Cherry tree problems 'Sweetheart'

[BathEd]

The Christmas before last my parents gave me a potted Sweetheart cherry on a semi-dwarf roostock as a moving-in present for my first house. It was about 1.5m tall with some well-formed branches.

In the spring after planting it had quite a few flowers but few set and in the end only one ripened, but I wasn't too worried as it was its first year.

However, it didn't grow very well that summer. Just very little extension growth. In the late summer/autumn I gave it a spray or two of Bordeaux mixture against bacterial canker, but I think I missed the last (monthly) spray.

Anyway, what is worrying me is that this spring some of the buds failed to break and other clusters of flowers turned brown and died. Only about 6-10 clusters/spurs died, which I have cut off. There is still plenty of healthy growth and set cherries.

Is this perhaps the first sign of the dreaded bacterial canker or maybe just from the very wet weather?

Just down the road there are some very big cherry trees in a little park that don't get any special attention and grow and fruit fantastically.

What if anything should I do?

[boundtothesoil]

Is this perhaps the first sign of the dreaded bacterial canker or maybe just from the very wet weather?

I don't have a sweetheart, so to speak, but with four year old Stella and Sunbursts trained as espaliers I've found that a combination of frost and/or wind kills emerging blossom. As far as bacterial canker goes, whenever I've spotted local lesions and die-back on a young branch, I've cut the branch off several inches below the infection and the trees have seemed to shrug it off, so far so good.

[FB.]

With all the wet weather I would not be surprised if your cherry was suffering from canker.

Spraying (not that I agree with it - mother nature doesn't go around spraying wild trees!) might reduce infection in future but it will not get rid of established infections - they must be pruned out.
Some varieties of fruit tree (especially varieties sold in shops, or other modern varieties bred for growing under a full-spray routine) just happen to be prone to certain diseases while others remain unaffected.

Simply a change to more normal weather might help things.

You don't mention your location, but cherries don't generally like to grow in cool, wet locations. Cherries prefer warm dry locations.

[BathEd]

Thanks for your replies, I'm in Bath so not an especially cool or wet part of the country, probably warmer than average for England and average wet.

It was a good quality tree from a reputable nursery not one of the half dead things that are sometimes on offer from supermarkets.

I guess I'll just have to watch and see if I caught the canker in the spurs when I cut them off or if it has spread to the branches. I hope not as that would mean cutting a lot of the tree off and spoiling thee vase shape it is developing.

I don't have a problem spraying in moderation, where necessary.

[johninblackpool]

four year old Stella and Sunbursts trained as espaliers

I have always read that stone fruits should be trained as fans not espaliers,
Do yours grow ok, as i have a cherry on my allotment that is about 3m tall and about 6 years old and has never held its fruit always dropping off so i was thinking of growing new ones next year as espaliers but all the googling and books say they need to be as fans

John

[boundtothesoil]

I have always read that stone fruits should be trained as fans not espaliers,
Do yours grow ok,

Yes, they are OK, but not fantastic. I bought both trees from Morrison's a few years ago (£5.00 each), never having grown cherries before or done much successful formal training of fruit trees. As they were quite cheap, I thought there wasn't much to lose from trying them as espaliers. Both now have three sets of parallel branches and are on course for a fourth set next year. They wouldn't win any architectural prizes because the horizontal limbs have grown at different rates, so the overall effect is rather asymmetric. I tend to prune the horizontal leaders back in the winter, and cut back the prolific lateral shoots to six or so inches after harvest of any cherries. The main problems I've experienced so far with them are a tendency to severe aphid infection of the growing shoots, the abortion of many of the cherries before they ripen and my local blackbirds. I've also noted a touch of canker this year on the vertical leader of one of them, so I might have to improvise in terms of future shaping. I probably wouldn't buy them again.

[johninblackpool]

Cheers for the information
John