Dr. Phyto

sweet cherry

Prunus avium

Diseases & pests on this plant

• European cherry fruit flyRhagoletis cerasi

  Small (4-6mm) black-bodied flies with banded wings on ripening cherries, single tiny oviposition puncture on fruit surface, internal cavity filled with cream-colored maggot, fruit becomes soft + brown around larva and falls early, larva pupates in soil through winter.

• bacterial canker of cherryPseudomonas syringae pv. morsprunorum

  Sunken elongated cankers on branches + trunks oozing amber gum, dead buds + leaf shothole on emerging foliage, branch dieback + overall tree decline, distinctive flagging (sudden wilting of single branches in summer), blossom blast in spring.

• Queensland fruit flyBactrocera tryoni

  Small 'sting' punctures on ripening fruit, often with a weeping or dimpled spot; maggots (cream-coloured larvae) tunnel the flesh causing internal rot and premature fruit drop. Adults are wasp-like, reddish-brown flies with clear wings seen resting on foliage and fruit.

• cherry leaf spotBlumeriella jaapii

  Small (1-3mm) purple-brown spots on upper leaf surfaces, spots fall out leaving shothole appearance, yellowing + premature drop of heavily-spotted leaves from June onward, defoliated trees by August in epidemic years, occasional fruit lesions and stem infections.

• European brown rot / blossom blightMonilinia laxa

  Sudden brown collapse of flower clusters during/just after bloom, dead flower spurs hanging on twigs producing greyish spore masses, twig cankers oozing amber gum below dead blossoms, branch dieback in heavy infections, summer fruit rot identical to M. fructicola.

• red-necked longhorn beetleAromia bungiiEU-notifiable quarantine organism

  A large black longhorn beetle with a bright red-orange patch on the thorax (pronotum) and very long antennae; the larvae bore long tunnels in the trunk and main branches of stone-fruit trees (peach, cherry, plum, apricot), pushing out coarse fibrous frass and sawdust from cracks at the base; branches wilt, the tree declines and can be girdled and killed.

• cherry powdery mildewPodosphaera clandestina

  White powdery patches on undersides of leaves (upper-surface chlorotic mottling), terminal shoot growth severely distorted + stunted, fruit infections develop pale russet patches downgrading market grade, young nursery trees stunted overall.

• Japanese beetlePopillia japonicaEU-notifiable quarantine organism

  Adults are bright metallic green with coppery wing-cases and small white tufts of hair along the sides of the abdomen; they feed in groups in sunshine, skeletonising leaves between the veins (a lacy look) and chewing flowers and fruit of a huge range of plants (rose, grape, lime, fruit, soft fruit); the white C-shaped grubs eat grass roots, causing brown patches of lawn that lift like a carpet.

• honey fungus (Armillaria root rot)Armillaria mellea

  Plants decline, leaf out poorly, then whole branches or the whole shrub/tree dies — often suddenly in summer; under the bark at the base and on the roots there is a sheet of white fungal growth that smells strongly of mushroom; flat black "bootlace" rhizomorphs run through the soil; honey-coloured toadstools may appear in clusters at the base in autumn.