Frail leaves on edible Cherry Tree

[LeScouse]

Please see attached picture, my edible cherry tree has blossomed and has it new leaves however the vast majority of the leaves are damaged, have holes, I cannot find any insects on the leaves - some of the leaves are a couple of days old and still have the damage. The tree blossomed very nicely and looks like the fruit has set.

 

Does anyone have experience of this problem and any suggested solutions

[sloth]

Could be bacterial canker of cherry, Pseudomonas syringae pv. morsprunorum.

[agg221]

Could be bacterial canker of cherry, Pseudomonas syringae pv. morsprunorum.

 

Colloquially known as shot hole. I did wonder, but normally this leaves brown marks - it starts as brown spots and these drop out to leave the holes.

 

I suspect in this case it probably is insect damage. It's been a funny season, having warmed up suddenly and late. I suspect therefore that insects have hatched pretty much as the leaves opened.

 

If it's insects you could try an insecticide if the tree is small enough, but to be honest I wouldn't bother unless it is extremely severe. Although it looks bad, the percentage loss is pretty small and there won't be much impact. A different season and it would be totally different in effect.

 

If it's fungal, something copper-based would be the normal approach, if everything copper-based hasn't been banned.

 

Alec

[LeScouse]

I discounted canker, due to no marks, just holes and compared to my pear trees very frail looking leaves

 

I will get some tar bands for next year and see if it makes a difference

 

Thanks

[agg221]

The visible effects, particularly on the leaf on the right hand side, look rather like a leaf miner. If it is this then the bands won't help much as the whole lifecycle takes place on the tree. Grease bands are best for things which fall to the ground in the fruit and then crawl back up again.

 

Realistically, insecticides are the best bet if you really do want to control it. Otherwise, letting the birds get on with it will probably be reasonably effective.

 

Alec