Cherry Tree In Shock?
Question:I have a fairly mature cherry tree in my yard. It had JUST started to bloom right before Easter, when we were hit with an uncharacteristic snow, which obviously stopped the blooms. Now, when I look at my tree, it has leaves on it, and the leaves it has look healthy. However, I am noticing a lot of branches that appear to be dead or dying - few, if any leaves, ends of branches are quite dry & brittle and snap easily. Also, to look at the tree, you can see big "holes" - like, there should be foliage there, but there isn't.
As far as I know, it's not a crab-cherry tree. Last year, it didn't give a lot of fruit, but the cherries were quite large and plump (unlike a crab-cherry).
Is there anything I should be treating/spraying this tree with to try to help it? If it's of any help, I live in a Zone 5 climate.
I hate to call a tree service to fix it, because often times for what they charge, I could buy two NEW trees.
Any help or at-home remedies would be very much appreciated.
Answers:
Nothing to be done for it. But the good news is, it's not fatal. That unusual winter, with that week in late March/early April with temps 30 degrees above normal (70's), had a lot of plants put out new growth earlier than normal which was then susceptible to that nasty, long hard freeze the following week.
Yes, the blooms bit the dust, but also some leaves, and in your case, you had some branch death as well. That cold affect some plants much harder than others, but even among the species that took it on the chin, individual plants did better or worse depending on their situation.
All you can do is feed the tree as usual (or i you haven't, give it some fruit/flowerin tree food) - but not more than usual, and prune out the dead branches. Barring a repeat weather performance next spring, it should look much better next year.
Check the outside first:
fungus , insects, scale. Things of this nature. Rule things out.
Then establish what's going on inside the soil: could be the roots are all balled up. Not spreading correctly and causing branches not to be properly nourished.
Much success!
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