built on smaller parcels. I prefer to waste space on fruit trees instead, so that I can prune them as they were pruned in the orchards that formerly occupied the Santa Clara Valley. It is more compliant with the life cycles of the trees. I would like to continue pruning in the old fashioned manner for as long as possible, but may need to keep some specimens very compact if I want to grow more cultivars of the same types of fruits, or if I want to grow them on steep hillsides. So far, I have kept some trees very compact with old fashioned pruning techniques, but they are ‘proportionately productive’, which means that they are not as productive as they would be with the modern high density techniques.
My conundrum is that I have half of my yard over planted and half I’m going build big beds in (because an oak on that side kills everything.) I started my fruit forest when my kids were in diapers. Now they are in high school and will soon be off to college. I don’t need a whole lot of fruit anymore and our family is shrinking. Less fruit, but more variety is what I’m aiming for. We’ll see how it goes. I have both bags of seed ready to mail. I’ll get those in the mail soon. I tossed one of the bags a couple of weeks ago because they didn’t look mature. I had harvested the seed pods early. Then stupid covid derailed me for awhile! I haven’t forgotten. 🙃
Oh, thank you! I will be away for two weeks in about two weeks, but I know that the seed will be fine if they wait in the mailbox for a while. I will not snow them until a bit later this time.
This is a fascinating concept! The idea of maximizing fruit production through strategic pruning in the early years is very interesting. The visuals comparing the “open vase” and “central leader” approaches are particularly helpful. The post mentions considerations for year 1-4 pruning. Do you have any advice for ongoing maintenance pruning once the tree reaches maturity (around year 5 and beyond)?
At that point you will be pruning for airflow and removing crossing or dead branches. It shouldn’t take much to maintain it once you have created the structure. Thanks for coming and asking a really intelligent question! I appreciate the visit!