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Fruit & Orchards

Montmorency won't break dormancy

15 years ago

I have two Montmorency cherries. One on Gisela 5 rootstock from Raintree, planted April 2008, is all leafed out with blossoms. The other from Millers, planted November 2008, on Mahaleb or Mazzard, hasn't even pushed buds. I figured it was a goner so I snapped a couple twigs off and they were green and very much alive in appearance. What gives? Do I need to beat the smack out of it to wake it up??

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Comments (4)

Scott F Smith
15 years ago
I had a lot of Millers peach trees do that to me -- none of them ever woke up. I think if they were abused enough they just don't have the energy to launch. About all you can do is wait.

Scott
susana_mc
15 years ago
I have the same problem. Last year I even bought another tree to replace the montmorency I'd planted in 2007, only to have it finally break dormancy in May. I'm pushing the envelope on planting it; many people here in Jackson Mississippi advised that no cherry does well here. I do have wild cherry (Prunus serotina) on our property, so I was hoping that at least Montmorency would do OK.... We'll see. It is just starting to break dormancy now, end of April.

Susana
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If the branches are healthy, then it should make it. Couple of cherries I recently got are just starting to open up. So far, that have had just under 2 weeks of sun since I bought them from the store where they were gettng just the fluoro. But an almond that I planted is still dormant. I think my almond tree is dead now because the branch tips are dying back (shriveling tips and turning dark brown/black - almost like a canker) about an inch per a week. It's sad to see it die coz. it was an awesome specimen - Had the perfect spread and arrangement of the branches and would have matured into a well shaped tree with some care. It's pain hopping stores/nurseries to find a good specimen (There's only as much that you can do with pruning/training) Good luck! -:)
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You can't do anything to make it grow. If it doesn't snap out of it later you'll just have to remove it. I wouldn't rush to plant another right in the same spot, in case a pathogen is at work. Maybe look for honey fungus on the roots and crown, just in case. And if you don't see that, maybe there might be some other hints on the roots.
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Wait. Are they potted or in the ground? When did you plant them? I planted some of mine the first week of April and they are just now starting to bud out. If you were caught by the freeze at Easter that could have set them back a bit too. Also, how warm are your day/night temps now? If you're still getting into the 40s at night and not up into the 70s during the day they may just be waiting for warmer weather. I'd give them more time.
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The coldest I recorded is those few nights in January, when it was so bitterly cold outside. the lowest reading I got was 21. It's a little (6'x12-15')room at the back of the second floor; no heat vent, windows on three sides and two skylights. Half is over an open back porch, and the other half is over a similarly unheated butler's pantry. I initially rejected it as an over-wintering spot because it was still warm when the figs lost all their leaves in the middle of October and I moved them in. Of course, I also was keeping the door open at that point (for the light it brings into the hallway) and it was siphoning heat from the house. I started keeping the door closed in December when I realized how much it was costing to heat the room! (Just moved in in August, still getting to know the house.) I need to leave the thermometer in there for a few seasons to get to know the spot. I lost all of the dancing fairies I had in pots, but the jasmine I never bothered to move seems to have held on. My old spot was perfect (I thought) because it went down to just below 40 and stayed there. Never below freezing, but never more than a few degrees over 40. I need ot find out how much the sunporch fluctuates -- or is that really that big a deal? I had such a bumper crop of figs last year I'd already started dreaming of what to do with this year's batch!
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jellyman
15 years ago
Susana:

The presence of a lot of Prunus Serotina around may be one of the reasons why domestic varieties like Montmorency do not do well. In many areas where the wild species grows, nearly all of the trees are infected with bacterial disease, which is easily passed to cultivated cherries.

There is no easy solution, since there are so many wild cherries around and they are often very large trees. About all you can do is spray your cherry trees with a strong copper solution like Kocide a couple of times during the dormant season to stave off development of the disease.

I figure the maximum life of a cherry tree in Northern Virginia is about 25 years, but that can be cut to 20 or even 15 years if bacterial disease pressure is heavy. I took down a very large Prunus Serotina right next door about 10 years ago, and since then bacterial cankers on my trees have been greatly reduced.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA
marknmt
15 years ago
On the question of stone fruit breaking dormancy, I have an aging apricot that is very slow this spring. It has a handful of blossoms on the trunk, but the branches have nothing so far, even though apricots all over town are in full bloom. I'm afraid this tree may be about done. I'd appreciate hearing others' experiences.

Thanks,

Mark

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