Carolina Cherry Plan

I've heard from a couple people that I should not expect an arborist to be able to tell me what's wrong with my tree,  That there can be so many different issues that they shouldn't be expected to correctly identify the problem.  They don't sound all that useful to me then.

In light of this realization I dug deeper in my research and have learned quite a bit more about Prunus Caroliniana; that many people hate it (scroll down for user submitted content), that there isn't a whole lot you can do about an advanced fungal or bacterial infection and that everything about the tree is toxic (i.e. if I get chickens and they eat the berries they will die).  Combine that with the fact they are severely chocking my garden of precious sunlight and I'm starting to wonder if I really want to save the little bastards.  See, I hate them too now!

But I do want to save them, if for no other reason than I can't stand to not solve a problem or abandon a challenge.  With that said, here is my plan:

• Check my inventory of fungicides and identify any appropriate treatments.  Solutions containing copper are apparently quite effective however high doses can be fatal to the tree and reduce soil health.
• Dig up some of the stumps of recently fallen soldiers to inspect the roots and rule-out various root rot problems
• Cut away a section of bark on a sick tree with excessive trunk gumming (sappy ooooozzzz....) to inspect the cambium for signs of necrosis.  This would indicate potential bacterial cankers (i.e. bacterial infection)
• Compare soil around healthy trees with infected trees - making sure to disinfect shovel and any other tools in between
• Remove dropped leaves from under all trees
• Cut back dead or diseased wood
• Uhm, that's it.  Anyone else have any ideas?

I also learned that I should disinfect my shears and other tools when pruning sick trees to avoid spreading the infection.  Makes sense, but what a PITA.

Just not enough sunlight

I was around the house most of the day working from my home office.  I wandered into the yard 7-8 times throughout the day just to take a break.  I realized just how little sunlight actually makes it into my growing area during winter.  Trimming my carolinianas will help, but it's really the neighbors 2nd story add-on that casts the largest shadow.

It's a bummer as I had hoped to get a fall/winter crop going but I'm not sure I will even be able to grab the 5-6 hours minimum needed.  Of course the obvious solution is to burn down my neighbor's add-on, I'll sleep on it.

Prunus Caroliniana - trunk oozing and leaf problems

Trunk sappy seepage, this is present on
all trees showing signs of the problem

When I bought my house I knew I was going to plant a perimeter of "Carolina Cherry" (prunus caroliniana) to create privacy and shade.  My parents had experience with the trees and they seemed perfect

I purchased 70 15 gal trees at a killer price and had them in the ground the first year.  Over the past 5 years I have lost 9-10 trees and I fear I'm going to lose even more.  The symptoms are a yellowing and red color blotching of the leaves and seepage on the lower 30% of the trunk.

I never water these trees because I've been told by so many people that they were getting TOO much water, so I just left them be and the rain seemed to be enough.  I should mention that the majority of my trees look great, dark green and reaching for the sky.

There is also some obvious insect damage but I think it's most from the Japanese beetles that I have flying around, I don't think it's related to the trunk and leave problem.

Once the problem enters the advanced stage the leaves will drop very rapidly, finally they will look wilted and droopy and that is usually when I cut the tree out.

I hired an arborist to come out 3 years ago and look at some problems and he was useless, all he said was "Well... it could be this and it might be that.  It's hard to say"

What the HELL am I paying you for??!!

At this point I'm ready to spend some money to get an accurate and concise assessment of the problem and clear instructions on what to do about it.  I just need to figure out who to call...