Saving a dying cherry blossom tree?

[JOEPRO]

I have a pair of prunus kanzan trees I plated either side of my gates about 7 years ago.

From the start one side was slightly smaller than the other but last year the one to the right below dropped all its leaves just after trying to bloom.



Last year I watered it during any dry spells and applied pellet feed and liquid feed to that weak tree. The leaves came back on it last year. This spring it is showing life but still not fully blooming



I have been watering and feeding it from a month or so back. I'm not sure if it will bloom now or drop leaves again.

What would be good to try and save the tree? Any particular products?

Should I spray it with something like top rose?

 

[Kram]

Could be these? Although looks different

Bacterial canker / RHS

Bacterial canker is a disease of the stems and leaves of <em lang="latin" xml:lang="latin">Prunus</em>, especially plums and cherries, but also apricots, peaches and ornamental <em lang="latin" xml:lang="latin">Prunus</em> species. It causes sunken patches of dead bark and small holes in leaves...

www.rhs.org.uk

Blossom wilt / RHS

Blossom wilt is a fungal disease of apples, pears, plums, cherries and related ornamental trees. It kills blossoms, spurs and small branches. The problem is caused by the same fungi responsible for brown rot of the fruit.

www.rhs.org.uk

Any spots on the leaves?
With fruit tree disease, generally best to remove all dropped leaves at end of year instead of allowing them to mulch.

When you talk of watering, where do you water? Many people get this wrong. Dont water directly near the trunk, instead a circular area upto 1-2m around the tree for one that size, thats where the roots will be.

Can you get a close up of the base/trunk? Any sign of fungus?

 

[8ob]

Could be the Laurels poisoning the ground.

Bob

 

[eSCHEn]

Is the wind from the right as the picture shows? There's a tree in back which looks like it but it's hard to say for sure. If it is then the wind last year was awful compared to others and a lot of my stuff has scorch and burn from last year but regrowth is looking fine - this is evergreens I'm meaning here so the growth is further on IYSWIM. Idea being the one with more exposure to the wind suffers more.

Like I say not sure on the wind but it's done a lot of damage to stuff here where it wouldn't normally and I live in a very windy place.

 

[Old Dog]

Just lost our thirty year old cherry tree this year, it's leaves went brown three years ago, but recovered the next year. The leaves turned brown again last year and this year the small branches were dead. Cut back all the dead branches till I came across sap. By then I had cut it back to about eight foot tall, so I cut it down and removed the root ball as well, most of the roots were rotten, as well as the heart wood, by the way they have BIG roots!

 

[brightspark]

we lost our decent size cherry tree for no reason

 

[JOEPRO]

Could be these? Although looks different

Bacterial canker / RHS

Bacterial canker is a disease of the stems and leaves of <em lang="latin" xml:lang="latin">Prunus</em>, especially plums and cherries, but also apricots, peaches and ornamental <em lang="latin" xml:lang="latin">Prunus</em> species. It causes sunken patches of dead bark and small holes in leaves...

www.rhs.org.uk

Blossom wilt / RHS

Blossom wilt is a fungal disease of apples, pears, plums, cherries and related ornamental trees. It kills blossoms, spurs and small branches. The problem is caused by the same fungi responsible for brown rot of the fruit.

www.rhs.org.uk

Any spots on the leaves?
With fruit tree disease, generally best to remove all dropped leaves at end of year instead of allowing them to mulch.

When you talk of watering, where do you water? Many people get this wrong. Dont water directly near the trunk, instead a circular area upto 1-2m around the tree for one that size, thats where the roots will be.

Can you get a close up of the base/trunk? Any sign of fungus?

Thanks for the links. Maybe the blossom wilt sounds like what this tree did last year.

I should add that when I went to purchase these trees I went to a local garden centre where I know the owner.

I selected 2x matching and strong trees and the owner offered to bring them to my house that evening as they obviously didn't fit in my car. We set the trees I selected aside and by the time I got home from work I immediately noted the 2x trees dropped off were not the ones I hand picked. One looked significantly smaller / weaker than the other.

I didn't think much about it as they were both very young trees but really this right hand tree has always been weak. Maybe it has badly formed roots or something like that.

When watering it yes I am trying to soak a good area of ground mindful the laurels are likely taking alot of water away too.

I'm using Growmore granules. Is there anything else nutrient wise that might really boost the tree?

I will get photos of the trunk low down tomorrow I didn't notice anything unusual but its a good point and want to take a closer look.

Worst case I guess if this tree drops its leaves/ blooms again now then it's not likely to do long term and I may have to replace one or both trees which would somewhat suck but they are key ornamental trees and I would like them to be in good condition and aligned.

 

[Kram]

Is the left tree affected at all? I cant tell from the photo, plenty of blossom but it appears the leaves are sparse and brown.

I cant say about feed, other than usually trees are fed by surrounding mycelium in exchange for sugars. Well rotted birch woodchip spread around would be my choice.

My morello currently looks like this, I gave the ground a good water today as it is hard clay and was very dry.
Its not the best cherry, I am very irritated that a pigeon snapped the top off.

Ignore the fence, it will soon get another coat as I tried to in winter, the paint washed off

 

[JOEPRO]

Someone mentioned pictures of the bottom of the trunk - better late than never





It looks just like the other cherry tree trunk to my untrained eyes.

The tree has been doing alot better after I removed all the dead wood and continue to water and feed it.



I plan to keep a close eye on it all year and keep feeding it. I'm also going to cut the laurels hedge beside it hard back this weekend. To give the tree more breathing space as its quite close. And also help keep the hedge in shape they respond positively to hard curring back unike conifers etc.

 

[Screwdriver]

Middle picture above doesn't look too healthy. What's going on with the bark at the base? Looks a bit like strimmer damage.

Best way to kill a tree is to ringbark it. Strip all the bark in a ring all the way round. It's as essential to a tree as skin is to a human. Cut all the way round, the tree will die...

 

[sako243]

No real experience but after speaking with Bob about our sequoias it might be worth getting the soil moisture and other bits sampled.

Ours fairly suddenly (80ft sequoias) turned brown on one side. Bob said root rot and measure the moisture by the trunk. Didn't need to it was saturated. He also wondered if the septic was causing issues.

Well a hot day mixing cement to build a berm to stop water coming down our top drive from the road and a septic blockage found and removed and a month or so later we appear to have some new growth starting .

So don't get disheartened, if you can find the cause it might be rescuable.

 

[Kram]

It looks just like the other cherry tree trunk to my untrained eyes.

Cant tell from this picture, litchen or moss growing on the trunk,closer pic? Could be fungus.

I would remove any vegetation near the trunk and carefully dig/scrape back the soil to show a bit more of the root flare.

 

[anto44]

Have a good look and a poke around the base of the trunk, if you find earwigs then the base is probably rotten inside.

 

[Brad93]

Scrape the stones and soil back let the roots breath a bit.

 

[500e]

@8ob laurel leaf good this year groth but leaves going brown have watered roots to no avail .
Was always vigorous before this year

 

[8ob]

@8ob laurel leaf good this year groth but leaves going brown have watered roots to no avail .
Was always vigorous before this yearView attachment 494405

All you can do with that is treat it with a fungicide, there have been a lot of fungal/bacterial issues this year.
Linky

Bob

 

[dave h 2]

Most of the Cherry trees my way are dead, the pigeon eat the flowers and spread the fungus on their feet

 

[500e]

All you can do with that is treat it with a fungicide, there have been a lot of fungal/bacterial issues this year.
Linky

Bob

Thanks for that Bob