Weeping Cherry- no flowers, no leaves. Yikes!

9 years ago

We have a weeping cherry, probably 35 years old. Always beautiful blooms, big fav for the Baltimore Orioles.

I can't believe it's not coming out of dormancy. There was a landscaper here last October. He cut one small branch (1" diameter) growing into to the house. Can't believe that killed the tree.

Winter was unusually cold, below zero at least 6 times. I am told we got down to 20 below F, one night.

Is there some method to perhaps bring this tree back? Be very saddened to lose it. TIA for any input.

(larger pic if you click on the small pic)

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Comments (6)

arbordave (SE MI)
9 years ago
Most of the weeping cherries here didn't flower and are slow leafing out due to the winter temps, but it seems unlikely that the cold completely killed your tree. It should definitely have some leaves on it by now. What do other weeping cherries look like in your area?
tom_nwnj
Original Author
9 years ago
Thanks for that arbordave

There's a neighbor up the street who has a very large weeping cherry. Don't know if it flowered, but it does have some green leaves on it now.

I would assume that these "ornamentals" are very specific, maybe patented. So, maybe my weeping cherry is different from his, maybe much different. I didn't plant this tree. No idea where it came from.

How long do these trees live normally? And age range?
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Dan, I've seen enough of this disease to diagnose it at a glance - the brown and dried-up, persistent flowers and lack of foliage are extremely characteristic. Like I said, it is endemic to flowering cherries in my area, especially after the soaking wet spring we've had. And yes, you do need to prune back to the viable, healthy leaf growth towards the top of the branches. Now you can understand why I said your little tree will probably never look good - most weeping cherries around here look like someone took a hedge trimmer to the weeping branches all the way around the tree, just to keep this disease in check and to remove the unsightly dead-looking branch tips. By the time one is done with this, there's not much 'weeping' about the tree any longer. I could show you a half dozen just like this in my neighborhood alone and it's not bad pruning - just sick trees :-) I would never, ever recommend planting a weeping cherry in the PNW regardless of how great a bargain it may be or how pretty it looks in bloom at the nursery. It is usually just a waste of money. And I am very cautious about recommending any other type of flowering cherry - these trees have so many issues associated with them in our climate, WSU has published an entire booklet (not a brochure, a multi-page booklet) on problems of ornamental cherries.
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I've tried uploading a picture of the part where the leaves are dead, but for some reason it keeps saying the files are too large. I even tried a couple of different pictures. Hopefully this is enough to tell if it is at least able to be saved. As far as watering, I have been holding my garden hose over it for around 5 minutes each day. It is hard to tell exactly how much it is pooling because of the mulch. I have been watering daily since I wrote the original post, and the tree has been looking about the same each day.
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being down under.. and it being fall .. and presuming its deciduous ... then i am never really concerned about how the leave look .. this time of year ... they are going to fall off.. and be gone ... in case anything was going on.. clean them all up.. so they wont be there in spring .. just in case ... i would have bought a fall plant with those leaves... ESPECIALLY if it was a fall bargain plant ... if you read that link ... you should know.. fall is one of the prime planting times ... especially on a deciduous tree ... since the various shocks.. will not really hurt leaves that are already primed to fall off ... all the better if they do.. fall is root growing time... and it will have all fall.. winter.. and early spring.. to get those roots settled in.. for the next time the leaves emerge .... NEVER water the leaves of anything.. that is ONLY ma natures job.. otherwise ... you water the roots ... leaves transpire or sweat .. lose water .. though they may take in some minimal water... its not really their job ... and if you water in the evening.. and the leaves go into humid darkness damp .. you could get in trouble with various night pathogens.. the most famous of which is powdery mildews ... since you suspect improper planting... as compared to the link ... and basically just yanked it from the pot ... at a min .. now that it has no leaves.. yank it back out... fluff out at least about half the MEDIA ... cut any severe circling roots ... and replant it in native soil.. per the link ... water it in properly .. and mulch it ... and then.. inserting finger about 2 or 3 inches ... dont water again. until the soil seems to be drying ... which.. in fall. might be weeks or a month from know ... no one can really tell you how it will all work.. in your soil ... and you are responsible for all water next year ... especially in the high heat of summer.. and any droughts ... the year after ... it should be rather self sufficient ... ken
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I had someone plant it for me, so I didn't see the root ball. It was planted soon after it bloomed, so that was probably March or April. I think it was in a 15 gallon container. It was the hottest in late June when it got up to 114 one day.. There is no plastic under the gravel. Most of the houses in my tract have gravel yards. At night the temp goes down about 20-25 degrees from the daytime. In early July, we have a monsoon season and it rains every few days. This was a particularly wet year. The monsoon season lasts about 2 months. Once the monsoon season started, the temp in July was usually in the high 90s or low 100s. Everything is on a drip watering system. I gave it and other things more water on hot days. Once September comes, the temp starts going down. The highest temp is about 90 now but it's mostly in the 80s now. We are at about 3300 ft elevation, so it can snow a little in the winter.
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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
9 years ago
a cherry is a cherry .. as to leafing out.. certain CULTIVARS may vary according to flowers ...

most likely a goner ... it should be showing signs of leafing by now ...

you can give it another month.. but even if it leafs out ... there probably isnt going to be much left by the time you trim out all the dead stuff ...

we dont know if it was grafted... but if so ... the suckers that come up may or may not be true to the form you had ... and odds are.. the root mass isnt dead.. and something will come out of the ground ... but that is just a guess ..

you have a lot of lawn there.. perhaps you ought to contemplate a replacement or two.. and give this one a month or two to see what happens ...

ken
tom_nwnj
Original Author
9 years ago
Thanks Ken,

Here's a pic from last summer, 1/2 the weeping cherry, trunk to the right. "Weeping" canopy is very healthy, no signs of stress.

The trunk closer to the center of the pic is a pin cherry (fire cherry?), not to be confused.

Very disappointed with this situation.

{{gwi:354480}}
arbordave (SE MI)
9 years ago
Most "Weeping Higan Cherries" (Prunus subhirtella pendula) are grafted and probably the same clone (although apparently there are more than one clone sold under that name). If others that you see in your neighborhood are leafing out and yours still isn't, perhaps something other than the cold has affected it.

One online source says this about weeping cherries: "marginally hardy in severe zone 5 winters, especially at the graft union on established trees, or the entire tree on recent transplants" (see link).

Here is a link that might be useful: Prunus subhirtella pendula
Michelle
9 years ago
I'm blaming the weather for the sparseness of my tree; Zone 5 after a severe winter. It was beautiful last year. We've only owned this property 3 years, so I know nothing about it's age or how this tree was started. I hope it comes back full next year.

This post was edited by Michelle1961 on Sun, May 25, 14 at 14:43

Weeping Cherry- no flowers, no leaves. Yikes!

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arbordave (SE MI)

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Weeping Cherry- no flowers, no leaves. Yikes!

Comments (6)

arbordave (SE MI)

tom_nwnjOriginal Author

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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5

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