I live in west central Alabama and have a small fruit orchard for canning and such. The oldest of the trees would be 5 years old this year and the youngest 2 years. I’m having a problem with trees and or portions of trees dying.
4year old Gala didn’t even swell the buds, it just sets there still in May
3year old Nectarine bloomed and leaved out to about 1 inch leaves and now every limb but one has died and the last one is on its way.
5year old Manchurian Bush apricot looks mostly Okay but two stalks died completely.
4year old Dwarf Cherry bloomed and set fruit then half the limbs died but the other half still look Okay
2year old Montmorency Chery bloomed and leafed out but half the tree died and after I cut it back the other half is now dieing 2 weeks later
4year old Blue Plumb bloomed and leafed then half the tree died and the other half looks anemic for a plumb tree.
3year old cross between a plumb and apricot didn’t bloom but leafed out and the entire tree died.
On the other hand I have more Nectarines, Apples and Pears that are mixed in with them that show no problems at all. They have set on fruit and look fine.
The symptoms on all trees are the same, the blooms or leaves just wilt, turn brown and die. Sometimes the whole tree and sometimes just part of it.
Now, we had a hard freeze in mid April, 28 degrees for four hours. Nothing showed up immediately after the freeze.
We had a very wet week during which we got over 11 inches of rain spread out almost daily, it may have been two weeks.
I have sprayed a lawn weed killer that was for broad weeds using my tow behind sprayer but the weed killer is only supposed to kill weeds if they are growing and becomes inert when it contacts soil.
I have also followed a regular spray schedule starting in early spring using dormant oils, cap tan, benelate, daconil, streptomycin, liquid lime and wettable sulfur. I have used these sprays on my other crops too which show no lasting effects of any of the above and seem fine (e.g. blackberries, raspberries, blueberries and grapes.) Any guesses about what is happening? My greatest puzzle is that the same thing is happening to so many different varieties while some are only partially hurt, some completely killed and some untouched. I had three nectarines and two of them are fine while the third one died and they are only a few feet from each other.