Morello cherry tree

[Normans Mum]

Hi
I have a morello cherry tree on my plot, unsure of how old it is, but it's a mature tree. Last year we had a really good crop of cherries from it. This year, we had lots of blossom and good leaf production.However, all the fruits have fallen off and some of the lower branches look like they have been burnt, with either no leaves or what leaves are remaining, looking shrivelled up and brown.

Why has this happened? I know we've had some awful weather, but I thought my tree was a little bit more robust and might be able to cope.

[FB.]

It's probably canker.
Cherries don't like wet weather; they like warm and dry and grow best in Cambridgeshire and adjacent counties.
However, even here - due to a very long period of very heavy rain of unprecedented quantities - many cherry trees are looking very sick in the same way as you describe.

Prune out the dead bits well into healthy wood, before the disease trackes further up the branches and threatens the trees survival.

[Normans Mum]

EEEEEEEEEEeeek !! Had no idea that it might be anything like that. I'll get it sorted ASAP.

[FB.]

Could also be silver leaf.

But whether canker or silver leaf, it's still a disease which causes twigs to die, then, over a varying period of time, it can track back up the branches to kill whole branches or even the tree.

The treatment is the same for silver leaf or canker - prune out the dead bits as soon as possible, making sure that you make the cut well back into healthy wood (ideally six inches/15cm if practical), since wood near to the dead bit can be infected but not yet show symptoms.