Cherry tree problem

[divvy]

Hi , I have a Stella cherry tree on colt root stock , it's in a pot sunk into the garden as we have the main drain running through and I don't want the roots breaking into it . It has been in the pot for 3 years now , the pot is 2ft across and 3 ft deep. Last year I got 10 cherries that were perfect , but a Blackbird got to them before me. That was our first year of fruit. This year we got a lot more cherries but they are turning brown and dropping off , I thought it could be not enough water , so have stepped up the watering a bit , I know they don't like sitting in wet earth though so haven't over done it. The tree looks healthy and is still growing , what is making the cherries go brown ? at this rate I will have none this year .

[FB.]

Could it be brown rot? The fruits would also (usually) have small cream-coloured lumps on them, like pustules.

Other possibilities would be poor pollination or water stress.

Maybe you're being too nice to it?
Even the Colt rootstock is quite vigorous (somewhere around the size of apple MM106 and MM111) and the vigorous rootstocks would sooner ditch the fruit and keep growing while the growing is good. Is the soil too rich and the plant too pampered?

[divvy]

I shouldn't think so as the compost in the pot is 3 years old and just had a small top up this year. I haven't fed it , just water . The cherries are not growing and are bumpy , then they turn a red or brown coulour and either just sit there or fall off . There are only a couple left out of about 50 that are smooth and green. I an trhinking of getting it out of the pot and planting it further down the garden away from the drain . I was going to wait to do this , but as I have lost all this years cherries I may as well just do it now. What is brown rot ?

[FB.]

Brown rot is a fungal disease that causes the fruit to turn brown and rot. A quick search on the internet would bring up lots of pictures and information.
Here's a quick starter for you:
> Link <
Quite a lot of fruit trees can be affected by brown rot, although some have resistance.

I've had lumpy fruits (admittedly not cherry) caused by weevils stabbing their snout into the fruit.
Deformity of the fruit may also be grubs tunneling inside (have you cut one open to look for a small whitish grub?).

Finally, deformed fruit, or fruit that gets "rejected" and dropped by the tree is quite common when pollination was not very good.
Maybe not enough bees?
Maybe the unusually mild weather reduced pollination this year? Flowers don't like frost, but they also don't like it too hot, like we had this year.

Are you able to post a picture?

[divvy]

The cherries are still hard , not rotting like in that link . and just a bit bumpy and turning red or brown . I will try to put a photo on here but not technicly minded .

[FB.]

The cherries are still hard , not rotting like in that link . and just a bit bumpy and turning red or brown . I will try to put a photo on here but not technicly minded .

Then the tree may be too young to want to fruit properly, or, most likely, pollination was poor due to abnormal weather or lack of bees. Even self-fertile varieties need a bee to scatter pollen among its own flowers.
If the weather is too warm and dry (like this year), the blossoms don't last as long, so the "pollination window" for each flower can be dramatically reduced, such that even when a bee visits, the flower may have gone past the point where it can be pollinated.

[divvy]

Well , Iv'e done it . I have moved the cherry to a spot further down the garden away from the drain. It was a job to get out as the roots had grown through the pot , so we had to break the pot off . Then I dug the hole and put a small amount of bone meal in . We put the tree in , filled it in and I tied it to the wires we had put on the fence . I then cut off all the forward facing branches ( yes I know it is probably the wrong time of year ) so it is a nicely shaped fan on the fence and lowered the height by 1 ft . Then I watered it well in. All the while telling it that this is it's last chance and if I don't get more cherries next year it's for the chop . That should sort it out.

[mmd622]

stella cherry tree

The same thing is happening to my stella, it is growing in a pot (as directed by garden bargains). Last year only got two cherries. This year, it gets watered everyday and you cant see branch for cherries and has only a few leafs.

[divvy]

cherries going brown

This , hopefully is a pic of the cherries that have been going brown and falling off , I hope Iv'e done it right

[FB.]

The yellowing of the stalk at the end nearer to the tree suggests that the tree aborted the fruits.
My guess is one of:

1. Lack of pollinating insects.

2. Flowers adversely affected by weather conditions (hot or cold) - if too warm, the flowers don't last as long, meaning less time available for them to be pollinated.

3. The tree is too immature to fruit properly. Fruit drop is very common with young trees. The more vigorous the rootstock, the more likely it will drop the fruitlets.
Note that when I say it depends on how "vigorous", even the more dwarfing cherry rootstocks are still quite vigorous ), when compared to (say) apple M27 or M9 (the cherry rootstock "Colt" is similar in vigour to apple MM106 or MM111.
Colt rootstock would be expected to take 4-6 years to start cropping satisfactorily. Gisela rootstock 2-4 years, but needs much better growing conditions than Colt, to perform well.

[divvy]

I will wait with baited breath then for future years. Thanks for your answers , you have been very helpfull .

[divvy]

Sorry , one more question , it is faned against a 6ft fence . Will I be able to keep it like this if it is more vigorous than I thought ? .