Dear Evan SC,

Thank you very much for your inquiry. The Garden Nurse, Susan Gruber, has provided the information below.

You describe classic symptoms of transplant shock. It is very common for plants to show some leaf drop and browning soon after planting. Most trees recover well - and although it may look a little rough for the rest of this season, chances are it will be just fine. If many more leaves turn brown and fall off, it may be worth calling the nursery where you purchased the plant and inquire about their return/replacement policy. Keep your receipt and document the appearance of the tree with some photos.
Here are some tips to help the tree establish:
Water the tree roots and the soil around the planting hole weekly unless there has been a soaking rain. More frequent watering can reduce root growth.
Place 3-4" of bark mulch over the root system, beginning an inch away from the trunk and extending 6" past the edge of the planting hole. Mulch is one of the best ways to provide the roots with the best growing conditions.
Do not fertilize until next spring.
Wait to prune off any leafless branches until next spring, then trim off any dead wood as soon as you see new leaves beginning to grow.

Again, thanks for the question and let me know if you have more.

Respectfully

Trey Rogers, The Briggs & Stratton Yard Doctor, YardDoctor.com

I have a 19 yr old weeping cherry tree with the same problem. Mostly all of the leaves have turned brown or have fallen off. Should I wait until next Spring to see if it comes back or just take it down now?

I have a 5 year old weeping cherry that lost all its leaves in the last 2 weeks -- any chance it will come back ? Some of the bark has turned black also.

i planeted my weeping cherry last year the leaves came out this spring but some of the leaves have turned brown and falling off we have had a lot of rain can this be the cause of the leaves turning brown

I have a 6 year old weeping cherry tree, that has lost all of it's leaves over the last month. It was beautiful this past Spring when it was in full bloom. But we have received a record amount of rain fall this summer, I live in NH. I do have 2 other weeping cherries and they look great. Do you think it will come back next year? Should I feed it, if so what do you recommend? Thanks, Michelle

I have a weeping cherry tree that is about 3 years old. this spring it bloomed looked great; about 4 weeks ago the leaves started falling off. also new growth is growing from the bottom of the tree. is this normal or is something wrong.

OUR WEEPING CHERRY TREE IS 8 YEARS OLD. IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN LUSH AND BEAUTIFUL, BUT THE SPRING IT HAS NO LEAVES. IT HAS JUST A FEW GREEN AREAS. COULD YOU PLEASE HELP ME FIND OUT WHAT WRONG WITH IT. IT IS NOT DEAD. THANK YOU

I planted a weeping cherry last spring. This spring it bloomed then formed new leaves.
After about 1 week the leaves are now dead. Is my tree dying? Is there anything I can do? The branches are still green and the tree is not yet dead, Should I prune the tree? Can you help?

I live in Staten Island, NY. We bought a weeping cherry about 8 years ago. Every year I cut off more dead branches, but haven't seen any new growth. It blooms every year and is covered with green leaves, but some of the tips are dead and need to be pruned again. We have a lot of red clay soil, we had amended a portion of the yard with top soil and peat moss. My husband says the tree looks nothing like a weeping tree anymore, all the branches have been trimmed so it seems to have just a crown of leaves. What can I do to encourage more new growth?

Hello,

About four weeks ago we had to transplant a four year old weeping cherry tree in Northern NJ because of location. We used a transplant fertilizer (Mike's) as recommended by the garden center and ammended the soil as well. We had the new hole ready to go before digging out the tree. One piece of root though did break in the transplant process. Now our leaves are getting wilted and showing the same symptoms as mentioned here. Do you think the breaking of the root is the problem or do you think it is just transplant shock?

I too have a 4 year old weeping cherry that has already lost it's leaves. It was well established so its not transplant shock. I live in South Alabama so it's definitely not cool enough for it to be dropping leaves yet. We've not had a drought this year. I fed it at the beginning of spring like I have four the previous years. I seem to see a lot of folks having the same issue this year. What's going on ?

"I seem to see a lot of folks having the same issue this year."

Are you basing that on comments from this 14 y.o. thread or are you seeing this on weeping cherries in your neighborhood now?

As one of the most disease and insect prone of any garden ornamental trees, there could be a whole host of reasons why a weeping cherry looks bad at tis time of year. But we would need to see photos to narrow it down.