I reside in Monmouth County New Jersey approx. 20 miles from the coast. I am hoping someone can offer some advice, as to my problem with my 32 year old weeping cherry tree. From what I can see from driving around, I am not the only person whose weeping cherry tress are suffering with this problem. It’s important to understand that nothing has changed in this area where the tree sits. I continually check it for bugs and fungus and up till last week, everything seemed fine. All of a sudden the tree is dropping leaves which are still green. I did not consider it a problem given the lack of summer rain this year. I thought it was just the tree trying to conserve. The leaves which have fallen show no signs of bite marks. There are also a number of full branches scattered throughout the tree, approx. 3-5 foot long which have turned black. The leaves are dark brown/black and also starting to fall. This problem seems to have showed up over night. I continually check the trees on my property and only in the last 7 to 10 days has this become noticeable. I had no idea I had lost so many leaves in such a short amount of time. This tree is the center piece of my property and sits in full sun. From first thing in the morning till approx. 5PM, it receives full sun. The tree’s caliper is 57 inches, stands approximately 36 feet tall and 45 foot wide. It gets plenty of water from the sprinkler system which irrigates my lawn. My feeding and watering habits have not varied much in thirty years, so I don’t think it has anything to do with over or under watering. The only change in chemical treatment for the entire property was that I used milky spore to rid my Japanese beetle problem. I was told that Milky spore powder will rid my property of grubs and leaf eating beetles. What can I do to stop this problem of dark brown leaves and leaves dropping like crazy? Can anyone think of a reason why the tree is getting hammered like this? I appreciate anyone who can offer expertise in dealing with this sought of problem. Please help.
Without a picture I can only guess....Prunus species (cherries etc.) get attacked by some-thing like a bacteria, that gives the tips of the branches a burned look. I want to call it "fire blight", but I think I'm incorrect on the name....any-ways this problem is thought to probably float in the wind and when the conditions are right, it attacks. It is usually not a death sentence for the tree, just unsightly. You may be able to find a spray down there. I would just leave it alone. You can prune off the infected pieces and throw them away if you want. As for the leaves falling off....when there is a dry spell, trees will impliment an early abscission of the leaves to conserve water. It doesn't hurt the trees health. As a landscape maintenance provider, I want the leaves to fall off early in this way. They're easier to mulch and clean-up with a mower and then there is less work to do in the wet Autumn.
I am hoping your right. But given the amount of rain fall we have had in the last two weeks, I am not so sure. I have contacted the master gardener program here in my county. They asked me to bring them samples and I am now waiting for their conclusion as to what exactly is going on. Blight is the first thing they said based on some photos I took of the tree, but after seeing the samples, they are asking for more time to investigate. There is no sign of sap or oozing from the tree, so the bacteria infection we thought could be involved is for the time being ruled out. I appreciate your response and will get back to you once something conclusive is confirmed by the arborist. Thanks for your reply. Phil in Manalapan New Jersey