Q: I have four Yoshino Cherry trees, about 8-10′ tall, and all get trimmed to about 6′ in early February.
The sicker one lost a branch a couple of months ago – completely dead, so we lopped it off. Also this one (and the one next to it) have started to “burst through” their trunks and bigger branches in vertical splits.
Is there something I can do to help them rally?
A: Cherry trees do not like to be pruned as often as you are doing it. Their wood is soft and rot will set up in the limbs or trunk before it can heal and exclude water.
The splitting bark tells me there is severe infection present.
My bet is that both trees will die next year. There is nothing you can do to stop it.
Choose a replacement tree with an appropriate mature size, which does not need to be pruned so often or so severely.