Cherry Leaf Spot on Recently Planted Shrubs

General Fruit Growing
1

Hello,

Last Spring ('17) I planted 30 different U of S romance series shrubs such as juliet, romeo and cupid and unfortunately it was a very wet spring that year which led to the shrubs developing leaf spot and having practically all the shrubs defoliated by late July/August. I read that shrubs which get hit really hard with the disease can become less winter hardy thereby reducing the yield/growth next season. I’m not so worried about yield since they are young anyways but just wondering what are the chances of the tree’s making it over the winter with minimal damage? I live in Zone 5 here in Ontario but its been a pretty cold winter so far but I’m hoping that since these cherries were bred in Saskatchewan they should be fine with respect to hardiness. I’m only worried because I just planted them last spring so they barely even had time to set much roots. If anyone has experience dealing with leaf spot causing early defoliation and how the tree responded the following spring/summer it would be nice to hear about it.

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2

You’re aware that it is due to bacterial infection and there are effective controls?

3

Yes I know there are fungicides that are effective but I didn’t use them last season since they’re too young to produce significant fruit so I passed on the sprays. I didn’t know that leaf fall could affect tree hardiness and future yields. I just want to know if the trees generally bounce back the next year after getting infected.

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4

Fungicides won’t work. You need a bacteriacide.