I have a black gold cherry on kyrmsk 5 I think it is. It’s an excellent tree and has grown explosively for three years. Yesterday I noticed one of the smaller branches was dead. I did not see any visible sign that would explain it. Not sure I should be concerned or not?? Picture attached. Any ideas what is happening? Rest of the tree is healthy right now anyway.
Any cankers below the wilting areas? The other idea is twig borers (I had some last year), the damage is hard to see from outside as well as the entry points.
I have twig borers in another branch and I can see the gooey covering but do not see it on this branch. So I think no. Cankers… not sure what they look like. I need to,google it. Is it a good,idea to chop this branch or wait to,see if anything sprouts from it?? Thanks
Well… I think it must be twig borers. I found so far 4 different gooey spots around the tree and I bet I missed a bunch. Grrrr. Permethrin is my only recourse?? Or? I do have a reasonable crop of cherries on the tree. Not sure what to do…
Edit: not sure twig borers but some type of boring insect.
Look for the different posts about borers. Once they are inside it is hard to get them out. You should learn when they are active in your area and spray the trunks with insecticides, like triazicide for example.
Dan,
You are in NY. Twig borers are perdominantly the west coast issue. We mostly have peach tree borers, the kind that do damage at the base of peach trees.
I am inclined to think it is verticillium wilt.
Also, I just posted recently about my sweet chery tree on Krymsk 5 wilted and died after 3 years of going strong. I did grafted several varieties on it last year and this year. @Matt_in_Maryland said K5 can’t handle multiple grafts.
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I searched fairly intently for a burrow hole or some sign of insect by the hardened sap. Could not find one so I am leaning away from insect and toward canker. I hope this is not the beginning of the end for this tree. This is my strongest fastest growing tree I ever planted. It’s branched very well and this is the first year I have fruit.
New image attached here. I’m thinking this is canker and cause of the gooey spots now?
I sprayed with triazide and captan just after blossom. Middle image is actually my peach tree which I wonder is this canker as well.
Yes it looks like canker but there is also a chance it could be verticillium wilt. There should be an active ooze at the base of the bad branch if its canker. If there is no ooze it could be the wilt.
Sweet cherries prefer cool weather and are more disease-prone than other stone fruits for that reason.
And yet I’ve been managing quite a few cherries in a warmer area than Dan for a quarter century and have never had an issue that threatened their survival like what he is experiencing. For dwarfing I use Gisela and not Krymsk, however
If you want cherries on Gisela next year from the likes of ACN, you need to order now and give a deposit. . .
@Matt_in_Maryland posted that Krymsk5 does not tolerate multiple grafts.
I just checked my dead cherry tree that was on Krymsk5. I grafted two varieties on it last year. They grew several feet. This year, I grafted 3 more on it. The grafts took. Then, the tree stopped growing about two weeks ago and died.
If Krymsk 5 cannot handle five grafts in two years, I do not want anymore K5 in my yard.
@DanNY - I hope what your tree is suffering is canker. A healthy tree can survive canker. If it is Verticillium wilt or a rootstock, the news is not good.
I had a red bud tree died of wilt after branches died off one or two a year. After a few years, the whole tree was totally dead. Can’t even plant anything else there.
Thanks all. I hope its canker. I guess I can only watch and hope.