Cherry Trees

I recall your plight, Not familiar with your area, you really should countact your local county agriculture extension office. It would be more personable.

Hard to say without actually seeing the trees. You might try contacting a certified arborist, or talk to someone at a good plant nursery that deals with fruit and ornamental trees.

The severe cold that the US experienced last winter seems to me to have affected lots of trees and plants. The hickories in my yard have a lot less nuts this year than last (Yay! Less food for the tree rats), and our lilacs had far fewer blossoms in the spring than most years. I can't speak for the fruit growers in my area, but my father's plum trees had only a couple of lone plums on them. Not only can extreme weather affect the nascent buds for flowering, if you get the wrong weather when the trees do blossom, the bees & other pollinators may not get to the flowers at the right time. This can affect fruit production severely.

At this point, the only other suggestion would be to clip a few twigs and see if the wood is still green inside. How do the buds that will produce next year's leaves & blossoms look? You could just leave it for now and see if it leafs out in the spring, and maybe consider if you have room to plant a new tree to supplement the existing.

Thats what I plan on doing unless someone comes up with a better idea.

As far as buds look, I don't know what I'm looking for, There are bumps on the branches but I don't know if these are where the new buds will come from.

You might want to attempt to root several cuttings.

Cherry trees are rather high maintenance, and not for everyone....here's some info that might help...

http://www.bartlett.com/resources/Plant-Health-Care-Recommendations-for-Flowering-Cherries.pdf

Never had problems with cherry trees, High maintenance? Maybe for apple trees but not cherry trees.

oilcan13

I agree with you there about the maintenance, one thing is that you are living in a warmer zone, I don't think your not going to get any new suggestions then what you already received.

Isn't it a little late to be worrying about it. A good time would have been back in August when you first noticed the signs. Cherry Trees are susceptible to many diseases and need a lot of care. At least in August the leaves would have been on the tree. They would have help in identifying the possible cause. Could be bugs, disease, lack of water or over watering.

Average life of sour cherry trees is 15 to 20 years. Sweet cherry trees 20 to 25 years.

As I said I contacted -arbor day and the UofI in early August but they never returned My calls.No I don't think its to late, most fertilizers are put down in the fall, if thats what it needs.

oilcan13

If it lost it's leave in early August and all the trees around still had theirs then it needed more then just fertilizer. When you tryed to contact someone about it you should have pull some of the leaves off it and taken them to a local nursery or garden shop. Preferably one that specializes in trees. The leaves at that time could have ID the cause some type of fungus. Before the leave turned did they have spots on them? Also pictures of the truck of the tree. Does it have lines showing just under the bark from the ground upward. Borers can kill a tree. Soil sample from around the trees roots for soil type of root fungus. Most these nurseries will freely help to ID the problem. Because they will want you to buy the remedy from them.

Put your hand on the tree and feel for the pulse. If you have the feeling that it is dieing then it probably is.

Time to get the saw out and make another hole in the ground for the new sappling.

10 years later . . .

I have seen Cherry trees skip a year in production frequently, I don't know why, it just seems to happen from time to time like the tree is taking a break. I would wait and see what happens next year, compost them well and let them rest over the winter.

Short of that, based on living near Chicago, I would check for bullet holes in the trunk.

You mentioned about it skipping a year, That is usually from a frost kill during blossoming (around memorial day In Wisconsin, earlier in the warmer Zones.)

We had a small orchard when I was growing up, (45 acres).

Also worked at the receiving station in quality control took the quality of the cherries and applied it to the growers tare weight.

Here's some interesting info I thought I share.

On thing about cherry's you have to be careful is fungus called Brown Rot (BR).

This is devastating, and once it in your orchard, you'll be replanting.

Bad graft, or wood borers, has probably killed your tart tree. They will not cross-pollinate efficiently unless there are other trees of same variety somewhere within less than a few miles perhaps. I would plant four - two of each kind. You need to look around in the dead tree (if for sure it is dead - do a cambrium layer check for green cells) area, in the soil, or in the wood for a brown thick bodied larva (like about the ugliest caterpillar you ever saw). If none, then you might have overheated the tree by having near a south wall in a confined area - over temperature can kill a tree with fruit on it, especially if starved for water. We lost an apple tree just that way this summer - but we also have spotted the borer caterpillars.

Here is a link that may help:

http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/fruits/cherry/cherry-tree-not-fruiting.htm

PeterT said, ".....clip a few twigs and see if the wood is still green inside."