He didn’t say it is Spanish Bush, he say KGB which first started in Australia
I have a lot of experience in different cherry tree formation pruning systems.
I think Spanish Bush is very suitable for amateurs.
But in the document attached, the information about the pruning process is incorrect, for this reason I want to open a post to talk about it in detail
Regards
Jose
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How is it incorrect?
How does your “way” differ from the document?
Why does your “way” lead to better results?
Could those results be climate/enviroment dependant?
You certainly seem to have more experiance with cherry’s than me. So i am not doubting your experiance.
But just saying somthing is incorrect without explaining how or why, it’s not that useful.
You don’t have to completly explain “your method” here now, But could you give us a small example? so we have an idea whats “incorrect” ?
Thanks, will have a look at these this evening!
I planted the tree in its pot yesterday and found a whole lot of grub worms in the potting soil. The root ball was also is some some sort of dark clay soil that was breaking apart like nobodies business lol. Hopefullt the roots didnt get damaged.
Still not sure if im going to top it when dormant or not… will see in a couple of months.
Oscar, if you see on the initial image of the Spanish Bush training pruning system.
There is a girl working on the tree climbing a small ladder.
This is absolutely the opposite of what is intended with the pruning system in Spanish Bush.
In the document it indicates that there are prunings that are carried out in a state of winter dormancy.
It is not done like this, since all pruning is done in a vegetative state, and the size of the cuts is also wrong.
I do not want to offend anyone but it is a pruning tutorial that is not well elaborated.
Due to my work reasons, there is currently no free time available (in my business, I have 4 employees on sick leave).
But I promise to open a post, to explain perfectly and step by step how to carry out this training pruning system (I have already done the translation) so the intructions are very simple.
The final result is a tree of reduced size in height, to facilitate all work without the need for ladders, ultra-productive, due to the high number of fruitful branches, and a rapid entry into productivity (if pruned in a state of winter dormancy , the training period increases in years).
I know exactly what I am talking about and I will explain how to do it, but I need a little free time.
Greetings
Jose
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The document has nothing to do with the University of Michigan. They are not an agricultural school.
100 hundred miles away from them is Michigan State University that grows tens of thousands of cherry trees. That is where this series was made, but the info is directed and produced (and offered) by the Pacific Northwest Universities of Oregon State, Washington State and the University of Idaho. MSU was just the location they used because of their vast orchards with every style being tested there.
BTW the Spanish Bush was pretty much rejected in favor of KGB. That is clearly pointed out in the video of KGB training.
It’s a good example of how easily it is to get information incorrect.
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Thanks for your reply Jose.
It sounds like you have a stresful time right now. Take your time and open a post when you have time to spare 
I appriciate the time your taking. But there is no rush right now 
This gives me at least some idea of what you think is incorrect about the way they explained the Spanish Bush training system.
Thank you for your arguments and explenation!
I think it is good to keep in mind that the height of a tree or training system can be freely adjusted.
Most apple espaliers are not so high that you need a ladder. But i have seen apple espaliers at the side of a house going all the way to the roof. They looked perfectly “espaliered”. Just because it is higher then usualy doesen’t mean it’s incorrect.
Also the pruning guide was written for industrial use. And in the industry you usualy have high row spacing so tracktors and equipment can move between de rows. This however leads to poor light interception (in the meaning of, a lot of “wasted” sunlight hitting the ground instead of tree’s)
A common way to cope with this is to increase the tree hight.
You see the same with the UFO training. You can make a UFO pedestrian orchard, that yields the same as 1 where tractors can drive in the rows. The tractor friendly UFO orchard will have larger row spacing and taller UFO tree’s to compensate and stil have similair yield per hectare.
The difference between dormant and in season pruning seems quite large though. And seems like a valid point to me. I will read with curiosity when you open your post.
kind regards
oscar
Hey, I know this is an old topic, but how did this go? I have a tree I should’ve been more aggressive with pruning last year. I want to top it a little lower, but I’m concerned it won’t branch. I did it with a plum last year and it branched fine, but of course that’s a plum not a cherry…
Cherries branch as much or more than plums. In the KGB pruning system you make stub cuts to regrow the branch. I would not do those with anything but cherries. Unless you’re going to graft onto the stub. One key is it must have direct sun to stimulate branching. It is advised that shaded branches not be stubbed.
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So there should be enough latent buds on 2 year old wood to get new branching? Right now it’s been headed a little high for KGB training. I’d like to lower it to the 24 inches.
Maybe keep some scion ever-case it won’t branch. Not sure how an older tree will act? Two year old wood should have buds.
Nothing.
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you can notch and use promalin or similar if you want to encourage branching without pruning (search the forums)
Here is what I did to a White Gold on Gisela 6.
Here is how my tree came
At this time I did not know how well cherries branch. So I decided to keep existing scaffolds, cut it down and prune using the KGB method from this point on, which I did.
I planted the tree on May 1st 2014, pruned it that day too.
Let’s skip to the chase here is the same tree on 02-26-2022
Here it is on 05-07-2018
Here it is 04-14-2017 Flowered early that year!
So every year I prune to keep it small. I also prune to direct branches outward at the best angle I can get. I remove most upward shoots. In the 2022 photo I have yet to prune, which I’m thinking I’ll do Sunday or Monday. It’s about 7 feet tall. It will be 9th leaf this year. Notice the wire in 2018 and then 2022. Shot from opposite angles, and I’m a little closer on 2022, but you can see I keep it a fairly steady height over the last 4 years. With other stone fruit, I prefer just regular rootstock as all my trees are like this. It’s so easy to control height with multiple pruning’s a year. I prune twice a year. Whatever rootstock it is on.
Oh and here is what I worked so hard for! 2018 photo
Yes, I have to net it. I have a bigger net now, I used two for the below photo (2018). It’s never getting any bigger else I could not net it!
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I see no reason to modify the height of your top-cut.
But it will grow more buds just fine if you do. I had a Lapins cherry tree at our old place that got top killed by a freak polar blast early in the fall one year, that was end of it’s 4th leaf in my yard. The polar blast killed most of the stone fruit in our region because the trees were just in the early stages of going dormant and still had green leaves when the temperature went well below 0F. The next spring I just started pruning until I got to live wood and bark which was proabably around a foot from the ground but still well above the origianl graft site. The trunk diameter was about 4" at my cut. It took awhile but evetually sprouted about 20 shoots or more on the trunk. I had to rub them off as they appeared as often times there would be multiple shoots on top of one another.
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I think I have a Rainier cherry tree I need to do the exact same thing into. Someone, anyone, talk me into it…
@Drew51 that’s a really nice looking tree, thanks for sharing!
@cis4elk that’s good to know I suspect it’d probably be fine. I looked tonight and there are quite a few buds that look viable yet.
@BlueBerry yeah I know, I’m happy with the form, I just wish I would’ve headed it shorter. I am concerned it’ll get too tall and if I want to net it it’ll be bigger than I can manage. The headed cut right now is about 3.5’ from the ground.