Why do the leaves (fruits) of cherries turn yellow: in young, felt, after transplantation, in summer

Cherry leaves turn yellow not only during leaf fall, sometimes this happens in summer or even spring. To understand what is happening with cherries, you need to study the possible causes of yellowing.

When cherry leaves turn yellow in autumn

Foliage yellowing is a natural sign that the plant has ended its active growing season and is preparing to go dormant. The timing in which the cherry turns yellow depends on the region and on weather conditions. But in general, the leaves of the tree change their color in early or mid-October, after a steady drop in temperature.

Sometimes gardeners are faced with the fact that the tree begins to turn yellow much ahead of time – in July, August, or even at the height of spring. If the leaves change color, this indicates that the fruit tree is unwell.

Yellowing of the crown can come much earlier

The main reasons why cherry leaves turn yellow in summer

There are quite a few reasons for premature yellowing of the crown. Sometimes the foliage turns yellow due to violations of agricultural rules, in other cases fungal diseases cause an unpleasant phenomenon. If the cherry leaves turn yellow and dry, then the most common causes deserve more detailed consideration.

Nutrient deficiency

The tree retains the green color of the leaves only if the process of natural photosynthesis proceeds without interference. It can be disturbed not only due to cold weather and lack of light, as happens in autumn, but also due to a lack of nutrients in the soil.

It often happens that the leaves turn yellow due to a lack of iron in the soil. Photosynthesis is disturbed from this, the leaves begin to gradually acquire a yellow color, and then completely fall off.

Cherry leaves turn yellow in June with an insufficient level of nitrogen in the soil. A characteristic symptom is mosaic coloring – green leaf plates first become pale, then brighten, and then gradually acquire a yellow tint.

If the leaves turn yellow from the lower branches, and the yellowness gradually rises higher, this may indicate a lack of magnesium.

With a deficiency of phosphorus, the leaf plates can become not only yellow, the leaves of the cherry turn red and fall off, or acquire a bronze tint. Potassium deficiency is expressed in the fact that the leaves turn yellow, but they have a red border around the edges.

With an imbalance of nutrients, the foliage of fruit plants turns yellow, reddens and curls.

Soil Moisture

The leaves of a tree can turn yellow not only due to drought, but also against the background of swampiness. If groundwater passes near the roots of a fruit tree, or the gardener often waters the cherry without need, too much moisture accumulates in the soil. This leads to the occurrence of chlorosis – an ailment in which the leaves change their color.

A characteristic feature of chlorosis is that the tree turns yellow from the top, and gradually the yellowness captures the leaves in the lower part of the tree. For treatment, the plant must be treated with iron sulfate 2%, as well as reconsider the irrigation schedule or even transplant cherries.

Excess moisture leads to rotting of the roots and yellowing of the crown.

disease

Fungal diseases also lead to a change in the color of the leaves of the tree. Most often, yellowing occurs due to several diseases:

1. Coccomycosis. Infection with fungal spores occurs in late autumn or winter, but the symptoms of the disease appear only the next year. Cherry leaves turn yellow in July or even early summer, while acquiring a characteristic brownish tint.

   

2. Moniliosis. Another common disease of cherries also leads to yellowing of the leaves, and then to premature leaf fall. Infection with moniliosis is usually due to harmful insects – codling moths and caterpillars. If the spores of moniliosis begin to spread throughout the plant, then at first the individual leaves on the cherry turn yellow, twist, and then the entire crown takes on a burnt appearance and falls off.

   

3. Klyasterosporiosis. The fungus of this disease usually develops in conditions of waterlogging, manifests itself in late spring and early summer. You can recognize klesterosporiosis by the sign that when the disease occurs, the leaves turn yellow and fall off, before that they become covered with small through holes.

   

If the crown has turned yellow due to fungal diseases, then the tree must be urgently treated with fungicidal preparations, and then all parts affected by the disease should be removed and destroyed.

Causes of yellowing of cherry leaves in some cases

In some cases, yellowing is caused by special causes that are specific to individual conditions or varieties of wood. If you know about these reasons, then it will be easier to determine the cause of the problem.

Why did cherry leaves turn yellow after transplantation?

Almost immediately after planting a tree in the garden, lovers often encounter yellowing of the crown of the seedling. In such cases, it is customary to say that the plant “did not take root”, however, the true reasons for the fall of the crown are quite specific.

The reason for the yellowing of the leaf plates of the seedling may be damage to the root. If the transplant was carried out carelessly, and the main root broke or cracked, then the power system after that was severely disrupted. A seedling with broken roots cannot receive nutrients in the required volumes and therefore begins to turn yellow and dry.

Also, yellowing of the foliage can be caused by a lack of zinc or iron in the soil – since the seedling falls into unusual conditions during transplantation, the health of the tree may be shaken. Often, after planting in the ground, cherries turn yellow and dry out on soils with a high lime content.

Cherry seedlings turn yellow and die due to root damage and lack of nutrients

Why do the leaves of a young cherry turn yellow

Young trees that have just entered the fruiting period may turn yellow for the following reasons:

• cracking of the trunk – if the winter turned out to be too cold, and the tree was not covered, the cherry could freeze a lot, up to gum leakage from the bark and damage to vital systems;
• too alkaline soil – young cherries do not grow well on soil with an excess of chalk or lime, since chlorophyll production is disrupted under such conditions.

Yellowing of young cherries may be due to frost, alkalized soil, or disease.

If the leaves of the cherry in July are yellow and fall, the cause may be bacterial cancer, it is young trees that especially often suffer from it. When affected by bacterial cancer, not only the leaves on the cherry turn yellow and curl, but also ulcers appear on the bark, the fruits are deformed.

Why do felt cherries turn yellow leaves

Felt cherry foliage may turn yellow due to all of the reasons listed above. But there are additional reasons that are characteristic of this variety of fruit tree:

1. Felt cherry is characterized by very rapid growth and rapid growth of young shoots. The leaves on its crown may turn yellow after the roots freeze in cold and snowy winters. The tree in this case becomes simply unable to supply its own green mass with nutrients and gets rid of foliage.
2. Felt cherries may turn yellow and fall off due to drought. A severe lack of moisture harms the plant in the same way as an excess of water, especially considering that the felt variety consumes more nutrients.

Felt cherry trees suffer from drought and freezing roots

Before looking for signs of fungal diseases on the leaves of a fruit bush, it is worth analyzing the care of cherries, and, perhaps, the reason for yellowing will become clear immediately.

What to do if cherry leaves turn yellow and fall off

The first step in premature yellowing is to determine the cause of the unpleasant situation. After the source of the problem is found, the gardener will have to take action. If the cherry leaves fall in the summer, you must do the following:

1. When affected by fungal diseases, cherries must be urgently subjected to a sanitary haircut. All shoots with yellowed leaves must be removed, and healthy parts should be treated with Bordeaux liquid or proven fungicides, such as Horus, Poliram or Topsin.
2. If the soil lacks nutrients, you need to make top dressing – nitrogen, potassium or phosphorus. When the soil is alkalized, the near-trunk circle is treated with gypsum, iron sulfate or organic fertilizers, and alfalfa or mustard can also be sown near the cherry.
3. If the cherry leaves turn yellow in August against the background of improper watering, you need to increase the flow of moisture or, on the contrary, reduce unnecessary watering. It is most difficult to solve the problem if the cherry grows in a lowland on marshy soil, in such cases it remains only to transfer it to a new place.

When the crown turns yellow, the fruit tree can still be saved

The main reasons why cherries turn yellow

If the leaves on the cherry tree turn yellow, and also turn red and fall in the summer, then the troubles do not always end there. The fruits of the cherry tree can also turn yellow – during the ripening period they do not acquire a normal dark color, but remain pale and watery, and then begin to rot. This is usually caused by several reasons:

• lack of minerals – nitrogen, potassium or phosphorus, with a deficiency of which the cherry simply cannot accumulate sufficient strength for normal fruiting;
• coccomycosis and moniliosis, ailments affect not only leaf plates, but also ripening berries, which turn pale and begin to rot;
• pests of cherries, in particular, the cherry fly and weevil, eating away the pulp of the fruit from the inside.

If the fruits turn yellow, then it will not be possible to save them, it is necessary to fight for the whole tree

In all cases, yellowing of the fruit can be dealt with, the main thing is to notice the problem in time.

What to do if the fruits of the cherry turn yellow

The fight against yellowing of the fruit comes down to several therapeutic measures:

1. First of all, the tree is treated for fungal diseases, ideally this should be done prophylactically, without waiting for problems to appear. Bordeaux liquid or Hom are suitable for spraying.
2. The tree is also sprayed from pests – the insecticides Spark, Lightning and Karate work well.
3. The plant is fed with minerals – to strengthen the ovary, it is especially useful to spray the cherry with urea and add potassium to the trunk circle.

The gardener needs to understand that if the fruits turn yellow, then it will not be possible to save them. Most likely, the crop of the current year will die or turn out to be very small, but next year the tree will bear fruit in full.

Fungicidal and insecticidal treatment allows preventing yellowing of fruits.

Preventive measures

Preventing yellowing of tree leaves is quite simple. To do this, you need to follow a few rules:

• plant a crop in a well-lit place and away from groundwater on the site;
• do not overdo it with watering, but also do not let the tree dry out;
• fertilize on time, you need to feed the fruit tree at least three times per season;
• timely remove organic residues from the site – foliage, fallen fruits and other debris, as well as annually carry out sanitary pruning;
• every spring and summer, spray cherries from fungi and insects as a preventive measure.

Conclusion

Cherry leaves turn yellow not only from diseases. the cause may be a deficiency of minerals or improper watering. Good agricultural practices when growing cherries are of great importance, gardeners should not neglect top dressing and spraying cherries.