Cherry Tree

[deaninho]

Hi All

i hope someone can help me. Ive moved into a house with a cherry tree in the garden. First year, it seemed to be fine and quite happy.

the 2nd year it doesn't appear to be that healthy at all, dropping leaves etc.

Now i've not done much looking after to it, other than extra watering during hot spells (Which have been few and far between)

im a complete novice really especially in keeping fruit trees

i've included some photos of what the tree looks like today, hope someone can help me. thanks again!

[valmarg]

It looks horribly like bacterial canker, particularly the last picture with the gummy, marmalade looking excretions.

Bordeaux mixture is the only treatment which is organic. The alternative would be to use a strong fungicide, which we really don't like to use on crops we eat.

valmarg

[deaninho]

Hi Valmarg,

thankyou for taking the time to reply. Am I able to buy bordeaux mixture off the shelf or is it something that I have to mix up ?

Ive also read that sap can be produced by slight damage to the tree caused by insects/birds etc, could this be what has caused the sap?

[valmarg]

I'm not an expert, but most of the weeping flowering cherry trees in this area seem to have been affected. The couple next door insisted on keeping their tree, even though they had been told it was diseased. Sadly we lost one of our fruiting cherries as a result.

I quote from an old gardening book:-

"Bacterial Canker

A serious disease of plums, also affecting cherries, peaches and ornamental prunus species. It is most troublesome on young trees, but may also attack establlished trees.

The bacteria* live on the leaves throughout summer and in autumn are washed down on the shoots. On plums and cherries, infections generally occur through leaf scars; wounds already cankered may become re-infected.

Control the disease by spraying the foliage thoroughly with Bordeaux mixture in mid-August, mid-September and mid-October. As infection of the shoots occurs only in the autumn and winter, pruning should be done during the summer months, and the wounds coated with a proprietary canker paint to prevent entry of the bacteria*."

*As a resident of Private Eye's Pedants Corner I would have said bacterium.

I've been out to the garage and fetched in my tub of Bordeaux mixture. It is a powder, which you can puff directly on to plants, or mix with water, and spray.

As with many things with the EU, I'm not sure whether it is still 'permitted' to be used.

The term Bordeaux, comes from the french wine growing area, and it was a fungicide used by them.

I shall be going to Ashbourne tomorrow on a shopping trip. I shall look in the shop I bought my tub from, to see if it's still available, and will report back.

Failing that you could google bordeaux mixture.

I can't find any mention of 'ingredients' on the tub.

But, I'm on the case.

valmarg

[deaninho]

hi valmarg,

i went to the garden store today and bought some bordeaux mixture.

when i started to prune the cherry tree, it was only then that I really noticed how much sap was seeping from the tree, more or less every branch seemed to be covered.

so after a major pruning session - the tree is almost bald. i've yet to spray it, im not even sure if its worth doing at this moment in time.

i'll post some pics of what i had to do.

im just worried now that ive cut back too drastically and the tree will have to be removed.

[valmarg]

You do seem to have been a tad overenthusiastic with your pruning deaninho, but I wouldn't necessarily give up yet. We had a Victoria plum tree that was affected by next door's flowering cherry, OH cut it right back, with a view to removing it (similar to your cherry). He didn't get round to sawing it out completely, and it started shooting again. We now have a reasonable crop of plums this year.

If you don't need the space, it's worth giving it a reprieve for a while.

valmarg