Weeping cherry loosing leaves - Ask Extension
We have a weeping cherry tree that provides a brief, but beautiful display of pink flowers every spring.It started loosing leaves in August, and is no...
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Weeping cherry loosing leaves #727495
Asked September 28, 2020, 1:34 PM EDT
We have a weeping cherry tree that provides a brief, but beautiful display of pink flowers every spring.
It started loosing leaves in August, and is now nearly bare. I initially thought it was "shot hole fungus".
We have lived here for 23 years, and the tree was large when we arrived, so it may be quite old. Spotted lantern flies appeared in the neighborhood a year ago and are now abundant here and everywhere else in the county. Is there anything I can or should do.
It started loosing leaves in August, and is now nearly bare. I initially thought it was "shot hole fungus".
We have lived here for 23 years, and the tree was large when we arrived, so it may be quite old. Spotted lantern flies appeared in the neighborhood a year ago and are now abundant here and everywhere else in the county. Is there anything I can or should do.
Montgomery County Pennsylvania
Expert Response
Good evening and thanks for your question.
Judging from your pictures, your tree does seem to be suffering from "shot hole fungus." It's also known as cherry leaf spot or yellow leaf. It's caused by the fungus Blumeriella jaapi.
It can be controlled. Be sure and religiously rake up and destroy any dead leaves this fall. Also plan on fungicide applications this coming spring starting just after the petals fall and continuing into early summer.
The average life of a weeping cherry tree is approx. 25 yrs. Yours seems to still be doing very well. If you can help it through this problem I think it will do very well for quite some time still.
I hope this helps!
