I’ve got an apricot tree with a single branch wilting. Could this be Verticillium wilt? It seems a lot like what happened to my Tomcot last spring. It was doing fine, then suddenly wilted and died. But this time it is just a single (though large) branch on my Montrose. It is located right next to where the Tomcot was and at the tip of the branch, there is a scion (collected the winter before it died) from the Tomcot, both of which seem more than coincidental.
But I suppose it could be a (very) delayed reaction to the frost in early April. It started to wilt about a week ago, ~4 weeks after the cold-snap. I checked the base of the branch earlier today and didn’t see any gum/sap. Either way, I’m planning to cut it out- it may not help at all, but I’ll kick myself if I leave it and the whole tree dies. I’ve probably waited a bit long as is…
In the pic, it almost seems like there is a big gap in the middle of the tree.
Bob, look for the blossom blast (canker) or for the blossom blight (brown rot). Both can result in the wilting and dying of the new leaves and growth. The sour cherry scions that I received from ARS were contaminated with the one of those diseases. They spread the disease after rain on the lower leaves of the mother tree. I sprayed once with copper and I need to spray more. I pruned a lot of new growth. Apricots are said to be especially sensitive to blossom blight.
I had the top of my Sugar Pearl wilt up and die suddenly last year. I didn’t get around to doing anything about it and assumed the rest would follow suit. It didn’t, and is growing fine this year still awaiting having the dead top removed. The deer cages keep more than just the deer away from my trees!
Facinating. I have EXACTLY…i mean identical…thing happen to one of my apricots (Tomcot). One limb just wilted and died but no sign of any injury on the limb and rest of tree is fine. I also had this happen to a different apricot last year but much of the top half of it wilted and died ( just like @northwoodswis4 described) . SO far I’ve been luck in that just one limb or several die but the rest of the tree stays fine and comes back the next year healthy. I’ll be watching responses here and looking up things like "verticillium wilt) which I’m unfamiliar with.
In my part of Europe we call this disease Monilia (Laxa) and apricots and tart cherries are really sensitive to it but many times sweet cherries and plums are infected as well.
For many people this is way bigger problem than PPV since the whole tree can die within few years. When the tree is small usually the whole branch just wilts, this is often accompanied by sap flow. In fully grown tree it might starts just with few small top branches but as the disease spreads (this can take several years) the whole tree will eventually die, usually in the summer - all leaves will wither and just hang on the tree.
Good prevention is spraying at the beginning and end of bloom since the blossom is entrance point for the fungus. Once you see the symptom like on Bob’s tree, it is best to cut the affected branch as soon as possible.
Paul, thanks for the description. I think it is what I have. It started with the scions on the sour cherry. I even know which scions were infected. They developed more slowly then the healthy ones. The bloom is long time passed but I see new infected leaves and shoots after each rain. So every day I walk around this cherry tree and look for the smallest brown necrotic spots on the leaves, and I cut them away promptly. Sweet cherry nearby look fine so far. I sprayed twice with fungicides. Is there particularly effective fungicide from this disease?
This had happened to one of my apricot tree for 2 years and every time, the tree die back to root and re-sprout, I am not sure if I should keep it or just replace it.
I also just observed this on my pluot, AND, it was a large lower branch that had a scion bark-grafted onto it within the last 6 weeks. I’m playing with various remedies to see what revives it.
I think your problem might be actually cherry leaf spot caused by Blumeriella jaapii. In my area this is a problem later in the summer. The leaves have holes in them and turn slowly yellow and fall off until the tree is completely leafless, in my area usually by the half to end of September. It’s good to get rid of the infected leaves as soon as you spot them and remove all the foliage under the tree since that’s the primary source for next year’s infection. Unlike from Monilia leaves will resprout next year…with Monilia the branch is just gone fore good.
I am not sure about US fungicides since I am from Europe but maybe someone else will be able to help.
Young leaves became necrotic and the whole young shoots died. It started under the grafts. I did not let the whole branch wilt. But I cut out many twigs with the signs of the disease after that first strike. The USDA ARS scions of Hungarian cherries Korai Pipak Maggie and Meteor Korai spread what I think is Moniliosis. The other two varieties from ARS Studencheskaya and Kelleris 14 seemed to be unaffected or maybe they were more resistant to the disease. I also have scion wood from the other sources grafted on the same tree and it was healthy.
The affected scions looked very good. I put them in 10% bleach when I received them. They started to grow fine when were grafted. But then they stopped at the stage of the swollen green buds and after some time they started to look unhealthy. When the buds finally opened, they began to spread the disease on the lower branches of the host tree. I describe it in details so it might be useful for the other members of the forum. In general it looks like the firelight on apples and pears, only on the stone fruits.
That’s not cherry leaf spot. Cherry leaf spot is easy to identify as leaves have spots all over, turn yellow and drop. Fungicide like myclobunatil and captan is for cherry leaf spot.
I would like to find out what you have also.
I have verticillium wilt killed two of my flowering trees. My trees started like Bob’s pic. First, with one limb one year. Then, more limbs affected the next year. By the third year, it’s helpless. Verticullium wilt can kill trees rapidly but in both of my cases, the trees were 5-6 years old when they started showing wilt. They suffered slow deaths. No tree goes in those two sites again as the disease is in the soil.
The rest of the tree is doing fine. It is the only apricot I have where there are a few fruit on the tree (about half a dozen), some of which seem to actually be increasing in size.
I’ve had pretty bad results with apricots- this springs frost killed the Early Blush and the Monique. Last year I lost a Hargrande and the Tomcot. I’ve been adding more, but am barely staying even. I’m thinking that I may stop getting more apricot trees and instead focus on grafting apricot branches here and there on my plums. That way, if I lose them, I don’t lose the whole trees and still get a crop. I would give up entirely, but the few Tomcot and Early Blush I harvested were very tasty- the best fruit available at that time of year (late June-early July).
Mamuang, thank you for the suggestion. I read more about verticillium wilt and I think it is not it, although the end result looks similar. My disease spreads from leaves to leaves during the wet rainy weather, the new tender shoots are affected on the lower branches where water runs down. Verticillium wilt starts from inside the plant, the oldest leaves are affected the most, since they have the compromised vascular system and often the whole branch wilts at once. I do hope it is not verticillium, since it is so hard to get rid of it.
Bob’s apricot branch looks different from mine too. His young shoots are wilted but not necrotic, like mine. His case does look more like verticilium wilt overall.
I’ve had 3 apricot trees die on me. 2 were Tomcot on Lovell and 1 was Hunza on Citation. In each case they flowered and started to leaf out…but the leaves were tiny and then they would die. I still have one remaining (all were planted at the same time) apricot which is Puget Gold on Krymsk 86. That tree is all leafed out and going strong and has never had any issues. I’ve always thought it was some sort of winter injury or borer related.
For those of you that have lost trees to the unknown, do you plant something else in the same spot or not because of disease concerns? I lost an Orangered this spring and am considering my options with the location. Seems like it might be worth removing a few wheelbarrows full of dirt before replanting.
Maria,
Did you spray your trees with anything, oil, copper? Water running down to lower branches and affects the leaves on lower branches leads me to wonder.
That’s a great point I change locations on stone fruit and plant apples or pears in their place. If I have trouble with apples or pears I plant stone fruit in their place. Something not brought up is never grow tomato close to stone fruit because it’s a magnet to verticilum wilt. When you buy tomatoes you will will notice the disease resistance on the tag for example VFT means the tomato is resistant to vertilum, fusurium wilts and tobacco mosaic virus. Gardens should not be companions with orchards. I do grow rye over my gardens over the winter sometimes to ensure V does not get started in my garden because it’s closer to my stone fruit than I like which is about 30 feet. When I plant my orchards in a long row I plant apple pear apple plum peach so when a disease hits it’s harder to travel through my entire orchard rather it kills a tree or two and stops hopefully.
