[member88]

I bought a cherry tree over 3 years ago. A young one, around 4ft. It's the same size years later and I can't see that it grew any side branches. It didn't fruit the first 2 years which I thought may be the case. Last spring to see would it plump up a bit leaf wise I slightly clipped the ends of the few branches it had just to wake it up a bit. It fruited (about 5 cherries!) but no joy in the leaf department. In the autumn I moved it because it was doing so bad anyway I took the risk. The roots had hardly done anything in all that time. It's in a sunny spot. The ground isn't great in my garden in general but it was put in good compost, and again when I moved it which usually counteracts it. It's so small and twiggy you'd hardly see there was a tree there. I'm thinking there's slow growing...and then there's stagnate!
Anyone have this with cherry trees?

[tippben]

You've put it in full sun. Ideal. I suspect a root problem. The root plate of a Cherry actually runs proud of the soil surface. Did you plant it high enough? Deeper will cause suffocation and root death. Waterlogging will do the same thing. It could be an infestation of Vine Weevil grubs physically eating the roots. I can't offer any more without pictures of the tree in situ.

[member88]

[tippben]

Check that the root collar (where the root system changes to main stem. On your cherry it will be below the graft point) is a tiny bit higher than the surrounding soil. If it isn't, try fixing that first. If it is fine (you can see the top of the root system meeting the main stem), it's another problem.

Put wood ashes around the base of the tree, about 30cm from the stem. This is high potash and will help with flowers and fruit. Spraying the leaves with a seaweed liquid (maxicrop is the commonly found one) will encourage root growth. I'd also top dress with a general feed like fish blood and bone.