Why is my cherry tree losing its leaves? - Ask Extension
Our cherry tree has been losing leaves throughout the summer and is now nearly completely bare. The leaves that are left have spots and holes in them....
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Why is my cherry tree losing its leaves? #276412
Asked September 07, 2015, 7:31 PM EDT
Our cherry tree has been losing leaves throughout the summer and is now nearly completely bare. The leaves that are left have spots and holes in them. We do not know the age of the tree, or the specific type, because it was here when we purchased our house 11 years ago.
Can you please tell us if this is from some type of disease, and what we can do to save our tree?
Baltimore County Maryland
Expert Response
Many cherry trees have been dropping leaves all summer and are largely bare by now. In most cases, this is simply drought and stress. We had a short drought in June and an extended drought this summer (which still continues). When trees are stressed, they will drop extra foliage that they cannot support. If most of your tree was green for most of the summer, it should survive to leaf out next year. However, trees cannot recover from complete defoliation in the summer year after year.
You may want to give your tree some deep supplemental water with a soaker hose if this current drought does not end with enough rain that your tree goes into winter with moisture in its soil--or if we have a drought next year.
ECN
You may want to give your tree some deep supplemental water with a soaker hose if this current drought does not end with enough rain that your tree goes into winter with moisture in its soil--or if we have a drought next year.
ECN
