Cherry tree ends of branches dying

Question

I have an old cherry tree in the Willamette valley of Oregon, probably planted in 1950, where the branches are starting to die. There are a few large dead branches and many small branches where the leaves at the ends are starting to die before forming.

The "tree" is actually two different trees. There is one with white flowers that go up and one with pink flowers that have lower and droopy branches. It's the pink flowered tree that has dying branches, the other one seems healthy. In addition to the dying branches, the leaves on the pink-flowered tree have spots all over them.

Some other information is that the tree had a layer of plastic and landscape fabric at the base, forming a water tight barrier. This was there when we moved in, so I can't be sure how long. It seems that same barrier killed two other trees in the yard, so my guess is it was there for many years. I removed the fabric and plastic, damaging many shallow roots that lied between the two layers. The soil underneath the plastic was very dry. I also saw a rather large hole, about 1.5" diameter, in the soil where it looked light a root penetrated, a white coating remained on the soil there, no root anywhere. After this I sprayed the tree with a foliar spray fertilizer as well as adding water and fertilizer around the base of the tree.

Additionally, two years ago we planted a small plum tree, about 8 ft in height. That plum tree has problems of its own, I believe peach leaf curl based on my previous gardener's opinion. The leaves there also have holes, although they seem to be of a different character to me.

I'm hoping to find out what is going on with the cherry tree and if there's a way to help it survive. Also, if you have ideas on the plum tree, it is in an awful state and I'm not sure it will survive through the year. The plum tree also has gash shaped holes in the bark although I don't believe it was physically damaged. It may be better to get rid of it if it's spreading disease to other trees (I have 2 pear, 1 apple, and 2 fig trees also)

Cherry Tree with Dying Branches Cherry tree leaves dying at end of branches, branch ends also dying Cherry leaves with holes Images of plum tree leaves

Answer 1

I cannot give you much information. But one thing I could say is with what the leaf's look like. Its some kind of spore disease of some sort. they spread very easily. Droplets of rain can spread it easily. I recommend Cutting off infected branches in a couple year process to not exceed 25% of canopy in one year. Disinfect your cutting shears after every cut before you cut a new branch to make sure you don't spread it even more. remove all leaf's at the end of the year so they are not on the soil.