Cherry Tree - Fail to Fruit

Hello Everyone,

I have 4x Black Cherry trees, all are volunteer trees!, about 5-years old.

I am in U.S. Zone 5B, New Wngland, zip code 01072

The soil started as a construction site (sand, clay, silt, but no carbon and no bio-life) 5 years ago. Over 5-years, lots of succession plants, the soil is looking much darker / healthier / and alive.

Every year, the Cherry Trees bloom. I see polinators visiting the trees.

Later in the season (end-July), I see tiny fruit, but I ALSO see a lot of dead, black, shriviled, failed cherries.

I ALSO see failed leaves, at the tips of these branches, right next to the failed cherries.



Is this still just bad soil?

Do I have a pest problem? Fungus?



Thanks for your help.

Since they were volunteers maybe they are an ornamental cherry?  These are fruitless:

https://www.plantingtree.com/collections/flowering-cherry-trees

Do you get cherries to maturity before? Are they supposed to be the big edible type?
If you scout the trees more closely since bloom you will be able to identify the problems better. Were the blossoms full or sparse? Any frost or late freeze damage? The dying tips and crinkled leaves could be from pests or deficiency. As you see the cherry clusters have no leaves at the base so there is no sugar flow to get them swelling.

The vegetative growth seems to be strong though. Checking these shoots will give you some idea. They will be about to cease growing for the season and if you want to send a tissue test mid July will be the time to take samples. Or you can look for visual signs now by comparing the older leaves and newer leaves of the same shoot. Does the new growth has smaller, stiff and puckered leaves and is getting worse with shorter nodes near the tip? If so, it's likely due to boron deficiency. There are photo galleries for comparison. Cherry buds of next year are developing now on new shoots so it's important to the shoots are healthy.

Has never robustly fruited before. Last year was the first time I saw even small fruit. All shriveled.

These are wild cherries, so I don't know what to expect. I hear these wild cherries will commonly come in small, but at least healthy fruit.

Blooms were sparse, and only at the tips of the branches.

Leaf growth is strong. It's putting on new branches and leaves like a champ. The soil around the roots is covered with a riot of diverse and healthy green plants. I expect the soil life to be robust, so I expect the cherry should have lots of access to sugar and micro-nutrients.

I don't know about cherries but it's not just the fruit. If it were my apricot, I'd say brown rot. Probably some kind of bacterial disease. Do you get sap lumps on the bark?

I agree, some kind of leaf curl or similar.

I recommend checking with your local extension service or Master Gardener hotline. They will know best about issues in your area.

We have wild cherries that grow in my area and the fruit doesn’t get much bigger than that.

Scott,    You called them 'Black Cherry'.....was this based on keying out the trees or being told by someone else that this is what they are?  Just trying to determine if these are volunteer from a domesticated cherry or more of a wild black cherry, which likely would have a relatively small fruit.  Either way, I think brown rot also is a good bet, especially given that it appears to be a significant disease in Maine cherries:    https://extension.umaine.edu/ipm/ipddl/publications/5090e/#:~:text=Brown%20rot%20is%20the%20most,blighting%20of%20flowers%20and%20twigs.

Perhaps you are watering over the plant instead of at the roots? Perhaps a good pruning is in order? Or perhaps it needs copper in the soil? Cherries are very particular about their habitat.

The holes in the leaves might mean that the tree has cherry shot hole disease, which refers to two different diseases of cherries. Check out this info from University of Maryland Extension Service and see if it matches:

https://extension.umd.edu/resource/cherry-shot-hole-disease/

Another variable.  Since they’re seedlings as opposed to grafted varieties on known rootstocks, they just might not be ready yet

Not that we’re talking about wisteria, but wisteria takes forever to bloom.  If you get a rooted cutting from a blooming individual, there is no waiting period.  A brand new individual from a seed may take 20 years to bloom.

Plants do their own thing