What to do with cherry tree that has brown spots in leaves and leaves are falling off? - Ask Extension
My cherry tree is finally bearing fruit, but the leaves are wilting and falling off. They have brown spots on them that go through the leaf, but are n...
Knowledgebase
What to do with cherry tree that has brown spots in leaves and leaves are falling off? #869112
Asked May 19, 2024, 2:38 PM EDT
My cherry tree is finally bearing fruit, but the leaves are wilting and falling off. They have brown spots on them that go through the leaf, but are not clean holes like an insect chewed them. I would like to have the tree be as healthy as possible but do not want to spray it with anything that is not fit for human consumption since I am hoping that the cherries will mature for harvest.
Any advice is very much appreciated.
Clackamas County Oregon
Expert Response
Cherries have several problems that can cause leaf spots. I can rule out the common one called cherry leaf spot since these spots are much larger. That leaves a fungal disease called shothole or a bacterial disease called Pseudomonas. There are some others but not likely at this time.
Shothole is not common but the size of the spots and yellow halo around that necrotic area is characteristic. You can read more about that disease here (It will send you to peach but the image is what you want to see): https://pnwhandbooks.org/plantdisease/host-disease/cherry-prunus-spp-shothole
Bacterial canker is very common and give the tree is fruiting this could be the problem. We can see necrotic spotting but it also is not as common as oozy cankers on the limbs. There is more information here (and again scroll to the bottom to see the last image): https://pnwhandbooks.org/plantdisease/host-disease/cherry-prunus-spp-bacterial-canker
Shothole is not common but the size of the spots and yellow halo around that necrotic area is characteristic. You can read more about that disease here (It will send you to peach but the image is what you want to see): https://pnwhandbooks.org/plantdisease/host-disease/cherry-prunus-spp-shothole
Bacterial canker is very common and give the tree is fruiting this could be the problem. We can see necrotic spotting but it also is not as common as oozy cankers on the limbs. There is more information here (and again scroll to the bottom to see the last image): https://pnwhandbooks.org/plantdisease/host-disease/cherry-prunus-spp-bacterial-canker
