I have an (eating) cherry tree that 10+ years old. This year the tree
has what appears to have two dead branches of around 3cm diameter where
the branch meets the main trunk. Early in the season the branch ends
produced the start of leaf buds but since any activity on the two
branches ceased. The ends of the branches can be easily snapped with no
hit of living wood in the centre.

Any ideas why two fairly large branches, with many sub branches, have
completely died off. There is no sign of physical damage.


The rest of the tree appears very healthy with leaf production, masses
of flowers and many fruit set.

Last year the tree produced a bumper crop of cherries but unfortunately
the weather didn't help with a long dry spell while the fruit should
have been swelling and then a wet spell which caused most of the fruit
to have split skins where rot set quickly in.

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mailto : news {at} admac {dot} myzen {dot} co {dot} uk

On 29/04/20 23:44, alan_m wrote:

I have an (eating) cherry tree that 10+ years old. This year the tree
has what appears to have two dead branches of around 3cm diameter where
the branch meets the main trunk. Early in the season the branch ends
produced the start of leaf buds but since any activity on the two
branches ceased. The ends of the branches can be easily snapped with no
hit of living wood in the centre.

There never is on any tree. The centres of a tree's branches and trunk
are fully lignified for strength. If you want to see if a branch is
alive make a small scrape on the bark to remove the outer layer. If it's
green underneath it's alive. If not, it's dead (this still holds true in
winter when deciduous trees are dormant). There is a small minority of
plants (eg clematis) which do not follow this rule, but in general it's
a useful test - make several scrapes, starting furthest away from the
trunk until you find green underneath. Then cut the branch off close to,
or even through, the green bit. If the tree is healthy, the cut will
callus over. It's a good way of dealing with dieback.

Any ideas why two fairly large branches, with many sub branches, have
completely died off. There is no sign of physical damage.

So no leakage of sticky sap which might be a symptom of bacterial
canker. It looks as though the channels through which the plant moves
food and water have become blocked, and so the distal ends of those
branches have died. Whether this is as a result of an infection causing
the block, or the tree itself protecting itself from the infection
spreading is difficult to say.

The rest of the tree appears very healthy with leaf production, masses
of flowers and many fruit set.

That's a good sign.

Last year the tree produced a bumper crop of cherries but unfortunately
the weather didn't help with a long dry spell while the fruit should
have been swelling and then a wet spell which caused most of the fruit
to have split skins where rot set quickly in.

We are still very early in the growing season...

--

Jeff

On Wednesday, 29 April 2020 23:44:57 UTC+1, alan_m wrote:
I have an (eating) cherry tree that 10+ years old. This year the tree
has what appears to have two dead branches of around 3cm diameter where
the branch meets the main trunk. Early in the season the branch ends
produced the start of leaf buds but since any activity on the two
branches ceased. The ends of the branches can be easily snapped with no
hit of living wood in the centre.

Any ideas why two fairly large branches, with many sub branches, have
completely died off. There is no sign of physical damage.


The rest of the tree appears very healthy with leaf production, masses
of flowers and many fruit set.

Last year the tree produced a bumper crop of cherries but unfortunately
the weather didn't help with a long dry spell while the fruit should
have been swelling and then a wet spell which caused most of the fruit
to have split skins where rot set quickly in.

--
We have a cherry tree that always produces a good crop but the birds eat most of them before they are properly ripe, even when I tried netting it. How do you manage to get a good crop for yourselves?

Thanks

Jonathan

In article ,
Jeff Layman wrote:
On 29/04/20 23:44, alan_m wrote:

I have an (eating) cherry tree that 10+ years old. This year the tree
has what appears to have two dead branches of around 3cm diameter where
the branch meets the main trunk. Early in the season the branch ends
produced the start of leaf buds but since any activity on the two
branches ceased. The ends of the branches can be easily snapped with no
hit of living wood in the centre.

There never is on any tree. The centres of a tree's branches and trunk
are fully lignified for strength. If you want to see if a branch is
alive make a small scrape on the bark to remove the outer layer. If it's
green underneath it's alive. If not, it's dead (this still holds true in
winter when deciduous trees are dormant). There is a small minority of
plants (eg clematis) which do not follow this rule, but in general it's
a useful test - make several scrapes, starting furthest away from the
trunk until you find green underneath. Then cut the branch off close to,
or even through, the green bit. If the tree is healthy, the cut will
callus over. It's a good way of dealing with dieback.

While that's true, branches (on most trees) snapping easily are an
indication that something has rotted the heartwood. That's not always
serious, or even detrimental, of course.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On 29 Apr 2020 23:44, alan_m wrote:

I have an (eating) cherry tree that 10+ years old. This year the tree
has what appears to have two dead branches of around 3cm diameter where
the branch meets the main trunk. Early in the season the branch ends
produced the start of leaf buds but since any activity on the two
branches ceased. The ends of the branches can be easily snapped with no
hit of living wood in the centre.

Any ideas why two fairly large branches, with many sub branches, have
completely died off. There is no sign of physical damage.


The rest of the tree appears very healthy with leaf production, masses
of flowers and many fruit set.

Last year the tree produced a bumper crop of cherries but unfortunately
the weather didn't help with a long dry spell while the fruit should
have been swelling and then a wet spell which caused most of the fruit
to have split skins where rot set quickly in.


We had four on our allotment but two had to be taken out , One diseased
from the start and the other on the wrong rootstock (asked for Gisella
5 obviously got Colt). However we haven't had any cherries for three
years due to SWD infection (Spotted Wing Drosophila) We don't like
eating cherries with added maggots. Hope that isn't the reason for your
lack of fruit.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden

On 30/04/2020 10:21, wrote:


--
We have a cherry tree that always produces a good crop but the birds eat most of them before they are properly ripe, even when I tried netting it. How do you manage to get a good crop for yourselves?

Around my way the cat population seem to have killed all of the birds.
A few years ago I had to fill the bird feeders once a day, this year
once every three weeks.

In previous years only a couple of blackbirds have taken around 25% of
the crop. Unfortunately they tend to peck at the fruit on the tree and
if one particular fruit is not ripe enough or not to their taste go on
to the next fruit so many fruit are spoilt with one peck.

I don't use netting and so perhaps I am just lucky. I also like the
cherries when perhaps slightly under ripe and pick many when they are
fully red. Left on the tree they go a dark purple and get very sweet but
once picked have a very short shelf life.


--
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