Winter cold injury often shows up this time of yr. It often takes the form of dead branches, no flowers, or wilting of foliage. How cold did it get last winter?

I'm not sure the numbers, but it was an exceptionally cold winter. School cancelled because of wind chill, even though roads were bare, and our district is known for never cancelling.

I was concerned about that, but when it finally leafed out, I figured it was okay. I've definitely got wilting of foliage, but no dead branches, and more flowers than it's ever had before.

Is winter damage something a tree can recover from?

Would the webbing just be from insects taking advantage of the tree's weakened state, then?

Only time will tell if it recovers or dies. Sometimes cold damaged trees look good until the weather turns hot and then they collapse. Hopefully yours will recover.

I'd have to see the webbing to know what that's about. Do you think it's spider mites?

Christyroc:

I had a nice Blackgold sweet cherry on G5 rootstock. Bore
a few cherries last year. Young tree about 6' tall.

This March it looked fine when I pruned it. In May it leafed out but the numerous flower buds never opened. I thought
at least my tree had survived so maybe cherries next year?

A week ago all the leaves wilted and the branches are
starting to shrivel. My tree is toast. Delayed winter damage. The leaf buds popped but the wood was damaged from the cold winter.

I am about to buy two 3 in 1 combo dwarf trees on gisela 5 rootstock, and am thinking, that maybe i should get two non-combo dwarfs instead, like a vandalay and something else. am on long island. anybody with any input please....

I don't know anything about spider mites, but the name sounds likely.

So, IF my tree makes a recovery, or more likely, parts of the tree make a recovery... is there any hope of figuring out what kind of cherries I have left? Nothing is labeled. The three types of cherries are each very distinctive, (Windsor, Black Tartarian I think, and Kristin) but if I don't have an appropriate tree to pollinate, then I won't see the cherries, and until there are cherries, I don't know what I have, so won't know what would be a match. Ugh.

diclemeg - Before you buy the combos, ask whether the grafts are individually labelled! I'd be interested to know where you've found them.

christy...i supposedly got the last two trees on the last shipping day possible from raintree nursery...but it may have been their salesmanship. they are on Gisela 5 root....each is labeled...but the 3, 2 are of sweet variety like lapin and emperorfrancis and 1 branch may be montmorency the sour type...not sure what to think about possibly having a sour cherry branch and/or wildly differing ripen times...im new to cherries so i picture myself leaving net on half summer and or not knowing which or when to pick etc....for that reason i almost picked a dwarf white gold and dwarf vandalay so i know when the whole tree will ripen

Di,
I've had Vandalay since 2010 on G 5 from Raintree. I am not impressed. It grows very well. It's fruited since 2012 but I've never had a chance to eat it. Right about the time it's about to ripe, the rain came. All cracked.

Then, this year, due to harsh winter in central MA, many fruit buds were killed. Those that bloomed, did not set well. So, it' s not very bud hardy.

Re. 3 in 1, not only bloom time that you should consider, pruning will be another issue. If they don't have the same vigor, you need to keep the vigorous one in check by pruning in order to give the others the chance to grow

Spartan - I'm sorry to hear that your Black Gold died. I don't know where you live. It's survived and thrived in my yard. I bought my from Raintree on G5 the same year as Vandalay. It's fruited in year 2. It has a cracking problem, too. To me, it's more bud hardy. While Vandalay had a lot of buds killed, Black Gold bloomed well and set a lot of fruit. Hopefully, won't rain when it's ripening!!!

.

Mamaung.... are your cherry trees on a berm at least 18 inches high? based on my experiences growing other things, I would think that doing so along with a general slope would run most of the water off, and preventing cracking. from what i understand, this is the reason for the cracking.

Di,

That could help but I planted them before I knew what I was doing. Also, bad timing rain after several sunny days will do that to your cherries, too.

I tried to plant my new peaches on mounds but did not a very good job. As long as fruit trees esp. cherry and peaches are not sit in water, they are fine.

Cherry is a beautiful tree. I wish I could eat the leaves!!!. It's a lot of work comparing to pear and apple in my area. It has canker, leave spot, aphids, birds, cracking, rotting, you name it. I've got them all.

some info that may be of great use..... Planting nasturtiums nearby rid the aphids. Planting borage nearby brings a zillion bees. Marigolds do something else. if u never heard of them check out fedco seeds...they believe in planting certain flowers to bring predators to kill the unwanted ones. Ive also had great success using diatomaceuos earth where i dont want bugs like putting at base and i plan to use all these strategies with the tree.

I don't know anything about spider mites, but the name sounds likely.

So, IF my tree makes a recovery, or more likely, parts of the tree make a recovery... is there any hope of figuring out what kind of cherries I have left? Nothing is labeled. The three types of cherries are each very distinctive, (Windsor, Black Tartarian I think, and Kristin) but if I don't have an appropriate tree to pollinate, then I won't see the cherries, and until there are cherries, I don't know what I have, so won't know what would be a match. Ugh.

diclemeg - Before you buy the combos, ask whether the grafts are individually labelled! I'd be interested to know where you've found them.

Anyone know how to delete a duplicate post? I hit the refresh button and it resent my message.
I see how to edit a post, but not completely delete it.

This post was edited by ChristyRocNY on Sat, Jun 7, 14 at 10:00

I bought my mom a flowering cherry in the mid 1990s. It is now huge and still blooms beautifully but what I've noticed as the forest has gotten very tall around mom's yard that as the summer progresses and the leaves on all those trees get bigger and greener and the trees themselves get taller the cherry tree gets more and more stressed as the summer goes on.

By September the leaves will have slowly from July - September have turned yellow and dropped well before October and frost like a tree should. Also this weakness allow spider mites to attack and various branches and leaves will be bound up in a web like nest at the end of a branch.

10 foot from the drip line of a Walnut is too close to the walnut. Also the walnut probably excessively shades it or something else in your yard is. Cherries like sun.

I think if you get your tree more sun and less water it should be fine. Although the water is probably not the problem.