Old cherry tree

I'm very new to gardening so my apologies if this is an obvious question.

I have an old cherry tree in my back garden. It is in pretty poor condition, about 8ft tall and 10ft wide with two branches at about 45 degrees to each side of the trunk, and some spindly ones growing at the top of these. It never blossoms (should it?) and last year had one cherry on it. Is there anything I can do to revitalise it or make it a slightly more sensible shape, or has it been too neglected to be revived? It is currently next to a large (40ft) silver birch tree which is being removed (insurance issue). Might it recover a bit once this has gone?

Any advice appreciated.

 

At a rough guess, I would say that the birch was taking all the water and nutrients although cherries are usually fairly robust - so I would suggest that you feed it regularly with a general purpose feriliser and see it it picks up by next year. Its a bit late to see much of an improvement this year.

The other alternative is to remove it and start from scratch after the birch is removed.

I am suprised that a birch is being removed for insurance, it is not one that normally causes any problem to buildings no matter how close unless diseased and likely to fall on the property.

 

Doesnt sound too good. Cherry trees arent that long lived really so it could be getting to the end. Does it have any signs of disease? Cherries are prone to bacterial Canker for which there is no cure. If it has this disease then it is just a matter of time.

If there is no sign of disease there may be improvement once the birch is removed. If you are feeling energetic you could try digging in a feed of well rotted farmyard manure about 1.5m out from the trunk to give it a boost.

Pruning cherries is a bit tricky at the best of times so id leave it for a while to see if its going to survive then have a think about it next summer.

Alternatively get it removed at the same time as the birch and plant some nice new trees. Dont re-plant with cherry if there was any disease as it could get passed on to a new one.

Phew, I hope thats a help but im sure that others will have more good advice for you.

Cloudy

 

Many thanks for the advice. I'll give it some tlc once the birch has gone and see how it gets on. The birch is going as it is about 8ft from my neighbours gable end and has caused subsidence (all the evidence has been provided and it is quite damning, although I'm not convinced that it won't result in heave that will make it even worse but they seem to think not) - shame as it's a really nice tree.