Q.Cherry Tree Losing Leaves
Hello, I have a cherry tree I planted 2 years ago. The first summer I planted it took very well and produced many leaves and grew very quickly. Survived winter with no issues. Second spring it seemed extremely well and continued to grow very quickly and produced many leaves. No yellowing at all. In April after spring budding, I pruned all branches. Everything looked great for next month. It was a pretty wet spring early summer. Tree still looked healthy till around late June/July but then started losing it leaves fairly quickly. It also was producing shoot coming from the bast of the tree above the ground. It has produced these shoots in the past and I would just trim them off. I decided to leave them on this time just in case the top of the tree was dyeing. the tree has lost pretty much all it leaves but is sprouting like crazy at the base. Will the tree come back next spring or should I r=trim all branches down this fall?
Certified GKH Gardening Expert
It sounds like the timing of pruning and rain has killed off the top. In this case, the top seems to have died off. Usually, these trees are grafted to a wild rootstock, or one that is known to be fast, but won't fruit or will do so poorly.
From here, you will want to keep all growth from the bottom of the tree cut. You will want to try and preserve growth from the top of the tree, only.
