The Black Pearl cherry tree suddenly died—the small flowers all turned brown. What could be the problem? Any suggestions are welcome. Thanks
Did it get hit by frost ?
2 Likes
Probably not Frost. It shouldn’t be—I’m in Zone 7b, southeast of New York.
The flowers are very small—it seems like growth has stalled, and they are gradually drying out.
We had very cold couple of nights early this week. Check your lows for last Monday and Tuesday
1 Like
I was thinking it might be brown rot blossom blight? The flowers are still firmly attached to the branches, but there’s no gummy residue or powdery growth typical of brown rot symptoms.
Frost vs. Blight: While late spring frosts can also turn flowers brown, frost-damaged flowers usually drop off fairly quickly. Flowers affected by brown rot typically stay stuck to the tree. The shriveled, tan-brown blossoms that remain firmly attached to the branches are a classic sign of Brown Rot Blossom Blight.
ive had that on my sour cherries before. are all the branches affected? mine was so bad i had to cut some of the worse ones off to save the tree. ive used immunox in the past to control it. once you have it, its hard to completely get rid of.
The entire tree is affected. Bark scratch test on both the branches and trunk still shows green underneath.
The strange thing is that I have an Ebony Pearl Cherry (same rootstock) right next to it—it bloomed earlier and wasn’t affected at all. It’s perfectly healthy.
1 Like
try spraying it. maybe the tree with throw out some new growth. definitely get some spray on the clean one asap.
1 Like