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What to do with fully budded sargent cherry

16 years ago

The saga continues with a sargent cherry tree that i planted earlier this spring. The Japanese beetles pretty much wiped out all of the foliage in late August, except for a few leaves. The tree held on to what it had left but eventually dropped all of the leaves and budded out again in full, without leaf break. My question is, should I do anything with the tree? It's too late in the season and too cold for it to leaf out again even though the buds look like they could open any day. Will it bud out again without issue in the spring? Any insight is appreciated.

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Comments (2)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
16 years ago
i cant really see that there is anything you can do ... the first hard frost will shut it down .. just like all the other trees ...

it has burned a lot of energy.. regenerating itself ... but it surely is NOT the time of year in zone 5.. to be fertilizing ...

frankly .. all i can suggest is.. keep it PROPERLY WATERED through fall ... and say a few prayers ...

trees ...are very good at taking care of themselves ... don't kill it with too much love ....

good luck
ken
Dibbit
16 years ago
I would agree with Ken. Once it gets cold, the leaves and the leaf buds should just shut down for the winter, which the shorter days and longer nights are also signaling. I doubt the tree will actually leaf out now.

Even though the Japanese beetles aren't a native pest, trees have evolved to deal with defoliating pests over their thousands of years of development. The cherry tree should be fine. If it turns out that it isn't, then you might want to think about another tree as a replacement, but I think I am being overly pessimistic at this point. Only time will tell - if your tree flowers and leafs out fine in the spring, it survived.

However, if the JBs defoliated it this year, they may well do the same next year. You might want to rethink having a cherry tree at all - the JBs also love them. A one-time defoliation won't kill them, nor will minor defoliation every year - if early enough, trees usually just regrow the leaves. But, the trees are not a pretty sight while the leaves are skeletonized and until they regrow.

Your problem right now is that your cherry is a relatively "new" tree, and the root system isn't established really well, so it will struggle for the first 2-3 years to replace the leaves. Good roots mean a good crop of leaves, and a goodly growth of leaves feeds a good root system.
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