Whats up with this cherry? Malicious?

[Suffolk-Matt]

Client asked me to look at his cherry today, he has had issues a few years ago by what sounded like a rouge gardener. this gardener was always doing things that's were not asked for including removing shrubs and fruit trees. In fact, when asked not to come back again he persisted to make threatening phone calls to the client and then came back to the house at some point and felled a silver birch for the sake of it.

 

Police were not interested despite the blatant criminal damage....

 

This was approx 2-3 years ago.

 

Now onto the cherry pictured below.

 

Whats known -

 

No fruit for approx 3 years

No blossom for last 2 years

 

Limited leaf this year.

 

There is one branch, the lowest branch, which has at a guess 30-40 leaves produced this year. All of them are wilted to some degree.

 

All other branches bare.

 

Very little in the way of any new growth showing.

 

His words not mine - "Is there any chance that someone has done anything to it"

 

Its in a rear garden BTW.

 

PICS -

 

http://i.imgur.com/qY8FHDX.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/eThBCAi.jpg

 

Any thoughts as to what has caused the issue shown?

[Gary Prentice]

Any exudates, fruiting bodies present etc

 

It a myrobalan plum btw

 

Edit, any building works, excavations, change in water table etc

Edited July 9, 2014 by Gary Prentice

[Suffolk-Matt]

Any exudates, fruiting bodies present etc

 

It a myrobalan plum btw

 

Edit, any building works, excavations, change in water table etc

 

Nothing seen no.

 

No building works or major changes on his or neighbours side of fence.

[agg221]

I would have had that down as prunus pissardi rather than a myrobalan? Either way, it's not a cherry.

 

Regardless, yes you could kill a tree but it isn't easy without clearly visible signs, using things which the average person without a licence could get their hands on. What is the ground underneath like - if it's grass, how is it doing?

 

Alec

[Gollum]

any pics of main stem and base.

when did it last flower?

[Gary Prentice]

If foul play is suspected and symptoms aren't visible to surrounding grass and other vegetation, check for drill holes, particularly in the root buttresses. May even be below ground level.

 

Check for mycelial sheets/rhizomorphs beneath the bark too. Tap around with a mallet to identify necrotic bark

[Suffolk-Matt]

Chap referred to it as a Cherry plumb.

 

The base is in a 10" high raised bed, concrete edged.

 

Stem doesn't show anything out of the ordinary and the neighbouring grass also seems fine...

 

flowered 2-3 years ago but nothing since

[Suffolk-Matt]

Check for mycelial sheets/rhizomorphs beneath the bark too. Tap around with a mallet to identify necrotic bark

 

 

Didnt have my mallet with me today but seeing as the chap is very local ill be popping back in the next couple of days for a further inspection.

[agg221]

Chap referred to it as a Cherry plumb.

 

The base is in a 10" high raised bed, concrete edged.

 

Stem doesn't show anything out of the ordinary and the neighbouring grass also seems fine...

 

flowered 2-3 years ago but nothing since

 

Cherry plum is myrobalan.

 

Was the tree planted in the raised bed, or was the bed raised over the tree roots? The latter may account for it.

 

Alec

[Gary Prentice]

I would have had that down as prunus pissardi rather than a myrobalan? Either way, it's not a cherry.

 

Regardless, yes you could kill a tree but it isn't easy without clearly visible signs, using things which the average person without a licence could get their hands on. What is the ground underneath like - if it's grass, how is it doing?

 

Alec

 

Sorry for the common name usage. Prunus cerasifera pissards plum is a variety 'pissardii'

 

Also commonly called cherry plum and available with both green and purple foliage varieties. Think it used to be called P.pissardii til a few years back but Collins field guide, 2004 has it as a variety now. Page 340