Why a Weeping Cherry Tree No Longer Weeps or Only Partially Weeps
A couple years ago, I wrote a blog post about our experience with pruning two weeping cherry trees. I’m back to give you an update.
It makes me sad. I believe that improper pruning of our weeping cheery trees led to their demise 🙁 We had 2 beautiful pink weeping cherry trees and one has died completely and the other one is no longer fully weeping.
Why Isn’t My Cherry Tree Weeping?
This is what our two weeping cherry trees looked like before they were pruned. They were sparse in places and the branches were touching the ground. I thought a good pruning would help fill them out. This picture was taken a couple years ago.
Since we had the trees pruned, one died completely and the other one has lost most of the weeping branches.
This cherry tree used to be 100% weeping, and now due to improper pruning, only a small portion of the tree now weeps.
In Learning the Hard Way – How to Care for a Weeping Cherry Tree, I detailed our experience with professional pruning of the trees and how improper pruning led to the loss of weeping. The post also explains the different types of weeping trees.
I am undecided on what to do now. The tree looks strange and it looks sad. Should I trim off the small portion of weeping branches or wait it out and hope the shorter branches grow longer and eventually bend over? If that does happen, it could take years. In the meantime, I have started to trim my own branches using this. It’s so easy to use and extends for higher limbs. I also want to replace the dead cherry tree with this one, I so love the look of the weeping trees.
Do you have any experience with this? Drop me a line in the comments below
Denise
XO
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10 thoughts on “Why a Weeping Cherry Tree No Longer Weeps or Only Partially Weeps”
Wow – I had no idea a weeping tree could stop weeping! I know that sounds happy, but you’re right – it’s really not! I assume you talked to the pruners – I’m curious what they had to say. Thanks for the update. I’m going to go read the original now. 🙂 ❤️
Hi Barbara, no I didn’t talk to the pruners about the lack of weeping. I did bring up the dead tree which they said was due to a disease…which I didn’t believe…I just didn’t want to get into a tiff…so I let it go
The tree you bought comprised 2 genetically different parts – the scion and the rootstock. In the nursery, the (non-weeping) rootstock was grown to produce a vertical stem and at the top of that stem, it was grafted or budded with the scion from a weeping cherry tree. In the case of your tree, you have allowed some (non-weeping rootstock) shoots to grow from the rootstock and so that is why one part of your tree is no longer weeping. All you have to do is remove the branches/shoots that are not weeping and keep those that are. And don’t allow any more new shoots to grow from the rootstock. If you look closely, you may be able to see the “union” – that is the name for the junction between the rootstock and scion. If you can see that then it will easier to to know which shoots to remove before they become too large. You will be able snub them out with your thumb or fingers while they are still tiny and soft.
Hi Eddie, thanks for the info. I feel like my land scaper should have known which is which and pruned accordingly. I’ll have to take a closer look at it. thank you
I am sorry about your trees! I really feel like your landscaper owes you at least one new weeping cherry tree and maybe two if they are unable to fix the mistake prune job on the other like Eddie suggests. I also believe if your landscaper were an actual professional or claimed to be they NEVER would have pruned your tree in the hottest part of the year!!!! You really don’t do any pruning in the summer months unless you are trying to kill them!
Also, I believe it’s very important for people to be held accountable for the job they are committing to. I understand caring about other people’s hearts, being kind and not wanting a tiff, but if the landscaper did this to your trees imagine all the other trees and shrubs that have been ruined and are being lost to complete negligence on the landscapers part! This person is giving landscapers a bad name and most likely has had no professional training and is only claiming to be a landscaper.
You paid them for a job that they didn’t do correctly. There is no argument there. The only question is how are they going to fix the problem in which they created when they decided to prune your trees in August?
Hi Danielle, all very valid points. It’s just one of those things…about picking your battles. They do a lot of work for me, and a lot of thing happen, not everything is perfect all the time but give and take is important in every relationship and that is what I try to keep in mind. This article was meant to warn others and to pay attention to due diligence and not always rely on a “professional” but be knowledgable about what is being done to your home. Thanks for stopping by
Thank you for this valuable information on the weeping cheery tree. Mine is about 22 years old and started to get out of control so I had it pruned last fall. It bloomed a lot this spring until the high winds blew off a lot of the blooms. I had to prune it back some this spring. It is now covered with cherries. Your post is informative and will help me in the future as to what not to do. Sorry to read about what happened to yours. Thanks.
Hi Chuck, so glad to hear that you found the post informative and helpful.It sounds like you achieved the effects I was hoping to, so happy your pruning worked out to your advantage.
Thank you for the detailed information. I recently got a nice size weeping cherry tree. The tree seems to be flourishing, however I see some of the branches are really long and simply lay on the ground and was wondering do I prune them now or wait till winter before pruning them off the ground. Any guidance is deeply appreciated.
Hi Saby, based on my experience, I would wait until it gets cooler in the fall and only trim the ones touching the ground. I hope that helps.
This is what our two weeping cherry trees looked like before they were pruned. They were sparse in places and the branches were touching the ground. I thought a good pruning would help fill them out. This picture was taken a couple years ago.
Since we had the trees pruned, one died completely and the other one has lost most of the weeping branches.
This cherry tree used to be 100% weeping, and now due to improper pruning, only a small portion of the tree now weeps.
In Learning the Hard Way – How to Care for a Weeping Cherry Tree, I detailed our experience with professional pruning of the trees and how improper pruning led to the loss of weeping. The post also explains the different types of weeping trees.
I am undecided on what to do now. The tree looks strange and it looks sad. Should I trim off the small portion of weeping branches or wait it out and hope the shorter branches grow longer and eventually bend over? If that does happen, it could take years. In the meantime, I have started to trim my own branches using this. It’s so easy to use and extends for higher limbs. I also want to replace the dead cherry tree with this one, I so love the look of the weeping trees.
Wow – I had no idea a weeping tree could stop weeping! I know that sounds happy, but you’re right – it’s really not! I assume you talked to the pruners – I’m curious what they had to say. Thanks for the update. I’m going to go read the original now. 🙂 ❤️
Hi Barbara, no I didn’t talk to the pruners about the lack of weeping. I did bring up the dead tree which they said was due to a disease…which I didn’t believe…I just didn’t want to get into a tiff…so I let it go
The tree you bought comprised 2 genetically different parts – the scion and the rootstock. In the nursery, the (non-weeping) rootstock was grown to produce a vertical stem and at the top of that stem, it was grafted or budded with the scion from a weeping cherry tree. In the case of your tree, you have allowed some (non-weeping rootstock) shoots to grow from the rootstock and so that is why one part of your tree is no longer weeping. All you have to do is remove the branches/shoots that are not weeping and keep those that are. And don’t allow any more new shoots to grow from the rootstock. If you look closely, you may be able to see the “union” – that is the name for the junction between the rootstock and scion. If you can see that then it will easier to to know which shoots to remove before they become too large. You will be able snub them out with your thumb or fingers while they are still tiny and soft.
Hi Eddie, thanks for the info. I feel like my land scaper should have known which is which and pruned accordingly. I’ll have to take a closer look at it. thank you
I am sorry about your trees! I really feel like your landscaper owes you at least one new weeping cherry tree and maybe two if they are unable to fix the mistake prune job on the other like Eddie suggests. I also believe if your landscaper were an actual professional or claimed to be they NEVER would have pruned your tree in the hottest part of the year!!!! You really don’t do any pruning in the summer months unless you are trying to kill them!
Also, I believe it’s very important for people to be held accountable for the job they are committing to. I understand caring about other people’s hearts, being kind and not wanting a tiff, but if the landscaper did this to your trees imagine all the other trees and shrubs that have been ruined and are being lost to complete negligence on the landscapers part! This person is giving landscapers a bad name and most likely has had no professional training and is only claiming to be a landscaper.
You paid them for a job that they didn’t do correctly. There is no argument there. The only question is how are they going to fix the problem in which they created when they decided to prune your trees in August?
Hi Danielle, all very valid points. It’s just one of those things…about picking your battles. They do a lot of work for me, and a lot of thing happen, not everything is perfect all the time but give and take is important in every relationship and that is what I try to keep in mind. This article was meant to warn others and to pay attention to due diligence and not always rely on a “professional” but be knowledgable about what is being done to your home. Thanks for stopping by
Thank you for this valuable information on the weeping cheery tree. Mine is about 22 years old and started to get out of control so I had it pruned last fall. It bloomed a lot this spring until the high winds blew off a lot of the blooms. I had to prune it back some this spring. It is now covered with cherries. Your post is informative and will help me in the future as to what not to do. Sorry to read about what happened to yours. Thanks.
Hi Chuck, so glad to hear that you found the post informative and helpful.It sounds like you achieved the effects I was hoping to, so happy your pruning worked out to your advantage.
Thank you for the detailed information. I recently got a nice size weeping cherry tree. The tree seems to be flourishing, however I see some of the branches are really long and simply lay on the ground and was wondering do I prune them now or wait till winter before pruning them off the ground. Any guidance is deeply appreciated.
Hi Saby, based on my experience, I would wait until it gets cooler in the fall and only trim the ones touching the ground. I hope that helps.