problem with my cherry tree.. help please!

charliee_3

I bought a stella cherry tree last year and planted it, this year it has lots of fruit on the branches, but most of them are shrivelling up and no longer growing. some of them look like they have been hollowed out with a little caterpillar thing inside.. any ideas? what is it? how can i get rid of it? should i remove all the affected fruit? is there any way to save any of the fruit?


thank you!!

Kay_Peel

The fruit shrivels and drops when something is wrong with the amount of water it is getting. It's very unhappy in waterlogged sites and a very young Cherry needs a bit of water around it roots if we have a dry March/April/May. If it doesn't get enough water then it panics, drops its fruit and puts all its energy into staying alive and growing leaves.

The caterpillar is probably The Winter Moth . They have provided a lot of food for the birds this spring in my garden, but like you, I won't see any fruit. Grrrr!

You can lightly prune your Cherry tree at this time of year. Remove any damaged fruit and leaves. Snip off the ends of the branches as far back as an outward facing bud. Leave the main trunk alone.

:beer:

charliee_3

thanks, maybe its the water.. we have been watering it pretty regularly, maybe too much, someone told us cherries liked buckets of water.. most of the fruit is now brown and shrivelled.. do you think i would be better off taking ALL the fruit off this year and just letting it grow?